Mountain Biking - Dressing up a pig.

The new donor bike showed up a day early, so I started swapping parts. Smooth install. Everything slid/bolted/threaded right up beautifully. Got a buyer lined up for the old frame, and the stock bike parts pulled of this thing are being sold on local forums. Even getting a few new shiny bits for this bike, I'll at the least break even, and may even come out a bit ahead.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f12/scrublover/bike%20shots/IMG_4845.jpg

To do: awaiting the 8.5" x 2.5" DHX 5.0 Air to go on, and a King 1.5 reducer headset. You can probably guess what color was ordered on that one. Spendy, but nice, and gives the option to easily run a 1.5 fork if wanted later. That'll take a 1/4 pound of the front right away. The FSA Pik reducer set is a freakin' tank.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f12/scrublover/bike%20shots/IMG_4846.jpg

The shorter shock will slacken things and drop things a bit. I'm estimating about another half degree at the head angle, and about a half inch at the BB height. Cheapo angle finder says 67* right now. Wheelbase just a touch as well; it's spot on 43" right now. BB height is about 14.5" now, unsagged. Wish someone made a 8.25" x 2.25" decent air shock that wasn't a custom arm and a leg cost. Either that or I have to look into having a shuttle made to run a 7.875" x 2.25" on here - that'd take the back down to 5.7". Hmmm... The DHX shock should be about a half pound less, if not more. I've no problems running an air shock.

Yes, the bars are up there. Likely will get rid of a bit more steer tube/spacer stack eventually too (there is a 10mm spacer on now) but wanted to leave it as is until getting some ride time in. Feels good, though all I was able to do was zip around a little bit on some pavement stuff this afternoon. The fit and feel stuff I didn't like about the Preston it felt like won't be an issue at all on this one. I like tall front ends. to keep the slackness and drop more height, I could always run a flush upper headset cup setup, though doubt I'll want to.

Huuuuge tire clearance in back. Slacker, lower with the upcoming shock - that'll give me about 6.3" rear travel. 180mm dropping down to 140mm up front for climbing when needed; something not used much on my rides, but a feature I like to have for those times when needed. Probably giving up a bit of rear end stiffness from the Preston, but that is less an issue at my size, and I feel the fit/geometry is more important anyhow.

The new donor bike showed up a day early, so I started swapping parts. Smooth install. Everything slid/bolted/threaded right up beautifully. Got a buyer lined up for the old frame, and the stock bike parts pulled of this thing are being sold on local forums. Even getting a few new shiny bits for this bike, I'll at the least break even, and may even come out a bit ahead.



To do: awaiting the 8.5" x 2.5" DHX 5.0 Air to go on, and a King 1.5 reducer headset. You can probably guess what color was ordered on that one. Spendy, but nice, and gives the option to easily run a 1.5 fork if wanted later. That'll take a 1/4 pound of the front right away. The FSA Pik reducer set is a freakin' tank.



The shorter shock will slacken things and drop things a bit. I'm estimating about another half degree at the head angle, and about a half inch at the BB height. Cheapo angle finder says 67* right now. Wheelbase just a touch as well; it's spot on 43" right now. BB height is about 14.5" now, unsagged. Wish someone made a 8.25" x 2.25" decent air shock that wasn't a custom arm and a leg cost. Either that or I have to look into having a shuttle made to run a 7.875" x 2.25" on here - that'd take the back down to 5.7". Hmmm... The DHX shock should be about a half pound less, if not more. I've no problems running an air shock.

Yes, the bars are up there. Likely will get rid of a bit more steer tube/spacer stack eventually too (there is a 10mm spacer on now) but wanted to leave it as is until getting some ride time in. Feels good, though all I was able to do was zip around a little bit on some pavement stuff this afternoon. The fit and feel stuff I didn't like about the Preston it felt like won't be an issue at all on this one. I like tall front ends. to keep the slackness and drop more height, I could always run a flush upper headset cup setup, though doubt I'll want to.

Huuuuge tire clearance in back. Slacker, lower with the upcoming shock - that'll give me about 6.3" rear travel. 180mm dropping down to 140mm up front for climbing when needed; something not used much on my rides, but a feature I like to have for those times when needed. Probably giving up a bit of rear end stiffness from the Preston, but that is less an issue at my size, and I feel the fit/geometry is more important anyhow.

Wow, I just saw the Iron Horse Yakuza Ojiki ad on rscycle. Great deal!

Thats nice. How much travel on that frame?

edit....oh 7"..duh

Nice.

