Yet Another Cube - Bubble & Squeak Build

Dredd6969

Hi All

I'm by no means a serial poster (I'm very shy you see, lol) but I thought I would show you my first forray into the world of custom builds. As the title suggest, this build will be a mix of old & new, mish & mash and most importantly on a budget (married with 3 kids and all). Oh, one more thing, sorry for the phone pics!!

So I wanted to build a hardtail to replace my 2010 Mongoose Tyax Super, which I will be donating to the wife. I also wanted to go for a new frame rather than second hand, but due to budget constraints we would have to see.

Having spent forever looking at frames, I came across bike-discount.de and after a few days, a large box turned up from Zee Germanz.



Inside I found this beauty
2012 Cube Ltd Race 20" Frame - £120.00 (New)


Right thats the frame sorted, now for the bits. As I said before, this build will be a mixture of old and new, so please bear this in mind before hurting my feelings, lol. I already had most of the drivetrain, controls & brakes I wanted to use from the goose, so just had to fill in the gaps with some new stuff.

Shimano Deore Hollowtech II Crankset - £0.00 (Old)

I wasn't happy to find a tooth missing from the big ring, but that shouldn't effect performance

Shimano Deore 9sp Top Swing Front Mech - £15.00 (New)


Sram X7 Rear Mech - £0.00 (Old)


Sram PG 970 9sp Cassette - £0.00 (Old)


Shimano Deore M596 Brake Set - £40.00 (New/Old)

I have to confess that the calipers are really M535 with M596 levers, but I wont tell anyone if you wont.

I bought the M535 brake set of a mate years ago, but wanted the M596 levers as an upgrade for the new build. Made my own bleed kit for £5.00 and used some LHM Plus mineral oil and hey presto, new brakes!!!

And to complete the drivetrain & controls

Sram X7 Shifters - £0.00 (Old)
Sram PC-971 9sp Chain - £0.00 (Old)
VP Components Semi-Intergrated Headset - £30.00 (New)
Ghost 680mm Riser Bars - £0.00 (Old)
Ghost 100mm Stem - £0.00 (Old)
Jensen Engineering Twin Bolt Seat Post - £0.00 (Old)
SDG Bel Air Saddle - £0.00 (Old)

Ok, hope you all are still with me. Next thing on the agenda was a set of forks, which I knew the choice would be limited because of my budget. So I set about scouring the web to find the best deal. Ideally, I wanted a set of Rebas, but buying new was out of my price range and second hand is always a lottery in terms of getting someting in good nick. Having read numerous threads on here about budget forks, Rockshox Recons always got a good review, so I pretty much decided it was going to be one of those.

I also wanted to get all white forks, so the 2013 Rockshox Recon TK Silver 100mm (Coil) from Merlin (£120 I think) was at the top of the list. Unfortunately, at the time there were no stock of 2013 Recons anywhere in the country, so that left me very frustrated. Trust me when I say, its not often I have the money and nothing to spend it on. Luckily for me, having read another thread, I was made aware of these from JeJames Cycles.

2011 Rockshox Recon TK Silver 100mm Forks (Solo Air) - £120.00 (New)




Now I know the decals are red but getting a brand new solo air fork for that money was too good to pass up. Depending on how the forks look on the bike, I may decide to try and source some blue decals.

Ok thats all for now, next up the build starts!!!

WindyG

That's pretty much the same plan I have using some old and new parts to build up a new hardtail. At least you can upgrade parts later as money allows. What wheels are you going to put on?
Also what does the frame weigh?

Dredd6969

Sorry mate, no idea of frame weight but using my universal mobile biomechanical scales, its very light.

Regarding the wheels, all I can say at the moment is budget!!!

Dredd6969

Right then, lets start the build.


Cranks fitted


Front Mech fitted


Rear Mech fitted (Forks are just pushed in to see what they look like with the frame)


Time to think about wheels. For a long time, my intention was to get a set of wheels from Superstar Components, but having a lack of disposable income reared its ugly head again, so had to look for a uber cheap wheelset. Again, Bike Radar was my friend and I found lots of people who recommended the Sun Ringle set from Merlin.

