Always tinkering; another build starts!

Corners R Us · June 2013

So 6-m ago I morphed an ageing Saracen Rufftrax hardtail into a Carerra Vulcan frame bought for £30 off Evil Bay and upgraded/replaced various bits (chainset, cassette, chain, jockey wheels, front mech, brakes, tyres etc) to the point that my work is done on this bike and it rode sweetly for my then needs.

My fitness has returned to previous levels and I'm starting to ride for much longer durations periodically so I started exploring full suspension options. I also discovered Pinkbike after getting fed up watching bikes go for way more than they were worth on Evil Bay...and hundreds of miles away too!

Fathers Day came and some spare time on my hands resulted in a slightly impulse purchase of a full suspension bike to refresh, update and tweak to my liking.

So my Carerra, which will have some road skinnies applied to it for road/fitness work now shares the garage with a 2007 Marin Mount Vision of the quad linkage variety in medium/17.5". The spec is an interesting read as it a mish mash of nice, interesting and awful! The bike hadn't been used for the last 2-years and the paintwork is in really good nick with only a few minor nicks here and there. If I understand correctly the paint on this generation was very tough in comparison to later models? It almost looks like its silver anodised but it is actually painted! All welds were solid with no apprent cracks or dings in the tubes. All the suspension linkages are plush with no play in them.

Suspension: Magura Ronins up front with lockout, high/low speed damping. Fox Float RP23 rear shock with similar knobs and levers that I need to work out! These will both be serviced/overhauled in the next 6-months once I've got the bike up and running and used it a bit.

Wheels: Shimano hubs on Mavic X317 rims. Continental Mountain King 2.2 hoops.

Drivetrain: Shimano LX hollowtech cranks (3 ring setup currenlty) with a new BB fitted recently. LX shifters, Deore front mech and XT rear mech. 9-speed cassette (new).

Brakes: Shimano XT calipers, levers and centre splined discs (all pretty new and with new pads applied).

Finishing kit: Bars and stem (31.8mm and fat bars) are Ritchey Comp kit (stock?). The rest (seatpin, saddle, grips) was a horrid mish mash of cheap brand-x components that really didn't deserve to be on the bike!

This evening has seen me have a little spending spree and purchase the following items to finish it off appropriately:

1 x Selle SMP TRK - Black - Steel Rails. £35.99. Simply the best saddle I've ever used and the Vulcan sports one currently.

1 x RaceFace Ride XC Seatpost - 30.9 x 375mm Black. £24.49

1 x Hope Seat Clamp & QR - 34.9mm (Red). £19.99

1 x Token Double Lock On Grips - (Red locking rings). £8.99

I'm also toying with removing the outer ring as I never use them off road and replacing it with a nice red Hope bash ring to finsih off the silver/black theme with hints of red (and blue!!) that I've settled on.

A few pics of the old girl as she stands currently, pending the application of some finishing bling!

Fingers crossed this will keep me amused for the next 6-months!!

Corners

Paulfocus · June 2013

Nice bike

I've come from a hardtail to full sus and if my 2006 mount vision is anything to go by there great fun to ride!!!!

James Q · June 2013

Looks really nice, cant wait to see this progress.

Corners R Us · June 2013

Paulfocus wrote:

Nice bike I've come from a hardtail to full sus and if my 2006 mount vision is anything to go by there great fun to ride!!!!

Excellent feedback. Looking forwards to getting all the shiny bits muddy!!!

Corners

The Rookie · June 2013

Liking that a lot, looks very cohesive.

Nice brakes, pretty much what I was running until I got some ST shiftres (M765).

Corners R Us · June 2013

So a week of Post Office deliveries has resulted in a MV fit for the trail!

Am I finished? Well kinda! I have ordered some red A2Z skewers to replace the blue ones. I did think about mixing it up with various blue/red bolts/jockey wheels etc but decided to go with a silver/red/black theme instead for fear of it looking like a patriotic accident! I also fancy a nice red Hope stem to set it all off but will wait until I've ridden the bike off road in anger to decide on the size.

