I thought I'd start a new thread for my project, instead of cluttering up the other Nashbar X frame thread with a bunch of photos.

I'm rebulding and repainting my X and thought it would be fun to post progress pics. This may be a great project, or it may go horribly awry - follow along and see.

First, the paint: The photo doesn't do any justice to how bright it is - It will be obnoxious.



Next - since I'm running disks, I decided to get rid of the canti mounts and clean up the seat stays a little.





I'll be back with more pics as this project progresses.

Where have I been? - I've been sulking all week after creating this monstrosity:



That florescent paint is a lot harder to work with than I anticipated. I had do the only humane thing - strip it down and start from scratch.

Holy Cow!

Nice work in the chainstays! Were you able to weld a patch in that area?

Michael

Ahh Much happier with this - I just hope the clear dries before too many bugs land in it.

The seatstays didn't require any welding, just very carefull cutting/grinding/sanding of the mounts - being carefull not to grind into the original tubing.

wow. i'm very impressed and you will sure have an incredibly unique and eye-popping bike afterward.

i was thinking of spraying mine army drab green but maybe i'll wait till the weather gets better or just powdercoat it. i like the powdercoat on my other bike and i am thinking of blue.

i like the two tone you have going on. its kind of funny, the dropouts don't look as weird with the frame so bright.

After fixing another minor paint faux pax, I'm finally building this damn thing

My hydraulic press is really handy for pressing headset cups.


Going for comfort, not aero, on the stem.


And that Deore cranckset looks super-beefy. I might have some issues with that front derailleur though..I'll need to get the rest of the bike togeather before I know for sure.

That looks really nice!!

Gave my 9-speed 105 levers a little refresh with new hoods and caps.


And I'd hoped to post the final "money shot" today, however my rear wheel wasn't cooperating. I tried to true it up, but I had dozens of stubborn spokes and ended up with a bunch of mangled nipples. I also had some damage from dropping the chain inside the big gear. I cut the spokes and will re-build it - hopefully before next weekend.

Wow that's an awesome paint job Chad. Kinda makes me wish now that I would have painted mine before I built it up.

So did you clear coat the finish? What are you going to use the blue for?

Very Nice! You have a cool matching kit to wear that goes with the colors?

Man you're gonna really embarrass the next lime green Jake the Snake you pass on the trail haha

I used the whole House of Kolor system, with HOK white primer - then neon color - then HOK clear. The blue paint was used in my first (failed) paint attempt. It didn't really cover over the yellow and green and looked horrible. I'll probably use it on a different project.

Man, I thought I'd have this build done 3-weeks ago. Now I'm just waiting on the spokes I ordered to finish up my rear wheel.

As far as color, I intended to rip-off a Klein paint job, but only got 1/2 way there.

I like the two tone better. Looks really good.

I have a buddy that has a Klein road bike. It's a maroon color, but it looks deep purple when the sun hits it. Klein does some cool stuff with their paint jobs.

My wife is giggling here..

She reminded me that I need to worry about painting my project car before my project bike. (as a joke, I asked her what she thought of the colors of your bike for my car...She said I could do it only if I put purple faux-fur on the dashboard...) She did mention that your bikes paint job is very cool though!

^^^You can pull it off on your car if you commit to full Jurassic Park trim with the green and yellow marked up with tiger stripes

Oooohhh! Tiger stripes! betcha that would boost my hp by at least 5!

How is that frame for CX? It looks like it'd be hard to shoulder, with the slack top tube.

Hey Chad, I have a friend who has the perfect vehicle to get you to and from races... I thought you would like the color of this monster...

I'm ashamed to admit - the 6" stack right of the turbo is waaay cool. I'll bet that truck sounds like a 747 taking off (I've got an '05 2500 Cummins Diesel)

As far as shouldering - I'm not a racer, so I'm not sure how it would be to run with this bike. This is just my "all-around" workhorse bike.

Yeah, it's a Hoss alright! This is more than just a truck...it's a farm implement!

They use it for hauling livestock, and working the fields. I've not actually heard it...Tell you what, I bet it's just short of a payment to fill her up!

Way to spruce up a bland frame =) I dig the paint

Finally...DONE!

The bar tape looked a lot more florescent in the shop, but it doesn't match like I hoped. The alien light is perfect though.

With the mountain gearing and stem way in the air, the bike is much more like a Cadillac than a Ferrari.

Love that paint job! I have a mismatch on my handlebar tape + tires and it takes a lot of effort not to be compelled replace either or. At some point I would go with black bar tape on your bike - or maybe even yellow if it looks right. I guess the problem is you won't get bar tape with that kind of sheen so no matter what color you use, you will have trouble matching that paint.

Either way - Great job! I really like it against the black parts.

This is pretty much how I want my unpurchased cyclocross bike to be. Much nicer than the graphic overdose of most new cyclo and road bikes.

Tell us about the FD issue you were worried about and how it resolved! Thanks.

I had a FD issue when building up a Jamis CX frame a while back. The cage of the Shimano MTB FD I had would hit the chain stay when shifting inward to the small ring. I had to raise the FD quite high to avoid that. It shifted OK though. Then I had another problem in that the FD arm (that attaches to the cable) would move too far inward and hit the fender I'd installed.

I changed to an Ultegra road triple derailleur I had and it works perfectly - both in the chain stay clearance and the cable arm doesn't get anywhere near the fender. Weird. For what it's worth, this is all with bar end shifters, but I dont' think that's a factor at all.

It's sounds like I have similar issues. I'm using an Sram X5 (a $9 new "take off".) I also had to raise it high to clear the chain stay. It also takes up a lot of room behind the seat tube. It fits with 700x28 tires, but I think I'd have issues if I put my big 700x35 cross tires back on. It shifts OK as it is though.

can't wait to see it on cross tires with black tape! i think i won't be doing anything like this to mine as i just plain don't like the bike enough, but yours looks great!