ALMOST DONE....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well today was working on the Crono project some more. Last night before closing down shop we got Euan on the trainer to check over the position and fit before we cut the steerer and to start cutting down the HED aerobar extensions.
Figuring out a temp steerer compression bolt for the carbon steerer of the AlphaQ fork was fun. We are not bonding in the permanent insert that AlphaQ supplies just yet to play with the position just a bit.
After that came the Nokon cables on a bottom bracket of a frame that Guru has internally routed but modified to accept the BB30 of the Zipp Vuma Quad cranks. Which are temp cranks till the Vuma Cronos are shipping from Zipp...yeah I know. But you would to if you could. ;-)
I was able to run the Nokon supplied inner liner the entire length of the cable run, through the BB30 mod pop out and back through the frame again. This should offer a completely protected cable through out the entire bike. While it should aid in long term shifting smoothness, my real reason for wanting it to last is I don't really want to have to do it again anytime soon. Thank goodness its New Years and I will have an excuse to have a drink in a couple hours.

So now all that is left is some fine tuning of the shifting and taping the bar extensions.
What does this bad boy weigh??? 15.02lbs as it shows in this pic from my camera phone.
Better pics to come.

Euan MacKay's Crono...build so far...

Ok, so here is the Guru Crono with Diamond Black accents with a Pearl White base.
So we weighed everything piece by piece and its amazing!
HED Black Dog aero bars. Zipp Vuma Quad Cranks. Tiso front and rear Ds, Edge rims, Tune hubs, Prologo saddle, Nokon cables. KCNC brakes, Sram 900 Carbon Shifters. Ritchey WCS carbon Matrix stem. More to come, gotta get back to work on this thing...Euan is itchin to ride!

Guru Geneo Blood Red/Black

I am fortunate enough to have great friends and some of them are even fast. One happens to be a former State Crit Champ (P,1,2) and Time Trial Champ and just all around bad ass on a bike. I am honored to have her racing for the Shama Cycles race team and of course she wanted a new bike to support the shop and have a new secret weapon for the 2009 season. So began the challenge. How to build a bike with "pimp" parts that are race day strong. First we picked the Guru Geneo. All carbon, fully customizable, super smooth ride while maintaining incredible power transfer. Next...well picking the colors of course. haha
Part selection was key. She has ridden Shimano Dura Ace for a couple years and wanted to stick with what she knows. No worries there. Shimano DA shifters, Front D, Rear D. The rest is up for grabs. We chose Zipp SL handlebars with the Ergo Short and Shallow reach. They weighed in at 158grams. Then for seat post and stem we went with a 96gram New Ultimate 90mm stem that is CNC machined for lightness while maintaining strength. New Ultimate also was used for the seat post...at 130grams for a carbon post its plenty stiff. I even did a seated effort on this bike and the post was solid. Both are simple and elegant. For the brakes we chose the KCNC road brakes, they are CNC machined and weigh exactly HALF what DA brakes weigh. 15ograms for the pair. The saddle is a Specialized Toupe...it matches too good to care if it feels good or not. Just kidding, it does happen to work for her since she had this on a previous bike and liked it. The power is taken from her shoes and put into the KMC chain via the Rotor crank set up. Agilis 516 gram cranks, Compact 50/36 Qrings, and the bb is the SABB Ceramic. The cranks are VERY stiff and light due to CNC machining of the arms and having the arm hollowed out as well. The red anodizing ont the BB and cranks gave a great play into the KCNC bolts, ceramic Pulley wheels, and other bolts on the bike and rear D. Not to mention the Nokon cables. Those are black eyelets with red ones every 5th black one. Doing that on a Guru with internally routed cables requires about 2 hours of time to get it right...can you say NetFlix?
She has a power tap wheel set for training and a Zipp 303 tubular set for race day. The bike with the Zipps comes in at 14.3lbs. Look out for posts on results from the rider/rig combo in 2009.

Today's wet and windy 90 miler

A picture of the money makers (my thighs) and my beautiful Bont shoes just covered in grime.
The Kirklee just covered in muddy spray. Jack and Adam's water bottles...showing love to my Austin friends!
Chris and Gary getting some food and below is Gary...who looks more like he did a cross race rather than a road ride.
The crew who HTFU and rode hard today! SPOT ON!