I also purchase the odd item off eBay that nobody bids on that might be of use to me in the future. This resulted in a set of unused Alex TDM17 rim/Shimano hub wheels with a new 9-speed cassette coming my way cheaply, which have been sat in the toy shed for a couple of months now. I also bought a set of Tektro wavey discs for a few quid and have some Intense System 2 tyres hanging on the wall that have just come off my Carerra Vulcan h/t which has been converted to road spec for fitness work. I think they might make a nice set of summer wheels for the MV? I will purchase some nice shiny red rotor bolts for a bit of colour co-ordinate bling! Then my recent spending spree is at an end hopefully; time to ride!

What next? Hmmmmm not sure but there is more space in the toy shed for something; just!!!

Ride safe, Corners

Corners R Us · June 2013

The devil's in the detail as they say! Red A2Z skewers dropped through the door this am; cheers Wooly Hat Shop. The blue ones will look sweet on my son's blue Specialized RockHopper as will the blue Crane Creek grips that came off the MV; waste not want not!

Corners

Corners R Us · July 2013

Summer/dry weather wheels assembled & ready for action, Sir!

8)

Corners

Corners R Us · July 2013

Just realised I've not reported back on my maiden voyage aboard the MV. I managed to get out on it for 2-hours around the Verderer's and Free Miners trails in the Forest of Dean last Sunday am. Also took in a few off trail bits of single track I enjoy. What a difference to the hard tail experience. So much more comfort and less fatigue at the end of what is a regular rideout for me. Descents are a much faster, more sure footed affair with less braking...which will probably end in tears & a heap of tangled alloy, bones and a trip to A&E!! Nothing fell off or broke....me or the bike!! I need to tweak the headset up a bit as a bit of play has crept in and adjust the gears slightly as I had an occasional reluctance to engage the second rear sprocket at times without shifting past it then back to it. Other than that I'm well pleased and it fits me like a glove. I plan to take in some longer more challenging rides now safe in the knowledge I won't be wielding tools and also will be fresher at the end of them! I'm hoping to head up to Cannock Chase in the next couple of weekends then Cwm Carn perhaps before the end of the month, family commitments permitting. There's also a long weekend in the Quantocks in September beckoning with a group of mtb mates too; bring it on!! I've also manged several rides on my road converted Carerra hard tail so my fitness should come on in leaps and bounds. Well thats the plan......

Onto the next project!

Corners

Corners R Us · July 2013

Summer wheels applied. I think the trails are sufficiently dry enough now for the Intense System II tyres and no rain forecast for a week or more. I also discovered a slight anomaly with the front wheel that came with the bike. For some reason it sits closer to the right fork leg than it does to the left?? My summer front wheel sits dead centre. I put my original wheel in my son's bike and the same thing, it sits tighter to the right fork?? Looks like the spacers aren't right and a thick one is on the wrong side or somethings amiss somewhere in that area. I'll pull it apart and establish whats wrong. Might as well regrease the hub while I'm at it as its a bit tight/notchy.

UPDATE: Turns out the front wheels not been dished properly, a not uncommon issue apparently. LBS will re-tension spokes to resovle whilst fitting the new X Fusion Velvets I've ordereed to replace the Ronins which drew their last breath literally at the weekend!

Off out to play with some mates for a few hours in the Forest of Dean tomorrow pm. Bring it on........

Corners

FatMikeUK · July 2013

That saddle...I had one that looked like that after a crash, never seen it done intentionally. Is there a particular method to the design, or did you just fancy something different aesthetic wise?

Corners R Us · July 2013

FatMikeUK wrote:

That saddle...I had one that looked like that after a crash, never seen it done intentionally. Is there a particular method to the design, or did you just fancy something different aesthetic wise?

Looks wierd I know but its the comfiest saddle I''ve ever used. I also have one on a Carerra Vulcan hardtail and I'd not use anything else despite its looks!! Best £35 you can spend on a perch IMHO.

Corners

Corners R Us · July 2013

So today's 4-hours in the saddle has resulted in the death of the Ronins (unsurprisinlgy?!). I'd hoped they'd last 6-m before I needed to touch them but a particulalry heavy landing resulted in 0mm travel which looked interesting! Luckily one of my riding companions had a shock pump so some travel was re-introduced but they are now feel awful and I suspect somethings died internally! Plan B was to simply lock them out so it didnt overly spoil our fun. I think I'm going to cut my losses and put some new, better front forks on as a permanent fix. The lads I was riding with all swear by X-Fusion Velvets so I'm off to my lbs in the am to see what sort of a deal I can get on a set (£350ish?).

