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May 19, 2021 21:22:52 GMT
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That was the cleverest title I could think of in 24 hours. Not a great use of time.
Years ago I got into biking when I applied to work in Halfords fitting car stereos and instead they put me in the Bikehut and forgot about me.
I was thrown in at the deep end as a full-timer working with Dave, who was a keen cyclist and really knew his stuff but was very disorganised. I spent six months picking up bits of knowledge from him, and from Kim, the veteran bicycle builder who showed up a couple of days a week to service all the awkward DH bikes and racers that got brought in specifically because he was so well known and so good at repairs.
I'm pretty sure that was November 05 - no, I'm positive, I remember now, I quit drinking and smoking the day I left the previous job and started at Halfords. I was there until about April of 06 when I left in frustration to go work at a local car dealer. Frustrated because I'd left a supervisory role to move to Halfords, having been promised to be trained as a deputy manager only to be left hanging in the bike dept. after a store manager change less than a week after I started. If I recall there was at least one more manager change within the 6 months I was there. When I left Halfords there were several of the guys especially the part timers that were sad to see me go, and we stayed in touch.
Wow this is getting right into the story now! After the dealership job I took a management role at a start-up PPE-gear outlet and basically created the market and the contacts for them around the local area. From November 06 to February 07 I didn't see daylight as I worked every available moment for them, pulling in big contracts with the local engineering firms and setting up their inventory and invoicing systems (I don't even remember how to do that now!). Then in Feb 07 my fiancee and I separated and I took it pretty hard, so they fired me as "I wasn't capable of managing a business".
I took a few weeks off and lay on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, catching up on all the boxsets and old movies I'd not seen since working my socks off for so long, and then when I was capable of getting up again I popped into Halfords for something and a couple of the guys in there accosted me and asked me if I was there to apply for the job. "What job?" I asked. "Dave's leaving" I was told. So I filled in an application on the spot, did an interview a day or two after (Friday) and started work on Monday. I basically told the manager that I knew the job and to just give it to me. He had been one of the people who interviewed me for the deputy manager role years before so we recognised each other.
However I did still have to then fight for the role - another guy was also hired at the same time to work in Bikehut and told he might get the senior position. He was reasonable enough but a little bit sloppy with organisation and bike-building so after a while they confirmed me as senior, gave me the store keys and thereafter I had to endure just a little bit of insubordination and back-stabbing from the other guy who felt as though I had been given the job he should have had.
So for two and a bit years I ran that Bikehut and took it from a regional store with below-average sales, to 2nd/3rd in the region on performance. The North of Ireland area were all compared with each other and although we could never match the sales that the 3 man team in the capital (Belfast) could get, we went from fighting to stay off bottom when I stepped in, to fighting for 2nd place (out of around 14/15? stores) and occasionally getting close to the top spot. Halfords never once came through on any of the promises to have us trained or accredited for building or servicing bicycles. Everything we knew, we learned 'on the job'. In the end they sent new hires from other stores to us so that I could train them in both department managing and the bicycle work itself.
The point I'm leading up to is - I got really into it. Sales were driven up because I spent the time to know what I was selling, to get into it, to experience it, and then to be able to sell with confidence. Some of the part-timers were able to take instruction, and they really did well with me as they applied the same techniques - and got a share of the sales bonuses we tended to hit. Some of the part timers were of course, useless.
So I started building my own bikes.
One of the part timers there was called Jonny and he ended up being one of my best friends for years and years after. He gave me an old bike frame he had spare and that's where I got going from. We were riding buddies for a long time and what I taught him about sales and cars he reciprocated with biking skills and drum'n'bass.
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May 19, 2021 21:47:22 GMT
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What Jonny gave me was an old yellow dual-suspension frame with no components on it. I have it saved on photobucket (remember those days!) as "kinesis built coyote ultralite alloy FS XC frame with easton tubing" I've done a little bit of research and found that it was made by Kinesis in either 1997 or 1998, and I have this picture from April 08 so that is probably around the time when I got it.  I didn't like the yellow & silver frame so I painted it with bits of black, bits of green, got some ex-MOD fabric tape and built it up with all sorts of components most of which was scrounged from other peoples upgrades or ebay. And built myself what became the "Coyote Sniperbike"   |
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May 19, 2021 22:01:11 GMT
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Around the same time I built more bikes. Being in Halfords I was very accustomed to working with the models they sold so I stuck with those as it was easy to get parts that fitted then.
