Little project i have been working on :-)
S-M
Posts: 174
i was out on my Boardman 2011 Pro this morning and the freehub seized up, GAAAHHHHHHH.
I limped home and thought about my options, i started stripping the Boardman, this would have been the third time i have greased up this fecking freehub (its done 750 miles) and i figured i might as well just replace the entire rear hub, started to strip it and thought "FUCK IT!" i will just replace the cheap wheelset on it when i get paid in a weeks time
But now i have no working bike
well i have enough assorted parts to get my project bike built up, so maybe i should get that running so i still have a toy to play with after work 8)
The bike when i picked it up a few months back
1998 Specialized FSR bought for approx £127 on eBay.
It was sold with a buckled rear wheel and the "gear changer disconnected" according to the auction, but when i picked it up the gears will still connected, what was disconected was the aftermarket rear disc mount/calliper, this was cabled tied up to the seat for some reason, now this bike is a bit of an oddball, as the chap i bought it from definitely did not ride it (big fat posh bloke) i am asuming it was maybe his son? somebody has started to update the bike at some point then given up, i had not seen these mounts before so i intially test mounted it like this
This allows the rear wheel to drop out, but a chap on retro bike told me it was supposed to be rotatated around flush with the frame, this means that removing the rear wheel is a bit of a pain as you have to slacken the disc mount, rotate it backwards, then remove the skewer to drop the wheel, mehh.
I sat on the bike and attempted to ride it around the car park at home, but the rear wheel skewer was knackered, the tyre rubbed on the frame and my shoulder had just been dislocated a week before and was pretty sore, the bike felt tooo small for me, i felt like i was hunched over the handle bars, lets get the bike in the man cave and see whats up
The stock Judy T2 forks were stripped down, as i expected the elastomers to be knackered, to my suprise they were spot on :? must just be as crappy fork then, so i started to strip the bike down, spending time on it after work when i could be bothered.
I was initially going to have the frame white, but i had a thought while at work in the canteen, i had used a hammered copper finish for some Subaru wheels a few years earlier and figured the colour would look good on the FSR frame.
I test painted some of it, oooh this looks nice!
So i quickly got the rest of the metal work painted up.
I left it a few weeks while i decided what to do about the front fork, i ideally needed a cheap 120mm fork to fit on the bike, then i could ride it as a test to see if the higher front end was what i was looking for, i started scouring ebay while the frame hardened up, i then quickly attached up some of the frame without any bushes to get a feel for the bike.
Ohh i am liking this, it looks pimp i need a longer fork though as i dont want to spend decent money on the bike till i am happy with the raised front end, i picked up a Rock Shox Psylo fork in poor condition for £27 8) the adjustable height meant i could fine tune the feel, and if the bike still felt small to me, i could sell it on as a mint FSR and get my money back (and probably some more)
The fork was stripped down and inspected, no oil in the coil side :roll: marks on the stanchion from a dry bush :roll: the hieght adjustment was broken (turned out to be the control knob) and what looked like milk in the damper side :roll:
New seal kit ordered up for £20, some proper Rock Shox fork oil and i set about cleaning up the stanchion, the fork lowers and crown were cleaned up and resprayed in white Hammerite and assembled the fork back together, to my suprise the bushes seam to have little play, and the fork now works fine, first fork i have rebuilt, it was a doddle to be honest, lets get this on the bike to see how it looks.
Ahh now thats look a bit better, the front end has raised up, and its turning it more into the downhill type machine i was thinking about.
I resprayed the stock seat post and handlebars white, to match the fork.
Pictures taken today before its proper maiden voyage around the NE coast
After 8 miles i had to come back home, the gears are not fully indexed yet, the seat post is a bit too short for me and my knees were killing me.
The brakes are utterly crap, it came with some "Tecktro" callipers which seam a bit rubbish, i did change the brake discs for the spare Avid ones from my Boardman but it made no difference, the bike itself feels like riding a sofa where as the Boardman feels nice and nimbly like a fighter jet, this just feels like a B52 bomber, i really like it!
The big nobbly 2.3 tyres were rubbish on the road, they refused to roll fast so it felt like a lot of hard work to get anywhere, i have a few other little jobs to do before i throw it through some downhill trees after work next week, i suspect it will handle that a lot better.
Geometry felt spot on for me (bar the low seat) so i will be sorting out the full BETD rear end complete with needle bearings, i held off buying them till i was happy with the feel of the bike, will get some more miles on it while i decide what to do about the POS Boardman.
Current 1998 FSR spec
Deore XT Shifters/Levers
Deore XT rear mech
Deore LX front mech
Psylo Fork (will change this to something else in the future)
Ritchy seat post and bars
Cheap Alexrims (will swap these out as soon as i break them)
RPM crank (probably change this to a single + bash)
2.3 DSI tyres (never heard of them, bit they are knobblishious)
A2Z rear disc mount
Avid 160 clean sweep discs
Tecktro callipers (will swap for Avid BB7)
Cheers.