I also discovered that the Intense System II (2.0) is not a particualry good front hoop. I shall put a slightly more aggressive 2.2 up front for a bit more bite and predictable handling!! I noticed most of the lads I rode with today were running Kenda Block 8s on the back and a chunky front tyre; seemed to work for them so I'll experiment too. Got plenty of options on the garage wall to chose from!!

All good fun.....fettling heaven for moi!!!

Corners

Corners R Us · July 2013

Bike just collected from my LBS in readiness for a Sunday rideout of some sort.

New X-Fusion Velvet RL2 forks applied, set internally to 120mm travel. For me they are a nice simple fork with minimal things to fiddle with. Right leg has lockout mechanism on it (on/off), top of left leg has the valve for air in/out and bottom of right leg has rebound adjuster. Simples; sometimes less is more! My LBS also redished the front wheel and it now sits central to the forks!!!! I'll leave the Mountain Kings on these 'winter' wheels and play about with the other 'summer' wheels anon.

Fingers crossed thats the end of my attempts to bring the UK out of recession and my credit card can have a rest for a while!!! Feedback on new forks pending.....

Corners

tarbot18 · July 2013

nice looking bike, look better without the saddle bag though , how much did you get the velvets for in the end.

Corners R Us · July 2013

tarbot18 wrote:

nice looking bike, look better without the saddle bag though , how much did you get the velvets for in the end.

£359.99 fitted and set to 120-mm travel (Slam69 is the lbs I tend to use locally). Few places I looked online stocked them in the fitment I wanted and in black. When I could find what I wanted they were out of stock or only had it in white!

Saddlebag is a throw back to my roadie days of old! Prefer to keep my spare tubes and multi tool under my seat and not in my back pack. That said I agree, the bike does look better without it! Perhaps when I'm picture whoring I'll take it off for the clean look.....

Corners

Corners R Us · July 2013

I'm now into the final minor tweaks stage of my build, hopefully! Just bagged a 90mm RaceFace stem off eBay (£9.99 plus a few quid P&P). The original Ritchey stem on the bike was 100mm and felt a smidge too long for me hence the change. Oh and it matches the RaceFace seatpin nicely too. Attention to detail is the key!!

Just waiting on a 36T chainring from CRC and the 36-38T Hope bash will go back on and I'll run 2/9, 36/22 for a drivetrain. Also ordered one of these to replace the cheap looking Shimano plastic jobbie that looks like it'd give up without too much effort!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KCNC-Alloy-Sh ... 1e74e8f751

I'm still not overly happy with either the Mountain King or Intense System 2 as front tyres as they both lack bite IMHO......more experimentation in this area required.

Corners

Corners R Us · August 2013

So Evolution VIII.b is about to be unleashed on the trails.

I've replaced the Intense System 2 2.00 front with a System 5 2.1 which is a much knobblier affair and should provide the required bite I'm looking for.

I'm going to retain the rear Intense System 2 2.00 tyre and see how this combo works.

I've decided for now to run a 2x9 setup with 32/22 rings and an 11-32T casette. I also discovered that the rear hanger was bent so thats been replaced (£21.95) and the gears unsurprisingly run much sweeter! Jockey wheels have also been replaced with some new, lighter ones...in red of course!!

Winter wheels are now sporting Tioga Factory XC's in 26/1.95 width. When they wear out I will likely replace them with Panracer Fire XC's in 2.1 front and 1.8 rear.

So the final product looks like this; for now!!!

Corners

Corners R Us · August 2013

Spent a pleasant 2.5 hours around Cannock Chase today on the Dog and Monkey trails before any rain appeared 8) . Boy those stones/shale were slippery and interesting to ride on in places! Bike performed near faultlessly. I had to make a minor tweak to the front mech cable tension but other than that I'm happy with my current setup and will leave it thus for now.

