Shakedown Ride

Well I had a shakedown on the Blue.

Now I will dispense my thoughts on the ride and such.

Some background info: the route is a mix of gravel, dirt, road, singletrack.

Things that grabbed my attention from the gitgo:

The fork is STIFF. NO deflection at all. Amazingly night and day difference between the Norcross fork and my Edge fork.

Two key points of difference of the Norcross.

1. It has 1 1/8 to 1 1/5

2. As the fork approaches the dropouts there is a slight bulge laterally on the both legs

The bottom bracket is HUGE!

Blue designed the BaBB not to move any which way. The Big Ass BB is one massive unit. The down tube is biovalized with raised backbone to add more rigidity to the frame, the seat tube is also biovalized creating a smooth transition to the BaBB. Blue also added squovial chainstays that are as large as the Dura Ace cups at the connection of the three tubes at the BaBB. I have only seen a BaBB this big on bikes that have press in fit bearings such as the Trek or Scott's.

Other things that I noticed:

The measurements of the ML say a 160mm headtube, well I'm measured the actual headtube and I'm getting 140mm, hmmm? The problem that this has created for me is

that when I go to portage the Blue? My longass arm hits the seattube due to a smaller triangle that I'm use to on my old Orbea. Small problem but I think a larger triangle

would help eliminate this.

Top tube also is biovalized with raised backbone down its length to make sure no twisting

is going on when in action.

I need to put more time on carbon frame before I will make my overall judgement. But my first impressions are positive. Wheelies seem to be a little harder. The flickability of the bike is very impressive. It is more confident inspiring than my old rig. I can't wait to put the race wheels on.

Oh yea, it's light, really light.