EWR Project – Phase Nine (Part 2) – Dang Stems…

Posted by on 09/11/2009 No comments

My dentist put pay to my Sunday ride (an un-blogworthy story) but just think Texas Chainsaw Massacre and you'll get close to the Codeine popping pain I'm currently in…

So, where were we?….oh yeah, continuation of Thursday's Steam Tweak…..Ok, anyone that has fitted a Syncros stem and not wanted to damage/scratch their bars will be well aware of what we call in the UK 'The 2p Trick' (some of you might well know this as the Dime Trick or Euro Trick ). It's the one where you unthread the alloy bolts from the bar clamp, feed them in from the underside against a coin and force open the bars wide enough so that they don't scratch your beloved NOS-ness as you slide on your new stem. Well, I'm using riser bars on the EWR so we have all those bends to negotiate so we're into a whole bunch of fun with these!!!

You see, the 2p Trick spreads the clamp using the maximum of the bolt thread, plus the thickness of the coin……and the stem is aluminium, which don't like being bent….EVER!!

The '2p Trick'

So, we start with the 2p Trick and voila, the Cattlehead stem glides round the first bend gracefully

Round the first bend


I start to feel confident and everything on earth was at peace……UNTIL, we get to the centre bulge on the bars .

This is where you need to grow a set of balls as big as that Bull I posted up on here a while back and go for the 'Open Wide And Say My Name' 8p Trick.

The 8p trick is FOUR 2p coins and my NOS Syncros stem stretched wide open to heart stopping, this baby's gonna crack, proportions

If I open any wider I'm gonna split asunder

Someone was on my side, I got round the second bend and quickly cranked the stem back up tight. Not had a chance to ride the bike yet and I'm into that whole messy, sloping top cap rubbish you get with Syncros stems (say goodbye to another lovely King Top Cap…)

Third stem on my EWR, third time lucky?

EWR Project – Phase Nine, another week another stem…

Posted by on 05/11/2009 1 comment

We’re still deep in Dial Time on my Woods Bike so here we are with yet another stem, the third one now

This one aesthetically is perfect for the build as its a NOS Syncros Cattlehead in 10° rise flavour so it’s the right amount of rise and will match the cranks and seatpost, however, for me its all about how it rides so if it doesn’t do the job then it’s off the bike. I only collected it last night so sadly it won’t be installed for tonight’s weekly Night Ride but I’ll try and get in on for the weekend.

I was trying to avoid Syncros on this build, not cos I hate it but cos I’ve got Syncros on every other bike I own and I wanted to shake off the stigma, oh well I’ll just have to make sure the next build is Syncros Free

Mmmmmm NOS Syncros

Mmmmmm…more NOS Syncros

Happy Birthday Wallace and Grommit

Posted by on 04/11/2009 No comments

I dunno if this stuff reaches outside of the UK but I must say I’m shocked to realise that Wallace and Grommit celebrate their 20th Birthday today

This makes me feel really old as I can remember A Grand Day Out as if it was yesterday and remember the tears rolling down my face as I split my sides laughing. To celebrate in the coolest manner Google have given over the Google Doodle to them for the day



Happy Birthday

 

Back From the Grave – Saracen Kili Flyer

Posted by on 02/11/2009 No comments

If you were into MTB’s in the UK back in the 1980’s then no doubt the name Kili Flyer will bring back misty eyed memories of a long forgotten iconic steed.

Well, I had an email from Simon Wild at Saracen today and he tells me they are re-launching the Kili and its going to be Fillet Brazed Tange Prestige and built around a modern 120mm fork. There’s not much info around so far but Singletrackworld have some pix available here: http://www.singletrackworld.com/2009/10/saracen-revive-the-kili-flyer/

It certainly has a nice clean look to it, the bike will be available in either SLX or XTR flavours when it hits the streets.

Picture – Copyright 2009 Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine

EWR Project – Phase Eight….tweaks & eBay scoreage

Posted by on 01/11/2009 8 comments

No Sunday ride today, just some minor tweaks on my Woods Bike. I’ve been having problems with shifts to the granny ring, the Front Mech has been throwing the chain…..turns out to be a schoolboy error, I had the granny ring on the wrong way round

If you look at the picture below you can see the profile of the ring is raised on one side and I had it fitted the other way, closing the gap between the middle ring just enough for the chain to ‘miss’ the ring when down shifted from middle, I switched this round and tweaked the stop adjustment and its near perfect.