Unfortunatley I decided to hurl myself over the handlerbars navigating a rock garden and have manged to scuff the left fork leg stantion on my new X-Fusions; arggggggggggggggh :evil: :evil: :roll:

. Annoyingly they are only about 5 rides old.

I shall visit my LBS that fitted them for advice and hopefully it won't result in a rebuild with a new leg but I'm not overly optimistic as its rough to touch. Its about 3/4 of the way up the leg so at least not near the lower part of the stroke so won't be coming into contact with a seal too often if at all; I hope!!

All good fun and games I spose!

Corners

Corners R Us · August 2013

I have found the FAQ solution:

viewtopic.php?f=40073&t=12543653

...but I'm not sure I'm feeling brave enough to try on my works withut some advice! Anyone used this fix? I presume patience and a light touch are required to avoid a big area being dulled with wet&dry?!

Corners

Corners R Us · August 2013

UPDATE: LBS that fitted them think the only issue might be a prematurely wearing dust seal. No major issues anticipated other than making sure forks are serviced when they should be to ensure all is well inside IF extra crud is getting in due to the dust seal wearing quicker/failing. In a word PHEW!

Corners R Us · November 2013

More updates and patches than Microsoft??!!!

So I've been tinkering away since my last post and the bikes almost morphed into its final incarnation...I think! MV Version 17.5b is here!!!

Bike originally had a 100mm Ritchey stem. I then went to a 90mm RaceFace and now to a 70mm. Tick!

Running 2x9 (32/22) with a RaceFace 32/34T bash. Tick.

I've tried loads of different tyres in the past few months. My best summer setup is a 2.25 Intense System 5 up front and a 2.00 Intense System 2 out back. Winter tyres are a Maxxis High Roller 2.35 front (Super Tacky) running 30psi and a Tioga Factory XC 1.95 on the rear running 35psi. I did have a High Roller 2.35 on the rear too but it was too draggy. I managed to bag a pair of lightly used High Rollers for £4.10 off Ebay so thought I'd try them both at the same time.

I've also replaced the BB with an XT one (£18 CRC) as the Deore one was starting to feel a smidge rough. Pads have been replaced front and rear with organic ones, I found the HH ones a bit harsh. I've tinkered with fork pressure and find 75psi about right. The rear shock is set to 150psi. The only things I'll do now are replace the chain as and when its done, perhaps got to an 11-34 rear cassette when thats worn out and have the rear shock serviced sometime after winter. The bike is used once sometimes twice a week most weeks in all weathers so its getting properly used; she ain't no show pony!!!

Fingers crossed I'll generate enough toy fund money to finance a nice summer bike; either a Giant Trance or a Vitus Escarpe and the tinkering will refocus there!! I'll keep the MV for winter action; well that's the plan! Don't be surprised if there pics on here of the MV being stripped down, repainted black, things being powder coated and yet more changes!!! I love tinkering!!!

Corners

Corners R Us · February 2014

Following a shoulder injury just before Xmas I've not been on the bike much but its about as good as its gonna get now so its time to start hitting the trails again and get some fitness for the Hell of the North Cotswolds and the FoD Wild Boar.

The MVs had a few more upgrades in the interim; a KS i900 dropper post (£60 off eBay). Took me about a month to get a replacement lever after the PO bent it in transit :roll: . Thankfully as Jungle took so long to supply it they did so for free; top service....eventually

! I've also changed the pedals and put the Alex TD17 wheelset on that I had hanging on the wall. Am I finished.....err nope! Next wave of changes will see a black Hope seat collar (non QR) and some black Hope jockey wheels as the ones on there are giving up the ghost! I also have an XT front mech, rear mech and shifters plundered off eBay that I will fit once the winter seasons over.

And for the under seat pack haters I had to take it off to get the seat in the right place for me. Tubes and tools are now in my back pack where they probably should have been!!!

UPDATE: black Hope 34.9 allen key seat collar purchased. £12.50 from Woolyhatshop on eBay; result!

Corners R Us · February 2014

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kind-Shock-KG ... 56604ee4a9

Its a black thing with me!!!!! Very tempted. Jungle can only get red stuff for some reason, no blick......

Always tinkering; another build starts!

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