Be Excellent To Each Other

6ft

I think my Kona frame would be a bit small.

Ta, anyway. Out of interest should someone my height be looking at a 20" frame?

If you stand over it then there should be a small gap between the crossbar and your nads, bigger gap though for a mountain bike I think.

They don't mind you sitting naked on the bikes then?

Huh, you must have grown since the Manchester.

I thought mountain bikes were meant to be as small as possible so you could keep the centre of gravity low?

Aye lad:

Nonsense! You want the highest centre of gravity possible!

Eh? Why would I lie about my height?

I do look smaller under your Mother though.

Just built this up for my daughter and by just I mean I finished it 30 mins ago and took it for a spin to check the gears were shifting smoothly. It's an old Trek VRX 400LT frame I've had kicking around for a while. She's wanted a full susser for a while as alu hardtails are a bit brutal on the old jacksie.

Anyway, I stripped her old bike down for wheels, forks (which are shit, but I'm not dropping £200 on new forks for a bike that will get ridden half a dozen times a year), hope mono mini discs, seat and rear derailleur.

I put a new seat post, handlebars, headset, grips and chain, plus I put new cables on it, obviously. Most of the stuff I already had and I spent about £30

You've missed a bit beneath the saddle.

Hope this helps.

I like the fact that the only tool visible in that picture is a lump hammer. I hope this was all you needed to use to build the whole bike.

I thought exactly the same when I uploaded the image. All the tools were on a table out of shot. I did actually use the lump hammer to put the headset in (with some wood to protect the cups - hey who needs a £200 headset tool!), and to batter the stupid fucking cable guides on her old frame - they'd been widened to take the unnecessarily thick brake hoses and then hammered closed around it, so I had to use a chisel to get the sodding brake hose off her old bike.

My daughter said exactly the same thing. I think she was being serious though

Nice work DBSnappa, shiny.

£50 final offer.



Well done sir!

My seatpost fits into the frame. Hurrah!

So, now it's just a bottom bracket and a rear brake and some cables.

Hope you got some cable cutters - pliers mangle cables.

That offer is still open - I'm in all afternoon from about 3:30pm ;-)

It's tempting. I have people's coming, though.

At present, I was going to pick up a bottom bracket and tool from the bike shop (£35 all in) And then begin to worry about the headset cup problems...

Guests coming up this weekend ruin plans of bike fettling.

The headset shouldn't be a problem - I used a lump hammer to tap it in, then put a piece of wood (or you could use a flat metal paint scraper) over it to whack it in. The frame has had a headset in before so there shouldn't be any problems with it being out of true which is the only thing that's likely to cause problems - then you'd need a facing tool.

Putting a bottom bracket in is easy. It might be worth buying some grease as well to apply to the bottom bracket mainly for water protection. Putting a crank on (is it tapered or splined?) is easy as well. The only problem will be getting the crank off again if there are any problems if you haven't got a crank puller.

The cranks I have are Shimano STX Special Edition, and I think that they are square tapered. I'm not sure if I have a crank puller or not.

I'd say you have.

How are you going to get them off your existing bike without one then? They don't just fall off when you release the covering nut.

A crank puller is a 22mm(I think) thread, with another thread inside it with an 8mm allen head at the other end. You twist the 22mm in where the retaining bolt comes out, then twist the internal thread with an 8mm allen key which pushes the crank off. You should be able to buy one for about £10

Wiggle.co.uk will supply me with a crank puller, BB tool thingy, and a BB for £33.18.

Risse do replacement shocks for it.

Starting at USD$198....

I has an new* bike! A DMR Transition 24 incher with Marzocchi jumping forks. It's a bit weird to ride since the cranks are shorter than my BMX's ones, but otherwise it's pretty awesome
*New to me anyway, my pal sold me it to help fund a big daft full-suspension thing.


In other bike related news I've just been clipped for the second time in a week
Both times were on straight bits of road with folk overtaking when there wasn't room for them & both times nobody stopped to check I was ok. I'm fine, just a bit sore.

Sounds awesome, whatever it means.


Bloody hell, that's shite mate.

Nice bike! Are you going to be hopping everywhere from now on? I like their pedals - I used V12 mags on my MTB


In other bike related news I've just been clipped for the second time in a week
Both times were on straight bits of road with folk overtaking when there wasn't room for them & both times nobody stopped to check I was ok. I'm fine, just a bit sore.[/quote]

I do sometimes think I'm going to carry a drink bottle filled with hydraulic brake fluid so I can spray these kind of cunts as they drive past.

Had a 2 hour ride out today thinking there was nothing happening workwise, but came back to a load of crap.

But what I did see was a huge helecopter with guns, missiles and shit flying very low over me. No more than 250 metres up. Presumably heading for Salisbury Plain.

PM sent.

Is the seat in front for you?

Here's a few pictures of the frame, by the way...





Sticker says 7000 series aluminium. Bikepedia says it should be 7005 if it's an RTS-3.



Serial number.



Suspension that is tuned by the rocker.

Interesting.

Not sure what kind of effect on teh geometry having the rocker at the bottom of the swing arm would have - apart from lengthening the wheel base on compression slightly which would be fine in a straight line but might feel odd in corners.

Also does that swing arm actually use bearings or is it bushes?

Bushes, I think from reading. I've not had time to have it apart yet.

Pedalling has the effect of locking out the rear, unless the force acting on it is greater than the force through the chain. Or something.

Let's get it built and see what the bitch feels like in the saddle, eh?

Yeah. Good plan. Just stuck a bid in for a bike that has maguras and some other stuff, so I might end up with 2 donor bikes....

Ordered a V style brake by Avid from some dude on a forum for £6. Have asked there about a bottom bracket and seat clamp, then good to go, I think.

I got a new seat from Aldi!

That's where I meant to go today! Doh!

They also had special bicycle coats, special bicycle socks and special bicycle trousers.

Bottom bracket, ordered!

You gotta love the old made in USA frames. Piss easy to spot from the gorgeous welding.

My new seat makes me 14% faster and 372% comfier.

Which one?

More bike bits possibly on their way.

Front mech and seat clamp, hopefully. Which pretty much completes everything I need.

Done gone bought all the bits now. hurrah.

I got my brakes through the post yesterday, an am now waiting on a front mech and seat clamp. The people that I ordered the bottom bracket from don't have any. So got to look a bit harder for one, there.

Pictures, fewl.

brakes

I still need the noodle bit, and some bolts, though.