I found out that the Carrera Banshee (a full suspension MTB) used a 2-3 year old Kona Stinky frame and after a good look around an older Stinky I was convinced, so I managed to get hold of a totally worn out Banshee and repainted it in bright-sear-your-eyes-neon pink. I think it had hydraulic brakes but I really can't remember the componentry I used on it. A pity because all I remember is that it was awesome. I ended up stripping it and selling it off in pieces, and gave the frame to a friend in Scotland I think.
Funnily enough, years later he gave me an original Carrera Banshee from around the same era, but I never got a chance to build it up and then he needed a frame so I sent it back to him last year.
Hopefully I'll find a picture and put it here later.
Also then I needed a bike for my then-girlfriend and I got her a Carrera Vulcan hardtail frame and repainted it in white and built it all up with white everything possible. I still have the bars here with the white lock-ons on it. I barely remember it either, but she didn't take to biking and so the bike ended up stripped down as well and the frame was sold I think, and the bits must have been recycled into other builds.
I found, restored, rode, hated, and sold, a Schwinn Stingray? - a long metallic red brute of a thing that would probably be very collectable now but I was glad to see the back of it.
I also thought I'd play at BMXs and so I hunted down a frame that I'd seen come and go very fast at Halfords - a light blue GT Tour that was 3 times the price of anything else but looked amazing. I eventually managed to find one and I built it with black plastic mag wheels, and basically Snafu everything else. I loved that bike, it was every bit as cool as I thought it would be. Only problem was, I was rubbish at BMXing and it didn't get used. As an ornament it was cool though.
I sold that to my friend in California for his son, who loved it (maybe still does?). I should have a picture of that one as well, I'll add in when I find it.
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May 19, 2021 22:12:19 GMT
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Not the very very first bike I ever had, but probably the second, was a white "Freestyler" BMX. It had orange mags, foam pads and a really hard plastic saddle. From sometime in the mid 90s to sometime around 2007, it lay in one of the sheds at home and slowly thought it was doomed to rust away. But no! It was dug out again by a young guy full of enthusiasm and with access to aerosol paints!    A good deal of effort went into making this a much better bike than it looks at first glance. I spent a long time hunting down white-wall tyres for it - if I remember the tread on them is little barefoot feet as well. The headstock was changed so the brake can run through it and there's no rear brake of course. Front brake upgraded, pegs added to rear axle, and as I recall it's all Raleigh-Diamondback gear.   I still have this and the rusty forks have matured with age just nicely, just like the Skoda Favorit it was painted to emulate and accompany. It's crazy to think that there are as many years since I modified that bike and that car, as they were old at that time. So with all the history out of the way, we can start on where we are today. |
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May 19, 2021 22:42:49 GMT
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After my riding buddy Jonny moved away I kind of just... stopped. I built and serviced a few bikes here and there for people, but sold all of my own except the Coyote/Kinesis and the Freestyler BMX. So then a more recent friend and I started talking about getting out biking again. He'd also been keen at one time and then life gets in the way doesn't it? Out came my full sus and his Specialized Hardrock and we went and had a laugh round a local trail. All of a sudden from talking about doing it for about a year, we went to regularly getting out and quickly a few other friends joined so now we have a wee group. The Kinesis was geared for DH riding and I'd not fitted a front mech, so it just doesn't go uphill at all. It's a bit overkill for the tracks we were on - we are essentially total beginners again. But I used it anyway, unable to keep up for the most part but still having a good time. Until a couple of weeks ago. The back wheel started rubbing on the frame but it was still straight so I figured I'd bent the axle or something.  Cleaned out the chain guides for the first time in years!  Bolted it all back together to see what was out of line and everything looked and felt fine. It had still been rideable, just rubbed heavily under pressure so it had to be something like a bushing flexing, right? No.  It's flexing under the sniper tape. Which can only mean...  Whoa. I'm actually impressed that the bit of inner tube and tape held that together, and that I was able to ride that out of the last trail, and that I managed to shear the thing altogether - there's no stress marks, no old breaks, no corrosion at all... So I'll get that repaired and then I want to change the bike up a bit. Not too much, but just change it. I had thought I might retire the frame, but it's too good. But it needs some more retro DH components. I'm pleasantly surprised at the younger me having built the bike pretty decent - it's running STX rear mech, Deore brakes, RST Capa forks, and I always point out the Hutchinson tyres because they're just big knobbly beasts. I think the forks are required on another bike I'm building now, but that just paves the way for some retro forks to go on, yeah? |
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May 20, 2021 10:13:21 GMT
