Carrera Kraken - XC build update 15 aug

mrmonkfinger

So, with our little offspring approaching the 1 year mark quite soon, I need a utility bike capable of doing a little light off road (fire trails, mainly) and having a child seat bolted on. Now, whilst I do have a road bike that all the utility stuff could be fitted to, I quite like it as a road bike, and it would be nice to have a hack bike suitable for the odd XC ride.

Two goals with this project: keep the budget down to a couple of hundred, and get something reasonable to ride that does all the stuff mentioned.


So, we start with this, for £35, a Carrera Kraken XC in size large:





And add some things I already have, at zero cost:

A Ritchey WCS headset.
A Ritchey Comp stem.
A Ritchey Comp seatpost.
Some Scott grips.
FSA chainrings, 22, 32 & 42.
Some SRAM Stylo cranks.
Two Avid Code 5 levers.
Several Elixir callipers.
Two 160mm discs.
A pair of wheels (M756 XT hubs, DT spokes, Bontrager rims).
Some skewers.

And also some things coming from BR classifieds (thanks, amt27):

An XT front mech.


A GXP BB.



And on their way from CRC:

A Deore shadow mech:


A SRAM PG970 cassette:


An FSA XC300 handlebar:


Total spent so far, £135.33


Yet to come:

A fork (I'm looking for a second hand rigid, remember its a budget build)
Cables
Chain
Shifters

utility department:
Mudguards (yup, cool-as-corduroy full length jobs).
Blackburn EX rack (for the child seat).

The Rookie

If you want some inspiration - or to be put off - check the link in my sig although it's a bit out of date I'm waiting until I have the XT brakes on before updating it (update will be a Bontraget RXL saddle, Deore HT2 crankset and the XT/Saint/XTR brake combo Current cost on mine is just over £600 but I have the Juicy's and a Saint lever XTR calliper combo to sell on.

mrmonkfinger

Yup, spied that a while ago, and although I am completely mystified as to what you're doing with the brakes, its exactly the sort of thing I'm aiming at.

Not sure on what tyres to grab. Slicks or semi-slicks, or something else with minimal tread, small block 8 maybe?

The Rookie

I bought a pair of XTR callipers, a Saint M800 (XT M765 in a different colour) front set and a pair of XT M775 servowave levers, I'm using the levers with the XTR rear (IS mount so no adaptors etc) and the Saint front caliper with new hoses, I'll then put the XTR front with the Saint lever to sell on, cost me £90 and should get back about £25-30, so not a bad price for what I end up with!

Plus Shimano's are much easier to bleed than the Avids!

Tyre wise it depends very much on where your riding!

paulneenan76

I really appreciate your mission as its what I've been doing and will continue to do with my new carbon frame build.

I just replaced a few bits on my Kraken so I have available a set of Tektro disc brakes (cable) which are pretty good after pad clean, a set of 6 bolt rotors, the original Kraken wheelset (has a rough rear hub but its a cheap-ish fix) and two tyres with slime tubes - Continental Vertical on the front (good tread), and Schwalbe Black Jack on the rear (purchased this spring). I also have the old stem and bars but would not recommend unless you're going for a commuter!

Happy to have a chat if you're interested in any of it. It's all been kept in nice boxes or in bags out of harms way s

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

I bought a pair of XTR callipers, a Saint M800 (XT M765 in a different colour) front set and a pair of XT M775 servowave levers, I'm using the levers with the XTR rear (IS mount so no adaptors etc) and the Saint front caliper with new hoses, I'll then put the XTR front with the Saint lever to sell on, cost me £90 and should get back about £25-30, so not a bad price for what I end up with!

Plus Shimano's are much easier to bleed than the Avids!

Tyre wise it depends very much on where your riding!

Ok, got it, neat scheme to get some decent brakes.

Avids are ok once you get the hang of them. One thing I've found that helps is to ignore the instructions that say "you dont need to rotate the lever" and rotate the lever so the bleed port is at the top. Oh, and unbolt the calliper so you can get the calliper bleed port at the top, too.

mrmonkfinger

ok, my kingdom (well, £35) for a fork, a bit like this - but not new - from some other bike forum classifieds:



Total spend now £171.77

mrmonkfinger

paulneenan76 wrote:

I really appreciate your mission as its what I've been doing and will continue to do with my new carbon frame build.

Thanks paul - appreciate the offer but I'm sorted for wheels and brakes.

Now, if you have a blackburn ex pannier rack lying around...

mrmonkfinger

one more thing in the post - some older generation XT shifters, £34 from crc:



total now: £206.75

remaining:
chain, cables, mudguards, rack

paulneenan76

mrmonkfinger wrote:

paulneenan76 wrote:

I really appreciate your mission as its what I've been doing and will continue to do with my new carbon frame build.

Thanks paul - appreciate the offer but I'm sorted for wheels and brakes.

Now, if you have a blackburn ex pannier rack lying around...

Hey no problem. Sadly I don't have any panner racks but if I hear of anything I'll let you know. Look forward to seeing your end result.

The Rookie

The shifters normnally come with inner cables, for outers I use Jagwire with the genuine end caps (O-ringed) (off ebay) and add a little lube inside each cable outer section.

I can bleed the Avids just fine - and agree with you about positioning, but the Shimano's I can do in litteraly 2 minutes!

Giraffoto

mrmonkfinger wrote:

Now, if you have a blackburn ex pannier rack lying around...

I do actually genuinely have a Blackburn EX pannier rack, just lying around. Whereabouts are you?

mrmonkfinger

Giraffoto wrote:

I do actually genuinely have a Blackburn EX pannier rack, just lying around. Whereabouts are you?