Thats nice. How much travel on that frame?

edit....oh 7"..duh

yep. i'm pretty much back where i started with my first fully, another bullit clone. i'm totally down with the simple single pivot thing; IMO, the sizing and geometry is way more important than having the latest and greatest whiz bang suspension design. wanted something simple and easy. 6-7" of travel, but with a shortish rear end, and not crazy long wheelbase. makes for a more fun woods bike for me. the custom shock shuttle to allow me to run the 7.875" x 2.25" shock may have to be looked into. that setup with 5.7" of travel, and the fork lowered down to 150-160mm (or a lyrik solo air!) would rock.

heckler? not quite right. bullit? in between small and medium on what i want with the sizing. looked really hard at the 07 kona coiler/coilair frames, but couldn't find a small frame new, or used in decent shape. and all the completes i saw were more than i wanted to shell out. also eyeballed the 07 iron horse 6point series, but again - stuck between the small and medium.

the custom thing was all set for what i wanted, but having the framebuilder die puts a damper on that. never met steve, but he seemed a pretty cool guy when i spoke with him on the phone about a frame. sorry to hear of his passing, and my best wishes go out to his family and friends. the framebuilding business may go on, but i'm betting not for quite some time.

Wow....
Nice...
bike...
super sexy!

Bears a strong resemblance to the short-lived but wildly popular Weyless 67 frame. Good to see solid, simple single-pivots still doing their bread-and-butter thing.

Bears a strong resemblance to the short-lived but wildly popular Weyless 67 frame. Good to see solid, simple single-pivots still doing their bread-and-butter thing.

yep. that was my first fully frame. same deal. i ran it with a shorter shock and it worked beautifully for what i like.

hmmm. just saw santa cruz has old style bullit shock shuttles for $23. have to check the width; if it's at all useable/adaptable/dremelable, i'd be able to use that to really fine tune things with the rear shocks/geometry...

Do I see gripshift on that bad boy? And what looks like it might be a Paul thumbie (based on the reflection in your computer screen)?

Nice. You don't see that too often outside of XC rigs. But why go thumbie for the front mech? Matching gripshift gives you the same microadjust/friction shifting. I guess it's still technically "indexed" but for all intensive purposes, it functions like a friction shifter.

Either way, many excellent component choices there. 100% stock bikes are so unoriginal!

Do I see gripshift on that bad boy? And what looks like it might be a Paul thumbie (based on the reflection in your computer screen)?

Nice. You don't see that too often outside of XC rigs. But why go thumbie for the front mech? Matching gripshift gives you the same microadjust/friction shifting. I guess it's still technically "indexed" but for all intensive purposes, it functions like a friction shifter.

Either way, many excellent component choices there. 100% stock bikes are so unoriginal!

Gripshift - yes. Paul thumby - no. Think older school. Old Suntour XC Pro thumby. Not indexed at all; friction baby. Same shifting setup on my hardtail, and what I've been running for a long time. Swapped from Shimano triggers long ago. Tried the SRAM triggers, but still prefer this setup. though I much prefer the SRAM triggers over Shimano units. Nope, no problems with missed or accidental shifts, on all kinds of terrain.


It's all stuff swapped from my prior frame. Actually, most of this stuff has been around a while for me. just with replacements when stuff wears out. If it ain't broken, I don't fix it.

No excuse at all not to use a friction shifter up front since, front deraillieurs are still somewhat based on friction.

Friction really is the way to go for the front I think. I'm in the process of taking apart one of my old gripshifts and doing some dremel work/inserting some extra material to try to turn it into a friction only shifter, with no indexes. If I can make it work on the old one I may do the same to my x.o gripshift. The issue is providing enough friction to overcome the pull of the derailleur without using the index notches. I'm thinking I may have to add some tacky compound. Maybe a silicon compound of some kind.

Anywho, sweet bike. I really wish I didn't have to spend all my money on racing bikes so I could build something like that, just to have fun on. Racing multiple disciplines (road, TT, xc mtb) has a way of sapping one's budget.

I really wish I didn't have to spend all my money on racing bikes so I could build something like that . . .That's why I don't - - and won't for the foreseeable future - - have a nice XC race bike: plowing too much resources into gravity weapons.

That's why I don't - - and won't for the foreseeable future - - have a nice XC race bike: plowing too much resources into gravity weapons.

Yeah I had to give up my career in DH to pay for my entry into the road scene. Had to sell my yeti asx. That and my coach told me I had to chose one or the other because I kept hurting myself.
These days things are looking up in the getting free bikes department, but it's still pricey to have 3 raceable bikes, and have to maintain them.