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Back in the day, we used to call them' "trackers". Standard front cogs, large rear, 26 tooth IIR. Gears were out, as not deemed to be up to snuff. Only fancy racers and shopping bikes had those. So great gearing for off road, but took hours to get there! Either cow-horn handlebars or narrow straights, the latter for me as I mainly rode though tight woods. Frames, all heavy steel Raleigh or BSA, fancy Reynolds 351 were girly (and, more to the point, impossibly rare), so whatever you found. Front forks were hammered straight with bricks, 26" knobbly tyres as that was the only size you could get. Break it? Build another tomorrow. One of our local woods had a very steep hill with a drop off, around 12 foot, over we go, frame gently starts to sag and I'm faced with a three mile walk with two halves of a bike. Never mind, got another scrap frame at home, riding again tomorrow! Stupidly, and despite (or maybe because of) my advancing years, I bought a bike when I lived somewhere in Manila totally unsuited for it, sold it during our "Depression," and now I live somewhere that would be okay, and even fun to ride, don't have one. Hmmm...  |
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Last Edit: May 20, 2021 10:15:22 GMT by georgeb
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May 20, 2021 11:10:53 GMT
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You might struggle to repair that if it's an Alu frame. You'll make it weaker as the welding takes the heat treatment away. Seen it happen on a few nukeproofs, they love to crack.
As it's only a budget frame, no offence, you can probably get another/better frame cheaply. Even if it's a hardtail frame as I can't imagine that rear shock actually does all that much, other than be a pogo stick.
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May 20, 2021 11:29:49 GMT
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You've done well to use that frame and components for DH purposes, not surprised it eventually gave up the ghost though. The RST fork was their entry level with 80mm of travel wasnt it? Fair play to you giving it that sort of abuse!
I remember the Halfords spread rumours that the Banshee was a Kona frame too, I don't think there's much truth in it though, the weld positioning was different and linkage points also have some differences. Kona inspired is probably more accurate. They would have been made by Merida during that era, probably from a Taiwanese factory which could have also churned out frames for bigger brands.
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philsford
Part of things
Posts: 733
Club RR Member Number: 100
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May 20, 2021 17:20:14 GMT
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I was well into my bikes before motorbikes and cars came along when I turned 16\17. I was more into bmx's tbh having upto 10 of them at a time but I always had a mountain bike or 2 as well for the longer rides or for down the woods. I still have the last new bike I bought, its a limited edition Raleigh Kalahari which was the same spec as Raleigh Peak or Summit with no front shock option which you could order from the dealer.  I wish I had kept a couple of the bmx's that I had back then, I had a DB silverstreak and a beautiful spec'd up Raleigh chrome burner which evolved over the 5 years I owned it. I have recently bought this one though a nice survivor just to look at and remember the childhood days.  As said above I think I would get another frame as I wouldn't trust that again. When I was about 14 I had a Piranna bmx snap in two on me. No fun I assure you especially carrying it home in two halves. |
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Last Edit: May 20, 2021 17:22:29 GMT by philsford
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May 20, 2021 23:40:50 GMT
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You might struggle to repair that if it's an Alu frame. You'll make it weaker as the welding takes the heat treatment away. Seen it happen on a few nukeproofs, they love to crack. As it's only a budget frame, no offence, you can probably get another/better frame cheaply. Even if it's a hardtail frame as I can't imagine that rear shock actually does all that much, other than be a pogo stick. Heard that about Nukes. I did think I could get it welded up again, but I'm not sure how much I would ever trust it afterwards. During the couple of hours of research I did lately to ascertain it was what I thought/remembered it to be, they seemed to have had a decent reputation despite the lower price point. I mean it's irrelevant to me seeing it was given to me, but I think there's more value in it as a "this is the one my mate gave me" and the fact that it's really quite rare now, so I won't bin it - I'd like to fix it, despite, as you say, the rear shock being next to useless... You've done well to use that frame and components for DH purposes, not surprised it eventually gave up the ghost though. The RST fork was their entry level with 80mm of travel wasnt it? Fair play to you giving it that sort of abuse! I remember the Halfords spread rumours that the Banshee was a Kona frame too, I don't think there's much truth in it though, the weld positioning was different and linkage points also have some differences. Kona inspired is probably more accurate. They would have been made by Merida during that era, probably from a Taiwanese factory which could have also churned out frames for bigger brands. It's never seen DH action like the Ironhorse's and Orange's I used to work on, but yes all done on an 80mm set of forks! I'm sure they were scrounged up from somewhere rather than being selected for the job specifically! I vaguely remember comparing the Banshee frame with a Kona Stinky and they looked very similar, enough to make me believe they were the same. However it wasn't with the two side by side so I could be wrong... and if that's the case I'm glad I never stickered my Banshee up as a Kona! |
