For those not familiar with the THC build:

We race, we ride and we care. We start building every bike by taking it apart. Bare frame baby. We face the headtube, face the brake caliper mounting tabs, locktite the pivots, grease the bb shell and headtube and then,,, we build the most capable bike the chosen parts are capable of. We grease the head tube and cups before pressing them in to assure no creaks or oxidation, including the base plate. We grease the bottom bracket cups before installation and use a torque wrench to snug the pinch bolts used on most of today's two piece cranks. Pedal threads are greased, then installed. In fact, every bolt on the bike is removed, from the shifters to the derailleur hanger for grease or locktite, even the frame is greased where the hanger is installed so there is no creak between the two while dropping your competition.

Tires and tubes are removed and spoke tension is improved upon by our master wheelmen. We remove the cassette to grease the freehub splines and lock ring, plus it's nice to sometimes throw the spoke frisbee at Shawn. We remove the rotor bolts to locktite them and install them with a torque wrench. The tires are talc'd and the tire labels are lined up with the straight valve stem. We over-inflate them to seat the bead, then bleed them to the appropriate pressure. On tubeless tires, we add a couple ounces of Stan's No Tubes to insure tubeless pleasure. Skewers are greased, then over tightened for the first wheel install to set any grooves that would lead to a loose wheel before adjusting them perfectly. Hub bearings are adjusted a touch loose out of the frame so that when you tighten your skewers and compress you axel, all play is gone and you're not over training with over tightened bearings!

Front and rear derailleur set screws and cage position are adjusted to prepare for drivetrain tuning. Factory housing lengths vary as much as Mexican freshness, so we trim or replace each piece to fit optimally to each bike, custom routing them to keep noise, frame rub and aesthetics pure. We often conjure our own hardware to achieve this goal and put tons of thought into how it should look and perform. Hydraulics are bled, tuned and squeezed HARD to check all fittings. Cables are stretched and tuned, focusing on the most frequently used gears.

We rest the bike on the floor to set the controls the way experienced riders like them. Far enough from the grips your hand is not cramped by them and leverage on the brakes is good while not so far that shifting is impaired. We set the new STI (Shimano Total Integration) controls even closer to the stem which makes using them much more ergonomic, not to mention brake power. We snug up the bolts enough to hold the controls firm, but not in a death grip that could lead to broken parts during a trail induced adjustment. (you know, a crash) In fact, we inspect each control clamp and sand the edges to avoid any acute damage to your handlebar. Carbon does not like acute damage. We straddle the bike to adjust the headset bearings then tighten the stem in line with the tire. Handlebars have been sighted from squatting beside the bike and leveling out the sweep to be parallel to the ground. Stem bolts are tightened in a star pattern, keeping the face plate equal distance from the stem top and bottom. Carbon is rad, but extra care must be taken to inspect the edges of stems and controls where sharp burrs can lead to stress risers. You do NOT want some hack over tightening your stem or controls, ever! We sight the saddle much the same way as the handlebar, setting it flat as if there were a contractor's level resting nose to rear. The rails have been greased like the clamp hardware, so there will not be any seated creaking, at least for a season or so. The seat quick release has been greased so you don't need gloves to adjust your seat height, either. Back in the stand, the chain gets a dose of Tri-Flow, excess is wiped clean, and our THC sticker is lovingly placed in a strategic position (we like it so your competition can see who pro built your ride :-) so we usually try to put it on the back of the seat tube!

Finally, hours later, we are ready to test ride the bike. This is not a mellow cruise around the parking lot. We first grab a low gear, a fist full of rotor and work up a sweat burnishing the pads and discs. It starts out easy and loud, then the squalling fades to a scrubbing sound and braking power spikes. If a bubble was in the line, it would rear it's ugly head during this test. Brakes solid, we shift through each gear, hammering up to speed, coast no hands to see how the bike tracks for frame alignment, then work our way back down the gears to the easy ones again. Dragging the rear brake we shift from middle to small and back again, testing for chain drop or any other issues, like dragging on the cage or simply not shifting under load. We keep a multi allen wrench in our pocket so fine tuning can be done on the test ride, while any more involved adjustments are noted and performed back in the stand. We have parking blocks to test suspension on, checking pressures and damping by rolling fast and slow over them a few times until dialed. Front and rear shocks must be matched to keep the main frame stable and handling predictable. Of course, on bikes with inertia valves you have to hit the parking blocks to test the suspension, otherwise you have no clue how they feel.

Last we pedal back up to speed and really stand on the top gear. This has the effect of flexing cranks and frames so as to push the big chainring towards the outside plate of the front derailleur cage. If it rubs, it will drive you mad, so we make sure it does not rub. Cooling down, we breath in the fresh air, admire the view of Sierra Azule's excellent ridgeline, known as the Dragon's Back or Roller Coaster depending on who you ride with. Dreaming we were up there about to drop into Dogmeat, also known as Widow Maker, we cruise back into the shop to make any follow up adjustments. Pedros makes awesome polish called Bike Lust, which we rub lovingly into the bike, then stand back to admire it, staple a tag to the rear brake housing, copy the serial number to that bikes own inventory record and proudly sign our name to it. Your bike is ready to go wherever you dare to take it and our signature shows the pride in which it was built.

Our goal is to be sure all problems on the trail are pilot errors. Every bike comes with 90 days of unlimited service, including any adjustments, installations, fitting or shock set up. (Note: there have been many cases of riders purchasing a bike from us then proceed to vanish. Much later, they re-surface with a completely worn out drivetrain, different tires, bald, no brakes to speak of, thin ass grips and looking for fresh parts and general love) If you bought a bike from Trail Head Cyclery, you will be able to get any replacement parts associated with your bike here. We strive to keep an un-rivaled inventory of small parts ranging from hydraulic caliper piston seals to the derailleur hanger model your bike needs. In most cases you have a choice of items to select from, like sintered metal brake pads or resin, Teflon cables or slick stainless, 4mm or 5mm shift housing, eight speed or nine, Shimano or SRAM, Race Face, Easton or Thomson,,, Hayes, Avid, Hope, the whole M-series, Danger Boy or stock, Crank Bros, Time, Azonic, Syncros, Welgo and Look,,, Evil, MRP or Gamut,,, Salsa, SPOT, Surley, FSA, Black Spire and TruVative,,, Oakley and Smith,,, Marzocchi, Maverick, Manitou or Fox, or Tange Steel, light ass 129 gram tubes or thorn defying sealing ones, and of course every tire worthy of being ridden in NorCal....! Ride hard, take chances, wear your parts out and please come back for more.

Posted Valentine's day, 2005