SGX Granny ring showing profile

Previously fitted…..wrong !!

Got a good result on eBay recently, a pair of NOS M-650 DX hubs, complete with Quick Release skewers for £15 . A fellow RetroBiker in the USA assisted with getting these to me as the US seller wouldn’t ship out of America. These are gonna get laced to the Campag Mirox in place of the black LX hubs I have on there now.

Mmmmmm…..NOS hubs

1 x 7 Beater Project – Pt 2

Posted by on 23/10/2009 No comments

Found the original rear mech that came with this bike back in 1991, this badboy has covered at least 10,000 miles and is still going strong




Then I found some spare cranks I had laying around and also an old 36t HyperGlide ring



And last but not least a saddle in……erm…..rather a distressed state

1 x 7 Beater Project – Pt 1

Posted by on 22/10/2009 No comments

This is a little ‘side project’ and one that shouldn’t be taken too seriously ok?
There are bigger and (maybe) better things destined for this frameset but for now it is going to be a kind of ‘Parts bin, junk, beater’ build where I’m using up all sorts of crap, some of it tatty old junk, some of it new parts to create a fun 1 x 7 build suitable for my local bike park.

Background:
This is a 19″ Saracen Traverse Competition Hydrotech and I bought this bike new in 1991 from the Chesterfield Cycle Center (J.E James of Sheffield, England) for £600 and it was my first proper MTB. I couldn’t afford the exotic Funk in the showroom at Shockwave in Nottingham so this had to do……..it was full DX and originally had Wolber rims, Magura HydroStops, Saracen’s own bizarre oversized handlebars and a 150mm stem . Very quickly I dumped the stem and bars for a Syncros Cattleprod and some Answer Hyperlights and it stayed like this for six years while I rode it every day, putting 200 miles a week on it all year round. In 1997 after thousands of miles on this bike I bought myself a new Pace RC200 F6, gave this to a friend and promptly forgot about it. Fast forward 12 years and I get a call from this guy saying he had found an old white bike frame I’d given him and did I want it, wow….I got my baby back

As mentioned earlier I do have some radical plans for this frame in the shape of a Singlespeed project but this 1 x 7 thing is more of a bit of fun and as a ‘proof of concept’ so its most definitely function over form…..it WILL look ugly and have an odd mix of parts on it

The bare frame (Tange MTB, weighs LOTS!!)

Posh headset for a piece of old crap…

My Crown Race Setting ‘tool’…

Some old forks I had laying around

Taking shape…

RetroBike – Grove Explosion

Posted by on 20/10/2009 No comments

A German Grove collector burst onto the RetroBike consciousness this week with a jaw dropping series of posts documenting his huge and impressive collection of all things Grove. There are stunning examples of fully built Aggressors, Hardcores, X’s, Titans in all manner of paint schemes and as if that wasn’t enough he also has a 1989 Tamarac and a Progear 

The BIG Grove Innovations thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75246

1989 Tamarac: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75720

Progear : http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75795

One ‘teaser’ pic…..

Sunday Ride – Big balls and big logs….

Posted by on 18/10/2009 No comments

Wasted some time tweaking my rear mech so lost some valuable daylight, cutting down the ride time but I had a nice little 17 mile ride along the curiously named Clay Dick Track and across to Fermyn Woods which is a ‘working forest’ run by the Forestry Comission.

This was a MASSIVE load of dirt nearly as tall as my EWR that has been dug out by Foxes, Badgers or Rabbits…..I’ve no idea which


Badass MoFo Bull giving me the eye (check the size of his balls )

Woods Bike in the woods


Forest trail – Fermyn Woods

Original Woods Bike on the woodpile

EWR 1 – GoatSurfer 0

Posted by on 15/10/2009 1 comment

These new platform pedal things are still something of a novelty to me, I’m still stuck in 1990 using PD-M735 (XT flatties) and toe clips

I’ve heard the phrase ‘getting tattooed by your pedals’ and scoffed at it……..well the V8’s on my EWR did more than tattoo me last week, the damn things gnashed my shins up real good . I know there’s not much skin on your shins but those deep grooves in the pic below go almost down to the bone, thankfully with no pain though.

The cause: Riding slowly uphill on a forest trail, in the wet, in the wrong gear and trying to manual off a tree root……in the pitch black