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Before the Kinesis frame broke I had already figured out (and was halfways hoping!) that I was lagging behind everyone else on the uphills because of the impossibly bad gearing and heavy weight of it. It's not massively heavy really, but the extra effort of compressing the rear frame (even with the rear suspension stiffened right up) coupled with silly tiny cogs meant that even another new riding buddy was outperforming me with her Carrera Subway... So I hopped on to a local car forum and asked for a hardtail. I got offered one that suited the bill and the budget - a Specialized Hardrock Pro with rusty forks, a flat wheel and a worn out BB for £150.  Important things were hydraulics, semi-decent wheels, Alivio mechs - i.e. it wasn't total junk, and the seller met me halfway so it was a tidy re-entry into hardtail MTB ownership. I had no time to look at it, so after it sat in my car boot for a fortnight I gave it to my friend to sort it out, as he had a day off before we'd be out again. He stuck a tube in the front, got the sticky chain freed up, re-greased the whole bike and then together we bled the brakes so that they worked again - almost. The front brake was (and still is) in need of new lever seals so it was still pretty soft, but it was enough to take it out for it's first run. It was terrible! There were 7 of us out that day and after I suggested that one girl (a strong rider) swap with another less competent girl who was riding a truly awful loaner bike, it turned into a full-on swap-meet and nobody stayed on their own bike for the rest of the day. Which meant that I only had to ride my broken Specialized for ten minutes the whole day! The BB was worse than it first appeared and as it rattled around the gears moved, causing the chain to skip and the pedals to move. It was pretty annoying to ride. However this was bought as a component donor so it was never expected to be great, this was a one-off outing until something else I was working towards got sorted. Not only that but the soft front brake was quite useless once there was some speed and momentum behind it, so it was tough doing a rear-brake only/don't change gears ride but I managed it. Then a couple of the other guys also had a go on it and found it just as difficult to ride - and somehow by the end of the day it had ended up in the hands of the woman with the least experience, however by that stage I was on a teenager-sized Carrera Vendetta with no brake pads left so it wasn't like I could offer her a better choice! One thing I was happily able to confirm was that it really was the bike slowing me down before - even on the Hardrock with all it's faults, I was up to the speed of the fastest couple of mates, and could climb all the hills and make all the tight turns that before I couldn't manage on the Kinesis. Right tool ~ Right job.  |
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That specialized should be a better basis, although it's still aimed at light use cross country rather than any substantial drop offs. If you do stick with it, then I;d got for a minimum of Deore parts when the Alivio's die. They are a good balancing point between being cheap, but fairly reliable. The dart isnt a bad budget fork, and the lockout will be useful for climbing. A new bottom bracket should be pennies, I presume it's square taper?
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May 21, 2021 20:01:02 GMT
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May 22, 2021 19:17:28 GMT
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That specialized should be a better basis, although it's still aimed at light use cross country rather than any substantial drop offs. If you do stick with it, then I;d got for a minimum of Deore parts when the Alivio's die. They are a good balancing point between being cheap, but fairly reliable. The dart isnt a bad budget fork, and the lockout will be useful for climbing. A new bottom bracket should be pennies, I presume it's square taper? The Hardrock is only a parts donor so it's not going to be doing anything amazing. I took it out because the Kinesis was broken and my new bike isn't ready yet. It is indeed a aquare taper so I should have one in spares, as well as a box full of Deore and Deore LX parts  The forks are the worst part of this bike - they have rust on the stanchions. A mate of mine reckons he can put it through the lathe and take a miniscule amount off it and I'm inclined to let him have a go, as at the end of the day I bought this bike with the forks described as beyond repair, so it's no loss either way. |
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May 22, 2021 19:39:59 GMT
