XO-3 Evolving and Pour Over Coffee

Pour Over Coffee... I was introduced at our local ME Swing's Coffee Shop (note the beans) and have aquired the necessary equipment and Christmas from my Sister Kait included the lovely and stylish Chemex carafe/brewer that allows me to make up to 8 cups of the delicious black elixer!

I took the XO-3 on it's longest outing, still a modest 4.5ish mile route for some espresso in Shirlington.  Nice jaunt all around, I very much enjoyed my Christmas gift of a 'hood ornament' that you'll see in the photo's below.  The gearing I'm running right now is 40x17 and at least in the very flat immediate surrounding area that would seem to be a bit low... I'm thinking a 44x17 might be the sweet spot but I want to go longer and do a full commute route into DC before I make any changes.  Speaking of changes, since the morning ride I swapped out the original XO-3 M-Bar's for real Nitto M-Bar's with a Dirt Drop Stem.  This swap allows me to use the same cockpit that was on the Atlantis and get the bar's up above saddle height.

Ahhh saddle height... well the XO-3's seatpost remains stubbornly stuck in place, a bit high for me but rideable.  WD-40, degreaser, ammonia, elbow grease... so far not the right combo but we'll keep working.  hacksaw is the bottom line.  For now I'm riding it with now binder bolt in the hopes that road vibes and my own weight jacks it loose.

Spining along 4 Mile Run trail this morning, I love this little airplane my Mom gave me for Christmas!

XO-3 out coffeneuring (lower case) in Shirlington Village.  The MTB lever'd M-bar's were not to survive the day.

Close up on the sweet noisemaker of an airplane.

Boom.... real M-Bars!  :)  More pictures later this week for sure, I got both brakes working solidly and an initial inner-tube bar wrap going as well.  The real Nitto Dirt Drop (as opposed to the short B-stone one) gives me the height I need to match the seatpost which is still frozen in the seat tube... just a bit to high.