I limped home and thought about my options, i started stripping the Boardman, this would have been the third time i have greased up this fecking freehub (its done 750 miles) and i figured i might as well just replace the entire rear hub, started to strip it and thought "FUCK IT!" i will just replace the cheap wheelset on it when i get paid in a weeks time
But now i have no working bike
well i have enough assorted parts to get my project bike built up, so maybe i should get that running so i still have a toy to play with after work 8)The bike when i picked it up a few months back
1998 Specialized FSR bought for approx £127 on eBay.
It was sold with a buckled rear wheel and the "gear changer disconnected" according to the auction, but when i picked it up the gears will still connected, what was disconected was the aftermarket rear disc mount/calliper, this was cabled tied up to the seat for some reason, now this bike is a bit of an oddball, as the chap i bought it from definitely did not ride it (big fat posh bloke) i am asuming it was maybe his son? somebody has started to update the bike at some point then given up, i had not seen these mounts before so i intially test mounted it like this
This allows the rear wheel to drop out, but a chap on retro bike told me it was supposed to be rotatated around flush with the frame, this means that removing the rear wheel is a bit of a pain as you have to slacken the disc mount, rotate it backwards, then remove the skewer to drop the wheel, mehh.
I sat on the bike and attempted to ride it around the car park at home, but the rear wheel skewer was knackered, the tyre rubbed on the frame and my shoulder had just been dislocated a week before and was pretty sore, the bike felt tooo small for me, i felt like i was hunched over the handle bars, lets get the bike in the man cave and see whats up
The stock Judy T2 forks were stripped down, as i expected the elastomers to be knackered, to my suprise they were spot on :? must just be as crappy fork then, so i started to strip the bike down, spending time on it after work when i could be bothered.
I was initially going to have the frame white, but i had a thought while at work in the canteen, i had used a hammered copper finish for some Subaru wheels a few years earlier and figured the colour would look good on the FSR frame.
I test painted some of it, oooh this looks nice!
So i quickly got the rest of the metal work painted up.
I left it a few weeks while i decided what to do about the front fork, i ideally needed a cheap 120mm fork to fit on the bike, then i could ride it as a test to see if the higher front end was what i was looking for, i started scouring ebay while the frame hardened up, i then quickly attached up some of the frame without any bushes to get a feel for the bike.
Ohh i am liking this, it looks pimp
i need a longer fork though as i dont want to spend decent money on the bike till i am happy with the raised front end, i picked up a Rock Shox Psylo fork in poor condition for £27 8) the adjustable height meant i could fine tune the feel, and if the bike still felt small to me, i could sell it on as a mint FSR and get my money back (and probably some more)The fork was stripped down and inspected, no oil in the coil side :roll: marks on the stanchion from a dry bush :roll: the hieght adjustment was broken (turned out to be the control knob) and what looked like milk in the damper side :roll:
New seal kit ordered up for £20, some proper Rock Shox fork oil and i set about cleaning up the stanchion, the fork lowers and crown were cleaned up and resprayed in white Hammerite and assembled the fork back together, to my suprise the bushes seam to have little play, and the fork now works fine, first fork i have rebuilt, it was a doddle to be honest, lets get this on the bike to see how it looks.
Ahh now thats look a bit better, the front end has raised up, and its turning it more into the downhill type machine i was thinking about.
I resprayed the stock seat post and handlebars white, to match the fork.
Pictures taken today before its proper maiden voyage around the NE coast
After 8 miles i had to come back home, the gears are not fully indexed yet, the seat post is a bit too short for me and my knees were killing me.
The brakes are utterly crap, it came with some "Tecktro" callipers which seam a bit rubbish, i did change the brake discs for the spare Avid ones from my Boardman but it made no difference, the bike itself feels like riding a sofa
where as the Boardman feels nice and nimbly like a fighter jet, this just feels like a B52 bomber, i really like it!The big nobbly 2.3 tyres were rubbish on the road, they refused to roll fast so it felt like a lot of hard work to get anywhere, i have a few other little jobs to do before i throw it through some downhill trees after work next week, i suspect it will handle that a lot better.
Geometry felt spot on for me (bar the low seat) so i will be sorting out the full BETD rear end complete with needle bearings, i held off buying them till i was happy with the feel of the bike, will get some more miles on it while i decide what to do about the POS Boardman.
Current 1998 FSR spec
Deore XT Shifters/Levers
Deore XT rear mech
Deore LX front mech
Psylo Fork (will change this to something else in the future)
Ritchy seat post and bars
Cheap Alexrims (will swap these out as soon as i break them)
RPM crank (probably change this to a single + bash)
2.3 DSI tyres (never heard of them, bit they are knobblishious)
A2Z rear disc mount
Avid 160 clean sweep discs
Tecktro callipers (will swap for Avid BB7)
Cheers.
1999 Specialized FSR Elite MAX Backbone.
1998 Specialized FSR Ground Control - stripped for parts.
2011 Boardman Pro HT - SOLD! (low quality, expensive garbage)
1998 Specialized FSR Ground Control - stripped for parts.
2011 Boardman Pro HT - SOLD! (low quality, expensive garbage)
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