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OK, here is where it starts to get complicated. So one of our friends, well she only has a city bike. One that should have a basket on it. It's a nice girly purple Dawes, and it's no good for forest trails. She had the use of a loaner from one of her friends last time out, but it was even worse, a budget hybrid with skinny tyres... The other guy that I started riding with again in the first place, he says a few weeks ago, see if you can find her a better bike to give her, and I'll go halfers with you on it. So a couple of weeks searching (this is good, it stops me looking for cars which take up way more space..!) and I found a cheap-ish Carrera Vengeance in the right size on ebay. Not many ebay sellers want to post their bikes but this guy was up, for it although he did need to phone me every.single.day to update me. For a fortnight. Just send it already, I don't need to know the size of the box or how long after lunchtime on Tuesday they're collecting it...  Well, I thought it was cheap. Or cheap-ish. But not really. It was sold with no front brake, and it had hybrid tyres on. No big deal. The rear brake was a hydraulic Shimano (I think Deore) and the gearset looks OK if a little bit basic. There is in essence nothing wrong with it. Theoretically I could have just popped another front lever and caliper on, swapped the tyres to MTB types and took it for a test-ride. But it was filthy. Once I stripped it down and started to clean it, I realised that actually it was really badly chipped. Not "had some use" sort of chipped, but, "scraped along the ground for a while" kind of chipped. I had a word with my buddy and we agreed a custom paintjob was the only solution. Still white, hopefully a nice pearl. It's at the paintshop as we speak. The rest of the components are all here, I believe. I'm going to run cable discs on it for the simple reason that I want it to be serviceable for her, and hydraulics are not straightforward if you don't have the gear, the fluid, or the knowledge. Cable discs only require a 5mm allen key and a hand. The other problem with it is that the front forks are wrecked and will need a complete rebuild. They were advertised as not great, but they are actually busted. But I had planned for that anyway. The Capa forks on my Kinesis are in fine working order, and although only 80mm travel they've been fine for me getting back out onto the trails, so they will surely be absolutely grand for a bike that probably weighs a good 5-10kg less with a rider that probably weighs a good 15-20kg less. So currently on the Vengeance we're waiting for the paint to dry. I have spent about £25 on ebay buying shiny things, and the rest of it will be built out of bits swapped around from other bikes... |
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May 22, 2021 19:59:29 GMT
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Swapped from other bikes like this one:  So, like I said, it's getting complicated! Another mate says, I quite fancy getting into MTB riding. He already has his own riding buddies so he wont be coming out with me, but he knows I know what I'm talking about and while he is capable himself, he's quite content for me to sort him out a good bike with the right kind of equipment on it. He understands why better quality is more expensive and isn't afraid to spend money - wisely. So he gave me a budget - basically, the same budget as what he could order something out of Halfords for, with hydraulic brakes and a good spec. If I can build a better bike for the same price, he's happy with that. It has to have 29" wheels, fit him (he's a competent road cyclist and pretty tall and agile, so we're talking a large or XL frame size) and have no scrap bits on it (used is OK). I happened one evening to glance at ebay again and up locally popped this Marin Novato 29. Now I like Marin's but I always find them to be underwhelmingly specc'ed. This was no different - cable disc brakes with 160mm rotors - and a mix of Promax and Tektro no less! - and low-end mechs (I think Alivio again). The no-brand tyres and the chain that was 50 links too long can be attributed to the seller who said they'd changed them over before sale. They also gave off a very strong stoner vibe and the bike sale may well have been to fund the next, more organic, purchase. Stoner bike bought and I immediately gave it a once-over and have been to the shops and got a SRAM X4 rear derailleur and replacement chain for it. I did try to buy tyres but the label was wrong, the 29x2.3 Continentals I "bought" were in fact 26x2.2 Mountain Kings and ain't nody around here running weedy little 2.2s! I exchanged them for some 26x2.3s as there will be occasion to fit those to something soon. The Marin is very dull in flat black although the white cabling helps lift it. However the new owner likes things that are nice and wants to paint it. I've convinced him to take the summer out of it then strip it over next winter - he still doesn't know if he likes mountain biking yet - but it means I'm future-planning with it as well. As in, he will be going green and gold, like his MX5 and one of his motorbikes. The fella badly needs an XJ6 lets be honest. So that means as i build it, anything that I can order in anodised gold is a good thing, so there are some bolts and brackets being sorted and the brake choice is a set of all-black Shimano Deore hydraulics. The Suntour forks are adequate for him, the wheels are reasonable if not too exciting, and I'll have to upgrade the shifters too. The lock-ons on the bike had red ends and black grips, but I'd bought a set for my bike that had gold ends on so swapped those around. It's pretty much the perfect base though - a 19" frame on 29" wheels, runs straight, actually works fine, just needs a LOT of upgrading but there is room in the budget for that, and also every part that will come off this bike will get used on one of the others. For example, the shifters and brake levers from this will go on to the Carrera. See, thinking smart! So, there is still more parts-swapping to do, and I figured I needed a set of forks, another set of wheels, driveline pieces, pedals, and shifters, so... |
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May 23, 2021 13:33:39 GMT
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The carrera has a set of XCM forks at 100mm. A very basic fork i agree. The only saving grace is they are so simple ypu can repair them with minimum effort and outlay. Strip them. Grease them. Clean them. Ride them.