Southampton or Hereford, depending on what day of the week it is.

Just to check, that's this one:

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

The shifters normnally come with inner cables, for outers I use Jagwire with the genuine end caps (O-ringed) (off ebay) and add a little lube inside each cable outer section.

I can bleed the Avids just fine - and agree with you about positioning, but the Shimano's I can do in litteraly 2 minutes!

I'm hoping you're right about the inner cables - I can probably locate some cable outers in the spares box, from memory there is a few metres, uncut, on a roll in there

2 minutes is fast. I'm now slightly jealous of shimano brake owners!

Giraffoto

mrmonkfinger wrote:

Giraffoto wrote:

I do actually genuinely have a Blackburn EX pannier rack, just lying around. Whereabouts are you?

Southampton or Hereford, depending on what day of the week it is.

Just to check, that's this one:

Yep, that one except that it's silver. Is that a problem? I'm nowhere near either Southampton or Hereford, so it looks like a job for the Royal Mail. I'll check this evening if I have all the fittings, How does £15 + p&p sound if I have? Send me a PM if you're interested

The Rookie

mrmonkfinger wrote:

2 minutes is fast. I'm now slightly jealous of shimano brake owners!

The latest ones need bottles and syphoning and probably take a similar time to Avids, but the older ones are really easy and fast, just as well the amount of times I've had bits of the front on and off mine while waiting for the hose kit! I've got swapping out a front calliper, rebleeding and testing down to less than 10 minutes.

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

I've got swapping out a front calliper, rebleeding and testing down to less than 10 minutes.

video evidence or disbelief

The Rookie

LOL, its only 3 bolts (2 PM mount and one banjo) and a bleed then roll it down the garden (downhill and 120foot long) and hit the brakes, 10 is probably pessimistic!

mrmonkfinger

Some shiny bits arrived in the post - bars, frame (minus hanger - hmm), shifters, both mechs, cassette & gxp bb.

Opened two separate CRC parcels to find a £10 voucher (bugger) which I could have used if I'd got the shifters earlier...

Shifters did indeed come with inner cables attached - so I can just fish out some gear cable outer from the spares box, and cut off some lengths.

Finally, I just ordered one of these...



...for £10.75 (Ebay - can always find kmc chains on there).

That's everything needed to make a bike that rides (minus the utility bits) either here or in the post. Total spend: £217.50

Next stop, building it.

The Rookie

Halfords charge £7.99 for hanger and bolt so not a disaster even if it's annoying!

CRC often chuck in a voucher for a next purchase (sorry....)

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

Halfords charge £7.99 for hanger and bolt so not a disaster even if it's annoying!

That's not too bad actually. The frame feels quite light and looks quite nice for what it is (a budget bike).

The Rookie

My frame weighs about 1740g, the same as a similar age Rockhopper frame.

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

My frame weighs about 1740g, the same as a similar age Rockhopper frame.

They're both Merida underneath the paint, aren't they?

The Rookie

Yup, better end of the Merida spectrum though as my daughters old CBR was Merida and that weighed in at 2150g (slightly larger size).

mrmonkfinger

2.15kg? Featherweight - my road bike frame weighs more than that.

Right, the forks have arrived, as has the chain, so I'm ready to start bolting things together. Progress pics soon!

mrmonkfinger

ok, been putting things together just need a couple of photos for this thread

had to also buy:

gear hanger, £8
rear brake adaptor, £2

The Rookie

Without pics it doesn't exist!

mrmonkfinger

The Beginner wrote:

Without pics it doesn't exist!

Yeah I know. I been quite busy over the last week or so and haven't managed to get it outside during daylight hours...

mrmonkfinger

Not the worlds greatest photo, but there we go, she's alive!

Still a few small bits to do:

* swap the rear caliper from elixir 3 to elixir 5 (the 5 is narrow enough to get a rack around)
* mudguards
* rack
* some nicer grips
* paint the fork black, because there isn't enough black going on yet

its a real "bit of this and bit of that" spec list:
Carrera Kraken in XL
Pipedream infinity fork
Ritchey comp seatpost
Ritchey comp stem
Ritchey WCS headset
Some cheap Selle Italia saddle from ebay
Some fairly knackered Scott grips
FSA XC 680mm bars
"Assortment of avid" brakes - elixir 3 & 5 calipers, code 5 levers, G3 rotors @ 160mm
SRAM PG970 block
Deore shadow rear mech, XT front mech
Stylo cranks, truvativ BB, FSA chainrings
KMC Z9 chain
XT shifters, XT cables
XT hubs, DT plain gauge, Bonty Explorer rims (rims are an OE job)
Conti City tyres, set up tubeless

mrmonkfinger

done some fettling:

* swapped the rear calliper for an elixir 5 - had to buy a complete second hand brake as I didn't have a suitable hose (£20, so will try and reclaim a bit by re-selling it as a front brake using the old hose)
* swapped the headset's top cap for a very low profile cap, the ritchey cap was about 14mm tall and the fork had a real short steerer, swapping to a low profile cap got me a few more mm's back, just enough that both the bolts on the stem overlap the steerer tube

total spend now at £275, a few £ over budget due to the brake hose and tyres

smiley_boy2501

mrmonkfinger wrote:

* paint the fork black, because there isn't enough black going on yet

Made me lol.

Normally hate 'practical' commuting bikes, but that's not bad. Cannondale bad boy vibe. In fact now i'm tempted.