New DeSalvo Team Cyclocross bike!!

I took delivery of my long awaited DeSalvo Team Cyclocross frame and fork on Friday the 27th. I quickly, with the help of Adam at the Counterbalance, built it up in time for the "Meet the Team" group ride the morning of the 28th. Man is this frame sleek and beautiful!! She turned out just as I had imagined her!! This is a frame I had asked Mike DeSalvo to build for me when Jeff, Todd, and I put in the FIRST team frame orders back in May of 2005! Mike built me a beautiful track frame instead which I am very greatful for!! But I still wanted and needed a cyclocross frame. I had race the previous season (2004) on my Surly Steamroller which is by design a track frame!!
And the I went and broke my leg and the cyclocross frame went to the back burner:( Even though I will not be able to race any 'cross races this year, still not strong enough and Erik my PT won't allow it, I still wanted to have Mike build this frame so I could ride it and get ready for Cyclocross season 2007!! The frame is made from Columbus Zona steel tubing and it is VERY light. The rear dropouts are horizontal with a derailleur hanger drive side and a bottle opener non-drive side so I can either ride it singlespeed, fixed (rear brake mounts are removeable for a cleaner look), or in it's current configuration Geared 1x8! The bike rides like a dream!!! It is painted Matte Black with Blood Red panels and lettering!
Very stealth like, MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm......!Mike built the fork with a 1 inch steerer tube even though the frame has an 1 1/8 inch head tube. He included some headtube reducers so I can use the 1 inch fork. The 1 inch steel fork is about a pound lighter than the 1 1/8 inch steel fork and Mike did not have any 1 1/8 inch available so it all worked out. It also afforded me the opportunity to use the 1 inch Ti Chris King headset I picked up at the Bike Swap for $40!!! In it's current build it has Salsa Bell Lap 46cm bars with interceptor levers, a left front Dura Ace brake lever and a right rear 8 spd Sora shifter/lever. Salsa 1 inch cro-mo stem black 1 inch CK Ti headset Paul cantilever brakes front and rear. Thomson post and Selle Italia Flight saddle. World Class Ti 113mm bottom bracket and Ti SRP bolts. White Industries ENO crank 170mm with a 38 tooth chainring and Time ATAC pedals. Rear XTR short cage derailleur, SRAM 8 spd cassette, and currently a cheap Bontrager rear wheel and my Dura-Ace hubbed front wheel off my road bike with Ritchey Tom Slick tires. I believe the weight comes in around 21 1/2 lbs without Race Blade fenders, saddle tool pouch and a black waterbottle cage. When in cyclocross singlespeed mode it will have my fixed/free Phil Wood rear wheel with a White Industries Dou freewheel 16/19 tooth and a Mavic fron hub tubular wheel both with cyclocross tires. Nice stainless steel head badge!! I do believe this bike might usurp my old school 1989 Specialized Sirrus road bike as my main all around bike for training and road riding!

I have also been working with James at Black Sheep Bikes on my new Ti 29er mountain bike. It's gonna have S&S couplers so I can take it on the airplane with me where ever I go!!! SOOOoo if you know of anyone that wants to buy an 18" Kona Explosif mountain bike totally tricked out to the nines and/or a sweet 56cm Kona Sutra road/touring bike also fully upgraded shoot me a line at brandon448 at yahoo dot com! I am slimming the stables down to the '89 Sirrus road bike (had it since high school and I'll ride it till it breaks!), DeSalvo Track (racer), DeSalvo 'Cross, and Black Sheep 29er Mnt Bike. Can you believe Brandon with only FOUR bikes!?!?! Abigael was a scurvy pirate for halloween this year! She deffinately lived up to the part and would throw down an "AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!" at the drop of a hat. She went to school on the 31st in her costume and her class went trick or treating around the campus as well as that evening in the Magnolia Village. Check out the Lockwoods blog for more. I am doing VERY well in school aceing my math class, solid B+ (87%) in A&P, and doing ok in Nutrition....