Mountain Biking - Getting back on the bike

I'm finally getting my bike sorted out and I'm going to get fit again. My frame, shown, below, is a custom fillet brazed steel frame with Columbus CromOr tubing. When I was at Uni, I was in the mountain bike club; we used to do 40+ mile cross country in the Scottish mountains twice a week and use the bike all the time around the city as transport and I was seriously fit. However, in the last 6-7 years, the poor bike has been stuck in my parents garage whilst I have been using my car :o .

Anyhow, I hit 30 in a few months so I'm restoring the frame (check out how chewed the driveside chainstay is...) and replacing the studenty mix of (completely incompatible now with 27 speed :mad: ) bits with XT and get fit again. I'm sending the frame back to the guy who made it for a replacement chainstay, new pannier bolt braze-on followed by frame and fork shot blasting, multilayer baked on paint job in sky blue followed by new decals, laquering and a final bake. The frame is going today - I can't wait for two weeks time (although it will be August before I can afford the new bits) :D .

http://www.btinternet.com/~d.b.wood/frame.jpg

I'll post again when the frame comes back from the shop.

If you're out of shape from being off the bike, could you borrow one (that fits) from a friend or purchase a "beater" to get back in shape with while this extensive restoration is taking place? Then you'd enjoy your refurbished bike much more the first time you got on it!

Just a thought...

Keep us informed! :beer:

How the **** can a student afford to ride a Dave Yates frame?
He is one of the best custom MTB builders in the country. But why did he put double eyelet dropouts with no pannier eyelets at the seatsay ?
Do you US riders ever use custom builders for MTBs?

MichaelW - The wonder of the thing known as the 'Student Loan' - you know, 'Buy now, pay for the rest of your life' - :lol:

Glad to see you've got your priorities right, Astra :)

I was thinking of sending my custom audax frame for refinishing and some braze ons after the winter. Let me know how yours turns out.

Thanks Chewa :) - Btw, there is an upper pannier boss, it's on that tube that you can just see that connects the top of the seatstays.

Hi Astra,

Yummy frame mate...I was pretty much the same when I was a student at Uni, scrimping and saving on my Trek...the joys of student loans paid for a nice pair of Spin wheels...hehe..not the idea I know.

Looking forward to seeing how the Yatesy turns out. Do they still use columbus tubing these days?

Take it easy,

Rich :)

Hi Rich, Funnily enough, I don't think they do. If you look on the website ( http://www.msteelcycles.co.uk ), it only mentions Reynolds; I hope they have the odd spare ChromOr chainstay around there somewhere :) .

WAHOO !!! My senior manager just mailed to say feel free to use the company Business Post account to send the frame so it's on it's way today :D . Also, finally managed to sell my PS2 so I've ordered a new back wheel; XT hub and cassette with Mavic 517CD rim and double-butted spokes, should be picking it up on Saturday. Also gonna take my front PACE hub and ask then to build it with same rim and spokes.

Now just got to wait til my birthday in August so I can get the B/B, cranks and shifters... :( .

PS. Just noticed, is bikeforums.com calling me a 'Member' ? - :lol: .

Nice break!

Are you going for the retro equipment per chance? I like the idea of a Pace front hub :)

There's a website called www.poshbikes.com which might be worth checking out for old components.

What crank, B/B and shifters were you thinking of getting?

Rich :)

Rich, what do you mean by 'retro' ? ( not being aggro, just curious :) ). It's basically going to hard tail, hardnose XC bike. This is how I had it in Aberdeen and we did some mental alldayer XC rides in the hills and mountains. I have tried suspension (original Pace forks and early Manitous) and to be honest, I prefer hard nose and tail. I find the steerability and lighter weight more than make up for a big-@ss set of forks.

As for the rest of the components, I'm probably gonna be boring and stick with XT all round.

When I say retro, I kinda mean the set up you've just described...rigid forks etc.

I've only just gotten into the suspension fork thing myself....so it's nice to compare notes.

Looking forward to the photos.

Rich