That's a sweet ride Scrub!

That's a sweet ride Scrub!

Thanks. Stuff is still sloppy around here, trail wise. But I might be able to squeak in a little bit of dry trail Sunday-Monday-Tuesday. Have to see how much things dry up before then.

Whoa. Looking at specs online (assuming they are at all accurate) the swap to the DHX air and the King headset will end up dropping nearly a pound and a half of weight. Nice! C'mon brown Santa, bring me those parts! Got a couple spare hangers coming in the mail, and am working on the local Iron Horse dealer to round me up a spare pivot shaft to have kicking around. The bearings are a nice standard/easy to get size.

Other stuff in the works: the upper half of a Cane Creek XXC Flush headset on the way. Then I can play with still having things nice and slack, but reduce the stack on the front end a little bit.

S.C. Bullit (old style) shock shuttle on the way ($23 on their site) - should fit with little modification other than another set of mount holes tapped into the very large mount plate on the downtube. That'll let me screw around with different shock sizes and geometry even more.

This is all towards the end goal of someday having that custom squishy frame built.

(15" seat tube 22.5" top tube. 43" wheelbase. 16.5" stays. 5.5" single pivot travel, built around one beefy ass set of bearings. 66* head angle built around a 160mm fork. 14" bb height (unsagged) 70* seat tube. 4.5" headtube. low, low, low dropped and braced to the seat tube top tube. zip tie cable/hose guides, iscg 05 mount, one set of bottle bosses on the downtube (think night riding - battery mount) and a chain hanger just because i can. steel, of course.)

So........we won't be seeing any "which bike should I buy" threads from you?

Okay...so how long are you going to keep this one? ;)

I think he and Smashy are having a contest.

Okay...so how long are you going to keep this one? ;)


it'll be a bit longer. we're starting to house shop...

mocking things up, with the shorter i2i/stroke shock that i'm wanting to throw on there, the geo numbers change spot on to what my end goal was. sweet! 14" unsagged bb height, 66° head angle with the fork at 180mm. combined with the rest of the sizing, this one should be fun. it's really easy to toss the bike around, with the shorter wheelbase and stays than the preston - something i really like in a bike.

sweet! 14" unsagged bb height, 66° head angle with the fork at 180mm.

Man Scrub, That's like a whole different planet than my XC bikes. A lot of us on the Forum have never ridden a bike like that.

I like reading about what Scrub is doing.It really shows how riding a number of bikes and lots of time on trails really help you decide on what you want from a bike. I run my Bullit in the steeper head angle setting.I like the quicker handling.It seemed that the slacker setting made the bike steer to slow for my taste.

I like reading about what Scrub is doing.It really shows how riding a number of bikes and lots of time on trails really help you decide on what you want from a bike. I run my Bullit in the steeper head angle setting.I like the quicker handling.It seemed that the slacker setting made the bike steer to slow for my taste.

i've come to like slacker angles, just in general. the hardtail has settled on a 67° setup, and i wanted the squishy a bit slacker. and for those times when i've got to earn my turns, dropping the fork down will steepen it to about 68°.

things just starting to dry up a bit around here, and more rain coming tonight, of course. crap!

i've come to like slacker angles, just in general. the hardtail has settled on a 67° setup, and i wanted the squishy a bit slacker. and for those times when i've got to earn my turns, dropping the fork down will steepen it to about 68°.

things just starting to dry up a bit around here, and more rain coming tonight, of course. crap!

We're getting it now. No fun.

Man Scrub, That's like a whole different planet than my XC bikes. A lot of us on the Forum have never ridden a bike like that.

slack angled bikes are way fun. the downside is to get the numbers i've come to like, means a bike way beefier/with more travel than i need. i'm aiming to get this bike to end up with ~5.5" in back, and slightly more up front, (likely a lyrik solo air in the end) but with a 66° head angle, and about a 13.5" bb height. got a couple shocks to play around with, and see what sort of final feel for the bike gets settled on.

slack angles for steep stuff, but a shorter overall bike that is still easy to toss around in the tight twisty woodsy technical stuff around me was the end goal. and a bike slack and burly enough to take to the resorts a couple times during the summer as well.

You're my kind of thinker on head angles.

slack angled bikes are way fun. the downside is to get the numbers i've come to like, means a bike way beefier/with more travel than i need...

Did you ever look at something like the Blur 4x...other than the longer stays, seems to be pretty close to what you described.

Oink.

Bacon rules.