So since I got the keys to Shama Cycles I have not ridden my bike nor seen my pillow before midnight as is evident from the timing of this posting. But I love what I do. Also from over doing it last Friday I have not been able to ride or run due to some nerve damage in my left leg. Its slowly getting better and today (Friday the 26th) I went out for a ride with some buddies.
Chris Lockwood, John Cascio, Gary Zimmerman, and myself met at Euan MacKay's house there next to Memorial Park. I of course was running late and had them roll out a couple min late.
Since I had not ridden in a while I had my bike cleaned up, kit right out of the dryer, freshly shaved legs, the whole nine for a great ride with a big group we were supposed to meet up with. I roll out of the house to realize that the roads are wet, its kinda misty and the wind is blowing out of the south it seems. What a day for rolling with a gimp leg after not riding for almost two weeks anyway. Our ride starts with Chris contacting some of the other people we are supposed to meet up with. Apparently we are the only cyclist in Houston who HTFU (or are just sadists) for a ride this early in the morning. We get down on our main road heading south out of Houston and I am drafting last in line to get out of the wind but having to drop back because of all the muddy spray being kicked up through one section of some nasty road. We are all just getting just as dirty as can be...except Euan who is pulling up the ENTIRE time into the wind. I think we were holding 21 to 23 most of the time. My legs are on fire and I am having to be mindful of my pedal stroke on the left by about mile 3o. I can tell I have not ridden and been over working. OUCH. John is fatigued as well and is cursing Euan for the pace he is setting. Chris and Gary just sucked it up and sucked wheel. Of course when we hit one section and Euan took a wee break he had a very sinister grin after hearing the about the pain he was inflicting on our small group. GEEZE. Finally as we hit our turn around point and were about a mile from first rest stop I took a go at Euan. We were straight on into the wind and I just knew he was gonna go, I took off after him and we start laying it down side by side Poker Faces the whole way. Laying it down was at about 400+ watts at only like 21 mph. I kept trying to edge my wheel in front of his but even after 45 miles of pulling, he still would edge back in front of me...finally I popped and limped the last quarter mile into the country gas station. Of course to save my fragile male ego from any damage I quickly reminded myself and Euan that I am only using one leg here and that I have been off the bike for over a week and I have been working alot and blah blah blah. I feel much better now. LOL
So we stock up on some calories for our ride back looking forward to some tail wind, laugh at how bad that sucked riding through all that crap and comment on how dirty we all are. AHHHH...we are feeling pretty bad a$$ right about now. ;-) The ride back some how did not seem that easy. Like a dumby I tore off with Euan again, this time at 30plus for several miles and over shot our turn. So we had to turn back into the wind to make the right turn and catch up to the guys with Chris who knew the route and made the right turn. Everyone is getting tired and ready to be off the bike. Its been a harder day than normal. Chris though realized towards the end that he is only about 20 miles from hitting his goal of riding 10,000 miles in 2008. WOW WOW WOW!
We near the end about a mile from Euan's house and John (who has been tired and complaing the whole ride) tears off to attack Euan up a common sprint hill. Just watching them take off made lactic acid rush into my thighs. John basically gave Euan a perfect lead out but not with out making Euan work for it...as they hit 34 going up the hill. CRAP!
We got to E's house and washed off our bikes before heading home. Each of us knowing that this was a great ride and would not have had it any other way.

A chick's bike...more to come.

Ok, this bike belongs to a good friend. She competes in triathlons and loves to get out and ride on the weekends. We have slowly tricked out her Guru Venio and for Christmas she got these Edge wheels. WOW! More to come on this build...I just had to shoot a pic and post now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

This is a set of custom wheels that I had laced up for a lucky girl who got them as a Christmas gift from her bf that just got in a set for himself a week ago. So for a solid week my friend and talked up these wheels and how amazing they are and how great they would be on her Guru as well and how much lighter they would make it over the wheels she has. Just constant rubbing in how great these things are. Today, Christmas day, she got her gift and was floored...and immediately went out on a ride with her bf (who just got some MAJOR points) and was amazed. More to come on that ride and her future ones.

The first set we got in went to a customer/friend who got them for his new Guru Crono that is coming in in the next couple days. So basically he has been riding them everyday since he got them. This is an Edge 68 Clincher rim, DT Swiss Aerolite Spokes, Tune Hubs, Edge Rim Strips, Michelin Latex tubes, Schwable Ultremo tires, Tiso cassette. The raw wheelset, with out tubes and tires, weighs in at 1470grams. For a deep dish clincher that is pretty amazing.
This is the rear wheel, Tiso 12-25 cassette (112 grams) this is a 24 hole hub, 16 on the drive side in a cross pattern and 8 radial laced on the non drive side. The incredibly high spoke tension allowed on these wheels due to the spoke holes being molded in (all other carbon rims have the holes drilled out) matched with the unique ratchet sound of the Tune hub makes for a VERY distinct sound when coasting on these...the hollow carbon rim just echos everything beautifully and every shift makes a commanding "tang" that says watch out.

This is the front wheel, 20 hole hub radial laced. Smooth as butter with a nice little hum as is slips down the road...as it passes you effortlessly.