The marin is strange. It's a rigid hybrid normally. Looks like someone's suck a set of old radions on. Not a terrible fork but it gets a bad press because it uses a sealled damper. You can extend them from the 100mm they are sat at now to 130mm by moving a pin inside the left leg. 2 bolts from the slider bottom, pull the stanchions out, undo the bottom of the left leg and pull out the push rod and the rest is obvious. When you rebuild, put the fork upside down and add a drop of fork oil through the bottom bolt hole before putting the bolt in.
The vengeance is a good bike for what it is. The marin, so so, not really a MTB.
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May 25, 2021 17:55:32 GMT
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That's some useful information, I will definitely extend the forks out! I assumed it was a MTB frame but it's OK if it wasn't originally, the guy that it is for won't be doing anything really extreme anyway.
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We're still catching up here but it's a journey, right? So I mentioned a few posts back that one of my friends has a Carrera Subway. She bought that when she was studying nursing in Belfast but now that she is out in the countryside it hasn't been used so much. She got her husband to sort out some new tyres (surprisingly it can take 2.3 width) and a suspension fork which although isn't anything amazing is still better than rigid forks! The new forks were tapered steerer tube type so he found a website selling adapters and got one of those. He also replaced the rear mech and the chainwheel as it was pretty worn out. So it's almost a new bike! and honestly probably the best riding bike out of everything between us all... ... until she smacked into a rock and put a bend in her front wheel. One spoke was loose to the touch so it was duly handed to me to sort out. As soon as I stuck it on my jig, I poked the loose spoke and it just snapped right off. That is where it got awkward. The brake disc needed to come off to give me access to the hub so I could thread another spoke in. But after 20 minutes with various torx bits I had got nowhere with the two seized bolts...  They were RIDICULOUSLY tight. I had a 3/8" ratchet on them next, then a small impact gun, and nothing would shift them. She saw these pictures as I went but didn't realise it was actually her wheel (!) as when I'd taken it, it had a black skewer in it, but the Marin had some copper coloured ones so they were already swapped over. All the extra bits we've had to buy for her bike have ended up being anodized orange so the skewers were perfect and I had also ordered some bolts to replace the worst ones on her frame. So it was time to be a bit heavy handed.  Once that was done I had some sliced off bolts to figure out  Which actually just turned out under thumb-twist action, with no problem. Gah. Where to source a 160mm disc from at 6.30pm on a Saturday? The Marin again, of course. The Marin has 29" wheels and 160mm Tektro cable disc brakes. It's frankly ridiculous looking.  But as already discussed, the Marin will be getting bigger, better, hydraulic brakes. So the disc came off this without issue and went onto the Subway's wheel hub. With shiny orange bolts! I had to have a good hunt and it turns out that while I have a box full of 26" MTB wheel spokes (another good reason for sticking with the 26"s, when I have spare spokes, rims and tyres for this size) - I only had one single spud left, at the bottom of a box full of bottom brackets. It was too short really for a double walled wheel but I figured it out by screwing the broken spoke into the bottom of it and pushing it into place.  3.5 hours all in and eventually it all came together.  And with all it's fixed wheel orange bolt goodness:  And that's not one of mine, so I need to improve this post. Umm - OK, here's another bike I bought for parts...  |
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don't break that spesh for parts, that the best bike you've shown so far.
stick a shorter stem and wider bars on it, give (what appear to be) the rockshox judy fork a bit of love. remove one of the front rings and maybe chuck a pair of modern brakes on (clarkes m2 are dirt cheap and more than good enough). it will be a fantastic bike. it's got mavic 318 (I think) rims on shimano (by the looks of it) deore hubs, that is a pretty much bomb proof setup with a bit of maintenance.
deore drivetrain and gears are still pretty good even if they haven't got all the bells and whistles of modern stuff.
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The forks are the worst part of this bike - they have rust on the stanchions. A mate of mine reckons he can put it through the lathe and take a miniscule amount off it and I'm inclined to let him have a go, as at the end of the day I bought this bike with the forks described as beyond repair, so it's no loss either way.