Sun Ringle Equalizer 25 / Shimano 495 Hubs Wheelset - £63.50 (New)




Wheelset has centrelock hubs, so I needed new rotors. On-One are selling 160mm centrelock rotors for £3.00 each, so that was a no brainer!!!

Rotors & Cassette fitted


Next was the rubber for the wheelset. Another visit to Zee Germanz and these arrived shortly afterwards. I also decided to splash out on a new stem.

Schwalbe 2.25" Folding Nobby Nic - £19.00 (New) / Schwalbe 2.25" Folding Racing Ralph - £16.00 (New) / Easton EA30 90mm Stem - £8.00 (New)


Now a custom build isn't a custom build without a bit of bling, so.

Superstar Excel Grips - £11.00 (New) / Superstar Load Balance Seat Post Clamp - £6.00 (New)


Exotic Alloy Flat Pedals - £34.00 (New)

Pedals are supposed to be blue, but my crap phone camera can't deal with the indoor light

Just needed one more thing before it could all go together. A new saddle. I had a SDG Bel Air on the Mongoose, which I was intending the use, however i thought it looked a bit bulky for the Cube. So I invested in this.

Maddison Flux Saddle - £18.00 (New)


With everything acquired I could now complete the build. Pics coming soon!!!

lawman

Looking good! A mate just bought a 14" cube from bike-discount for his lad, cracking little bike it is too, this looks really good too, I quite some of the cube paintjobs, they look stunning in certain colours!

Dredd6969

Yeah, I've always liked the look of Cubes, paint jobs are awesome. I've also got a Ghost AMR 5900 full susser and the paint job designs a very similar.

Dredd6969

Right then, build is complete for now. I only finished it yesterday, so have not got many pics. I have to say that I am really pleased with how it has come out. Not bad for my first proper effort. I'm not sure about the red decals on the forks, I think it would look a lot better with blue ones, so if anyone can suggest where I could source blue Recon decals, please let me know.

Ok, enough of the waffle, here she is.







I went for a test ride to my mates house yesterday and first impressions are good fit, comfy, light and very fast. The ride was only about a mile, so not much to really gain from that. Planning to go for a proper blast later in the week, so will see how it performs.

Any comments are welcome, but remember I'm fragile

WindyG

I think you've done a good job there, still can't believe you got those shocks that cheap , wish I had seen them. I do think the decals need to be blue though.

Dredd6969

Yep, forks were a great deal. Whole build cost me £519.00 give a take a few quid, so very happy. Think I will change the decals, but have had a quick mooch on the web and can't find anyone who does the same decals in blue. If anyone can suggest a place, it would be appreciated.

Scion1

Cubes always look good. This one is no exception.

mcnultycop

I was looking at the Cube frames from Ze Germans to potentially re-frame my Trek 4500. £120 seems a great price.

lawman

That saddle's pointing a bit low!! I love my flux though, mega comfy and dirt cheap, I rate it alot higher than my Gobi, which is 3 times the price, top bit of kit

for decals try Slikgraphics, I got a lime green set for my Fox's from there and they do Rockshox too, drop them an e-mail and they should be able to do some for you

Dredd6969

Thanks for the heads up on Silk Graphics. One question though, does the old decals just peel off or is there a particular method (chemicals, etc) that I need to use to get them off clean.

Reference the saddle, it's the camera angle thats making the saddle look like that. in reality the saddle angle is nowhere that bad.

lawman

On my fox's the decals were on top of the paint, so a quick warm up from a hairdryer to melt the glue and a quick wipe with some cleaner and the I placed the new ones. Afaik Rockshox put the decals under a layer of clearcoat over the paint, so you'll just need to lay them over the top of the originals as best you can. It may be different on yours, but thats how it is on my revelations and various other rockshox forks I've seen.

