Dialed in?

So after the shake down ride I had a few complaints, or rather my body did. The first thing I found was that my hands were numb pretty quick, I also had lower back pain the whole ride. I felt really goofy the whole ride. I got home and adjusted the saddle to more centered and level, this seemed to have eliminated my back issues on todays ride. The other thing I adjusted was my bar height. I have a Thomson 5* rise, and had read in a few places that most people have a tendancy to raise their bars when they experience numbness and this can often make things worse. I figured what the heck, and flipped the stem to a -5* and lowered my stem 10mm... two for two, no hand numbness on this ride. A final note, back when I was thinking about a custom build, I reached out to Joe P. for advice since I liked the look of his custom a lot. He gave me some great advice telling me to replace the stock M5 bolts on my Paragon's with some more sturdy M6 bolts from the hardware store. They're ugly as sin, but work flawlessly. They can be torqued nicely and have a larger surface area and deeper socket. Thanks Joe, you eliminated a problem I didn't have yet, and got rid of the squeeky sliders. Sorry, no pic's as I was leading a new 29er convert around my beloved trail. Always fun when someone new gives a "woohoo", really lets you know they are enjoying themselves.

For those thinking about an Optimus Ti:

The frame is nice, and not as noodly as I originally thought. Replace the stock M5 bolts with some deep socket M6 bolts (Lowes/Home Depot). Have plenty of Ti prep or anti seize compound of your choice on hand (bb can squeek if not properly lubed). The only misses I can see are: the welds are ugly, you know you bought Chi-ti with this bike. This is very noticable at the brake hose guides & water bottle mounts. I'm also surprised that a nice sterling headbadge is apparently attached with what looks like chewing gum... maybe the guy on the assembly line ran out of screws and decided his juicy fruit needed a good home... oh well, when my 2 years are up I'll drill the headbadge in place or replace it with something I design. Oh yeah, decals are a little shite, but all the more reason to remove them.

TTFN

FB