First day for carpeting

So this morning started off pretty well. Ran into a pretty empty Galleria to get my daughter's Christmas gift from Movado. In and out at 9:30am and I can't complain. Stopped by FedEx for some shipping needs and then to the shop. Figured out some carpet needs and called up a friend and by 2pm I had 1100sqft of carpet in the shop. Now rolling it out and making it stick is another thing. But who knew cyclists could be so resourceful in remodeling jobs. So far its been all FOPs that ride that have been doing all the work on the shop. Its great to have so many friends who are able to help like this.
By Friday I hope to have the rest of the carpet done. Till then I have a Guru build and a Edge Wheelset to attend to.

Still painting, but mostly done

Ok, so at the urging of some friends who were tired last night and wanted to go home....we stopped painting but were not done. So today, with the help of some more FOPs I was able to pretty much finish up. Now its just ripping off tape and then a little more touch up.
IT LOOKS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!!! If I do say so myself.
Still dealing with my foot, but I just HTFU and get on with it.
Tomorrow...Carpet!

My weekend is over

So I this morning I woke up kinda late, tired from staying up late the night before, hit the kitchen for some cereal and then a shower. First stop was Home Depot, and about $900 later I was headed to the shop with Starbucks in hand. I finished up taping and getting everything I could prepped for paint. I was feeling like there was so much to do and was not sure how it would all get painted. But after the FOPs showed up and got busy, it was nothing. Phil Trender (DJ P) brought his smaller setup and fed us all some tunes. 12 rollers going out of 25 gallons of Ralph Lauren Rally Red, Gentle Rain light grey, Down Pour darker grey. In 5 hours it was totally transformed and all I have to do is one more final coat of paint in a couple places. We went through some quality pizza and beer as well. Now I should be able to finish the paint on Monday and then hit the carpet either before or after Christmas.
Last Sunday so many things were up in the air and uncertain. Tonight I am sitting in my own shop, that looks really good thanks to the help of alot of friends for various things. Its very comforting to know I have the support of so many great people. So I sit here grateful and looking forward to the next week.
I can not wait to open up and do what I love to do the way I want to do it. Helping people one at a time.

The paint party

Jorge scraping off little letters one at a time. Thanks Flavia!
The service area is finally looking nice
Jenny put in some early work transforming the service area.
The front showroom area is looking much nicer.
Philip Trender, aka DJ P, brought the mini DJ set up to mix the tunes that made us whistle while we worked.

A Chris Lockwood ride

This is Aimee, (her hubby Trey in the back) Myself, Helen Tarr
Some of the crew...
I like my legs in this picture
Aimee and Helen
John Cascio, rolling well that day...

Kirklee, demo frame, my parts

Rotor Agilis Cranks, ceramic SABB bottome bracket...spins forever too, Q-Ring is on ALL my bikes. New Ultimate bottle cages might not be the best option in a crit, but they only weigh 11grams a peice.
So here is the rear D, red kit from Tiso on thier rear D (156grams as its seen here)that is CNC machined...also thier ceramic pulley wheels are not only color matched for the bling affect but spin FOREVER! Red Nokon cables for the tight turn for the cable, red KCNC skewers.
The 75gr rear brake red anodized. KCNC seatpost clamp
14.7lbs of some seriously nice carbon work. Full carbon frame. Fulcrum Racing Zeros. Rotor stem, cranks, SABB ceramic, Ritchey WCS Evolution carbon bars, Easton fork and seat post. Dura Ace shifters, KCNC Brakes, TISO front and rear D with ceramic pulles. New Ultimate bottle cages.

Guru Geneo Platinum/Kandy Red

Zipp 300 cranks, Far Near chainrings, KCNC red bolts,
Sram Red rear D, Yes I threaded those silver and red Nokon cables one by one. Tiso cable bolt, KCNC Pulley wheel bolts, KMC 10sp chain, KCNC skewers (40grams a set)
Guru Geneo, Kandyred and Platinum. As it sits there, 15lbs flat. Those are carbon clincher wheels from Reynolds and some VERY fine Schwable Ultrimo tires

Some pics of the shop in progress

The service area...pre paint.
The store front

the glue half way scraped up...pre 1200 calorie Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd
Done, but I paid the price with a bit of an injury.
The pile of carpet ripped up with my bare hands. Yeah, the carpet ALMOST won!

Opening the store

Ok, its super late. I am tired. But I need to do this to get it started.
Hello all, welcome to my blog. My name is Philip Shama and I am opening my own custom bike shop. Owning my own business is a dream come true and I am going to put all I have into it to make sure its a success.

So I am starting work on the space and will post updates as it goes.