Hi there. I've gotten back into a sport I have loved for over 30 years. A ten year break from a back injury and life in general getting in the way, and now my old Yeti F.R.O. looks like something that should be in a MTB war museum. I took it out recently and embarassed myself cardiovasculary and skillfullery, and ended up taking a header and damaging my ribs. "That's it" I said "I've had enough, I'm buying a new bike!"
After surfing for used bikes, and watching bike review videos, I got more and more excited and learned. The rabbit hole ensued and I went down it freely. I eventually came across a review for a bike called the "Hummingbird" and the description was "Magical" for how it rode. It's custom built by a "Magician" name Nick Neuhaus (Hope he doesn't mind the free advertising) out of Marin County, CA. The wait list is long so there's plenty of time for salivating and, to be honest, second guessing. This is my first post $5k bike. Heck the YETI was $2300 back in 1998ish when i was making $5/hr cooking
To make a long story short, here are some pics and interesting stuff regarding my search and purchase of my next steed. I went all out and old school, with new technology.
First a Pick of my current (very old Steed); Stay tuned for some new updates while i wait for my new ride build
Well I did it, I fixed her up, all nice and clean too. I think she looks real pretty. Need to get out and ride her soon. With the new Rockshox the headtube angle went from a steep 72 Degrees to a slackish 67 Degrees. Of course the seat is still a terrible 68 Degrees.
Front wheel rolled with a crunch. After waiting for some proper tools to take it apart I was able to adjust it just "good enough" so it rolled with a slight growl. Waiting for some new Amazon Bearings to repack. One thing i noticed was that it looks like it can take 11 x 3/16 Bearings per side, but most documentation says 10. Only saw it say 11 once in a web search. That info is now lost to the ether
Bottom bracket wobbled like a drunken sailor for the last 10 years. With this update I finally opened up the bottom bracket. The bearings were so sludged up it was funny. A good clean later and some hammering of the bearing retaining ring (no proper tool here), and the BB is smooth as butter, even with the 30yr old bearings.
Now for some colour scheme ideas. I don't think NMW does multiple colours for their production bikes. But I'm loving my "Bloody Turqoise" idea!
