So DHL delivered the Airdrop fade works today but I was at work until 9pm so I am going to build the bike in my lunch hour today.
I have unboxed the bike and found that I ordered a raw frame instead of the Matt Black frame that I wanted but I kind of like the raw so I’m not too sad about it to be honest.
My Son has decided that he wants the Black bike so I will swap the following parts from his bike to the new bike:
Back Wheel so that there is a 16t freewheel on it
175mm Cranks with 32T Chain ring
Chain (to work with the 32×16 gearing)
Cut down bars and ODI Vans grips as better on the track.
I will swap the new parts onto my Son’s Airdrop Fade:
Back wheel with 11t sprocket on.
170mm Cranks with 28T chain ring on.
Chain
New Bars with Gusset grips on as grips better for riding without gloves so riding to work, riding pump tracks and riding skate parks which is what this bike will mostly be used for.
Until I ride the new bike I am not sure if I will keep the seat or not but I think that I will most likely put a race seat on my works as I am not planning to sit down much if at all! And I also find big seats annoying on the track so a race seat will be more low profile and stay out of the way a bit more. I am also going to run clipless pedals on my bike as I ended up in hospital the last time I rode the track with flat pedals to I am not doing that again!
I don’t plan on riding the raw fade too much unless it is on the track OR when I am riding with my son as I will use his bike most of the time as they are both almost identical apart from bar width, grips, crank length and gearing which was the plan. I want to keep mine more pristine and use his bike as more of a daily driver / work horse 🙂
I am thinking that I may just swap the drivers on the rear wheels ad the wheels are already setup for the bikes that they are on so swapping the drivers is way easier than swapping the whole wheel over it also means that my bike has brand new wheels too 🙂
I have decided that I will leave the 28×11 gearing on my Son’s bike to make it easier to ride to work on as it is slightly higher than the 32×16 that is on there at the moment. It is also supposedly better for pump tracks and skateparks too so we will see if we need to drop it to 28×14 to be the same as a cruiser gear or not.
The more I look at the raw frame the more I actually like it so I’m please that I made the mistake now 🙂
I think that the Matt Black is better for riding to work and back on as it is more low key and flys under the radar and the raw is better for racing as it is a bit more showy 🙂 I am glad now that my Son picked the Matt black frame as it means that we have the best colour way for each use IMHO!
I have had a little test of the forks and the Pikes fell much better than the Manitou circus expert forks that are on my son’s Airdrop Fade so I am super happy with the Airdrop Fade Works purchase.
***** UPDATE*****
While trying to swap everything over I ran into the issue that the cranks on the new Airdrop Fade Works are stuck on so I have had to buy a 2ft long breaker bar and an 8mm 1/2 adapter to try and persuade the crank to undo as I am not able to get it to move with the tools that I have at home. This means that I am not going to be able to get either bike fully built up today and my lounge is full of half built airdrop fade bikes! I have bought a new chain as well which only arrives tomorrow so there isn’t a massive rush to get them built up today!
I did manage to get the bars and drivers switched over so all that needs doing tomorrow is swapping the cranks and sorting the chains then we have 2 fully built bikes ready to ride 🙂