Ok…so here is the story. For awhile now, Jenn (my other half…and the better half) has been wanting to get into riding. As you can imagine…I am all for this, but with the wedding coming up and other expenses, she didn’t think she would be getting a bike any time soon. With the help of Chad at Red Barn Bikes, I surprised her with her first real mountain bike.
Now, there was a really fine line that I was jumping around in choosing the right bike for her. I didn’t want it to be really cheap because then she wouldn’t like it because the bike was terrible. I also didn’t want to get something really expensive in case she ends up not liking it. That fine line came together on a great deal on a Virtue 4 from Felt. 5″ (130mm) of travel with a U-Turn Rock Shox Recon up front ended up fitting the bill (and the wallet) perfectly. It even has a pinkish Equilink!
Now to the build…
Johnny checking out his new girlfriend…that’s right…I finally got you a girl to play with.
This is the first “prebuilt” bike I have ever bought. To my surprise, it is almost completely built inside the box! Even the rear tire is mounted with the chain length taken care of! I was so amazed by this that I had to call Chad and joke around about it for awhile. “So you mean I really don’t even have to cut a single line?!”
This is where the fun began. I took longer to get all the packing off of her than it did to actually build her up. I made a mess of the garage with all of the zip ties and packing.
So once you get all of this in the trash can and clean up the garage…this is what you are left with.
Johnny is ready to assemble his new girlfriend. I think he is just pumped to hang out with someone other than just me for once!
Here she is…the first time ever in the stand. Do you remember that first time stand feeling? It’s a great one isn’t it?
Once she was in the stand…some items had to go before I started.
She went together extremely easy. Quite possibly the easiest and fastest build that I have ever put together. She looks pretty good too. She even has some sexy carbon stays.
It looks like Johnny likes his new girlfriend…
As a matter of fact…they all get along pretty well.
So now the family is complete…for now…
Thanks for playing along with my story. For some reason…I like to make a story out of my builds. Take a look at the Terremoto build on the site to get another one.
Now onto the Felt. Overall, the bike is pretty solid. It feels like a trials bike in my hands because it is a 15.5″, but it will fit her perfectly. There are some thing that are going to have to change. First off, I went ahead and put my Hope QR’s on the front and back. After looking at the cheap QR’s that were supplied with bike, I decided that Jenn was not going to ride those. The other part that will be going as soon as possible is the big ring along with the cheap imitation bash guard. I am going to put a real bash on, and the cheap one broke during shipping. Eventually, a RP23 and a new set of brakes are going to be in order. As she gets better at riding, they may turn into a necessity. Other than that, the bike is spec’d out perfectly for her. As she becomes a better rider, we can switch out parts here and there (probably with pink ones), but this bike is above my expectations for what I thought would be her first bike. I am pretty stoked about the whole thing and spending time riding with her.