Dredd6969

Thanks mate for the advice. I have emailed Silk Graphics so will see what they can come up with.

allthegearnoidea

ebay is always good for decals/graphics.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Sporting-Good ... con+decals

cubes always manage a good paint job, bight and eye cathing, Like the build fella.

benpinnick

I did something very similar, but bought the bike complete really cheap, and punted the parts to pay for the frame. Cost me about £20 in the end

Added some stuff from the garage, drivetrain, brakes, wheels etc. and bought some cheap Sid Worldcups for the front. Total build cost (if you ignore my 2nd hand bits) about £400. Happy days.

matt@theforce

These are the builds I like to see. Well done and yet another spankingly good looking Cube 8)

Dredd6969

Thanks mate!! Just waiting on some blue decals to turn up for the forks now.

Screaming Tree

I bought the complete bike in those colours last summer, cracking frame, very fast

The Rookie

Looking good, we have those Merlin wheels on the elder daughters Hardtail (Dirty Jo Full Creme) very light for the rpice at circa 1940g the pair (though Shimano centre lock rotors offset that somewhat!), she's running 130mm Recon XC's on hers.

Dredd6969

Just a quick update. After numerous emails to Slik Graphics with no reply and hours spent searching the net, I finally found a place in Spain that does Rockshox Recon 2011 vinyl decals.

2011 Rockshox Recon Decals (Blue) - £4.00


Once I get the new decals fitted, I will post a load of photos of the finished (for now) bike.

Twelly

Dredd6969 wrote:

Just a quick update. After numerous emails to Slik Graphics with no reply and hours spent searching the net, I finally found a place in Spain that does Rockshox Recon 2011 vinyl decals.

Details/link please, I want some!

Dredd6969

Bought the decals off ebay from Spain, see link below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110957228842; ... 26_rdc%3D1

Twelly

Awesome, thanks. I could only ever find pre 2010 decals on UK eBay.

chez_m356

Dredd6969 wrote:

Bought the decals off ebay from Spain, see link below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110957228842; ... 26_rdc%3D1

you my friend are a star, bike's looking fantastic by the way, those decals will finish it off nicely

Dredd6969

Just fitted the decals to the forks. i reckon they went on rather well and there wasn't any fffing and blinding either

Dredd6969

Right then, forks are now re-fitted. Only thing left to do is to get this little minx dirty, but first!!

Spec

Frame: 2012 Cube LTD Race Grey Metal Blue (20")

Forks: 2011 Rock Shox Recon Silver TK Solo Air
Bars: Ghost 680mm Riser Bars
Stem: Easton E30 Stem - 90mm
Headset: VP Components Semi Integrated
Grips: Superstar Excel Grips - Blue Lock Rings

Front Brake Lever: Shimano Deore M596
Front Caliper: Shimao Deore M535
Front Disc: Shimano Deore RT52 Centrelock
Rear Brake Lever: Shimano Deore M596
Rear Caliper: Shimao Deore M535
Rear Disc: Shimano Deore RT52 Centrelock

Shifters: Sram X7
Front Mech: Shimano Deore M590 Top Swing 9sp
Rear Mech: Sram X7

Seat: Maddison Flux Saddle - Black
Seat Post: Jensen Engineering Twin Bolt Seat Post
Seat Post Clamp: Superstar Load Balance - Blue

Cranks: Shimano Deore Hollowtech II
Chain: SRAM PC971 9 Speed
Cassette: SRAM PG970 9 Speed
Pedals: Exotic Alloy Flat Pedals - Blue

Front Wheel
Rim: Sun Ringle Equalizer 25
Hub: Shimano 495 Disc Hub
Tyre: Nobby Nic Performance DC 2,25" (Folding)

Rear Wheel
Rim: Sun Ringle Equalizer 25
Hub: Shimano 495 Disc Hub
Tyre: Racing Ralph Performance ORC 2,25" (Folding)

















Well I have to say that I'm more than pleased with how it's turned out.

Any comments are welcome.

matt@theforce

Thats spot on 8)