race bike: arrival and setup

The RIP9 has been a good bike for exploring world of xc and enduro races. But it's a lot of bike for most of those courses, and I got interested in having a light, hardtail, 29er. After considering a few options, I settled on the Motobecane Team Fly29er: <24 lbs, titanium frame, Reba Race fork (100mm), and quality components (full specs). It's available as direct order only, which is a little nerve-wracking but an incredible deal.

I swapped a few things:

• Thompson seatpost for OEM Ritchey post (too short)
• 90mm FSA stem for OEM 115mm Ritchey stem
• QR seatpost clamp for stock non-QR clamp
• FSA SL-K bar (660mm wide carbon bar w/ slight rise) for OEM 570mm wide Al Ritchey bar - ridiculously narrow, I think my road bars are wider.
• Stans wheelset (front: 355 Race w/ AC hub, rear: Flow w/ Hadley hub) from OEM Vuelta wheelset

The bike arrived just after we left for a long weekend out of town (a neighbor accepted delivery). Oh, the waiting.... The bike was well packed and arrived in good shape. The welds were neat.

Though well packed and fully assembled, it needed some work. The cranks, BB, and steerer had not been greased. Mike tuned it up:

As equipped (for now):