The great bicycle shuffle of 2010

After finding out I'd be receiving a larger tax refund then I'd expected and talking with MK a bit about bikes in general and his attitude toward them more specifically, I started making some new decisions and pulled a slightly unexpected, though much needed trigger on a decision. The Cannondale Scalpel I picked up a year ago has been sitting un-ridden since Big Bear, despite the fact replaced the derailleur hangar and rear derailleur and chain back a few months ago and it was ready to ride. I've just come to prefer the Jamis and every time I head out I've looked past the Scalpel to my SS.

Needless to say, after over 6 months of non-riding it was time to make the decision. I posted the bike on CL Wednesday and sold it Thursday night for the same price I bought it for though with an updated derailleur, chain and RD cable.

Origin 8 spacers on the 9 speed cassette hub body with a Surly 18t cog.

Without hesitating I headed over to Family Bike Shop and picked up the Stans wheel set with a nine speed rear hub, set it up with a sweet looking Origin 8 spacer kit. These will be replacing my laserdisc/no name hub wheels that came stock with the '07 Exile 29'er and will provide the opportunity to turn the single into a 9 speed if I decide I want to by simply picking up a shifter derailleur set and cassette. These look pretty enticing too:

Rear Derailleur

Shifter

That CASH money green would look pretty sweet on the green Dragon 29'er frame...

Stans ZTR Arch rims laced to ZTR hubs. To be set up tubeless once I figure out my preferred tires.

So, the wheel upgrade leaves me with 3 remaining original parts for the entire bike from the Exile; the headset, the crankset and the rigid fork.

A new Reba Race 29'er fork is due in sometime late this month and 2 crank brothers cobalt headsets will be as well for easy swapping between rigid/suspended forks. That leaves the crankset for which an upgrade is currently being contemplated as well. The Truvativ Stylo 1.1 would be a nice upgrade from the current FireX though the Noir would be a real dandy. Not sure I want to go with carbon cranks though so unless someone has a better suggestion for ways to go with the SS crankset I may go with the relatively inexpensive Stylo set.

More to come but I've gone on long enough again.