Carrera Kraken - XC build update 15 aug

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).
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).
0
Posts
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
Not sure on what tyres to grab. Slicks or semi-slicks, or something else with minimal tread, small block 8 maybe?
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
Plus Shimano's are much easier to bleed than the Avids!
Tyre wise it depends very much on where your riding!
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 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
viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12898838
viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12897374
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.
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
Total spend now £171.77
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
Thanks paul - appreciate the offer but I'm sorted for wheels and brakes.
Now, if you have a blackburn ex pannier rack lying around...
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
total now: £206.75
remaining:
chain, cables, mudguards, rack
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
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.
viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12898838
viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12897374
I can bleed the Avids just fine - and agree with you about positioning, but the Shimano's I can do in litteraly 2 minutes!
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
I do actually genuinely have a Blackburn EX pannier rack, just lying around. Whereabouts are you?
XM-057 rigid 29er
Southampton or Hereford, depending on what day of the week it is.
Just to check, that's this one:
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
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!
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
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
XM-057 rigid 29er
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
video evidence or disbelief
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
Opened two separate CRC parcels to find a £10 voucher (censored ) 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.
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
CRC often chuck in a voucher for a next purchase (sorry....)
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
That's not too bad actually. The frame feels quite light and looks quite nice for what it is (a budget bike).
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
They're both Merida underneath the paint, aren't they?
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
Right, the forks have arrived, as has the chain, so I'm ready to start bolting things together. Progress pics soon!
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
had to also buy:
gear hanger, £8
rear brake adaptor, £2
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
Yeah I know. I been quite busy over the last week or so and haven't managed to get it outside during daylight hours...
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
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
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
* 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
Iron Horse Ojiki
Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail owners thread
Made me lol.
Normally hate 'practical' commuting bikes, but that's not bad. Cannondale bad boy vibe. In fact now i'm tempted.