Carrera Blast 24 refurb/rebuild

dirkpitt74

Well I finally got round to starting my lads bike refurb/build.

I picked up a 24" wheel Carrera Blast for a bargain £25 on ebay - this particualr one appealed to me as it had been 'upgraded' to Deore brake levers and shifters which meant no rubbish grip shift, also came with a Deore rear mech.

Brakes and gears worked well on the stand so hopefully should be OK when all back together.

The purple skewers and seat clamp will have to go though....... (the eagle eyed of you may have noticed that the skewers are on the wrong way round and the seat post is also wrong way round too - It wasn't me!!!).

Here it is on the work stand:






All up it weighed in at 13.18kg - not really a lightweight!

Now this was picked up as a project so there's going to be some changes!

I'm stripping it down and getting it powder coated Yellow (Lads fav colour!), will have new black decals and a new set of forks - picked up some Fox Float FL80's for £50 locally.

dirkpitt74

So first task was to strip back to bare frame.

Now I haven't done this much work on a bike since I worked at Halfords many moons ago as a part-time cycle tech (and I use the term 'tech' loosely!!). But I'm an Engineer (albeit an Electrical Engineer...) and fairly handy with tools so how hard can it be........

So it was out with the tools and get to work:

Brakes and gears removed first:



Problem with front brake as mounting bracket is broken:



Will check ebay and see if I can find a replacement caliper.
Not heard of these brakes but when they were on the bike they seemed to work really well and held the bike firm whilst I tried to push it.

Then off with the forks & bars:



Then off with the drive train:



Cranks came of fairly easy and the bottom bracket came out by hand..... was nicely greased though!

So here we have the bare fame:



Only thing left to remove is the head set, not sure how to get that out so will probably pop to the LBS over the weekend and get them to remove it:



Here are a few of the bits I have already for when it comes back from the powder coaters:





Things that will need some work/thought:

Might change the crank set if I can find a reasonable priced 3x in the correct length
Undecided what to do with the current bars & stem - might just give them a respray
Might see if I can get a Deore Front Mech to match the rear

Will hopefully get it to the coaters early next week and be able to start putting back together over the next couple of weeks. Will be cleaning up the components I have to see what state they're in and whether they need replacing/upgrading.

Sorry it's a bit of a long post!!!

The Rookie

Headset can be removed very easily with a hammer and large screwdriver, just insert the screwdriver (tip end) through one end of the headtube to rest against the base of the opposite headset, a few sharp taps with a hammer and out it will pop.

24" bikes are little lighter than 26", nearly all the components are the same (bar the outer wheel parts) and the bulk of the frame (dropouts, headtube, BB shell) is the same, just slightly shorter tubes (lightest bit).

Make sure the headtube, BB-shell and seat tube are properly masked up or it will cost you to get them all cleaned out!

I have a fairly lightweight 27.2 seatpost coming off a bike if you are interested and will be at the Chase at the end of the month.

Going double from triple isn't worth it for weight loss (about 60g tops) unless its not going to mess with the gears needed at all, its going single (if you can) where it counts - circa 400g saving.

dirkpitt74

Cheers Rookie.
Will give the headset a go later.
Will let you know about the seat post too.
Am going to have a hunt around for a chainset and see what I can get.
Hoping some decent tyres will save a bit of weight too.

poah

going to be a nice build for your kid. My son has a Carrera blast too that I've up graded

I'd be interested to know the weight of the frame

current spec @ 22.78lb

forks - RST F1RST air 24
Brakes - Shimano SLX with 160mm discs
Crank - Thorn 150mm + RF NW 30t
Pedals - DH sport direct from china
Chain - KMC X10 93
cassette - XT 10sp
Rmech - SLX shadow + medium
shifter - zee 10sp
Wheels - superstar switch evo (rebadged Novatec D881SB front and D882SB) laced to Alex ACE 20 rims with sapim race DB spokes. hope QRs
tyres - schwalbe rocker ron set up tubeless
saddle/seatpost - SDG bel air & Kore T-Rail post
bar - eXotic Scandium Riser Handlebar 620mm
stem - standard
grips - uberbike lockons

dirkpitt74

Cheers guys.

Frame weight is 1.78kg's according to my luggage scales.

That's a cracking spec you've got there POAH.

Where did you get the Rocket Ron's from? Struggling to find 24" tyres at the moment - was going to go for a set of Continental Explorers as only others I could find where Schwalbe Black Jacks (which seem quite heavy).

Do you still have the old crank set?

poah

I still have the crank but its really too big for the bike - I run a 165mm crank

can get the rocket ron's from a few places

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/schw ... ing-230841
£15 each

dirkpitt74

Thanks for the reply - hadn't thought of the German sites!
Will have a look round and see what I can get crank wise - on a bit of a budget.

Yakboy

Get the scales out and start weighing . Have a think about a shorter stem as kids bikes are usually very stretched out. Your Fox RL's look like a bargain.

Rookie's tip on headset removal is a good one

poah

stem is 60mm IIRC

Yakboy

The Chinese ebay one I got is 38mm and actually quality is pretty good.

What are you doing crank wise and are you going 1x7, 2x7 or sticking with 3x7?

dirkpitt74

Thinking of sticking with the 3x tbh (possible drop to 2x). Problem at the moment is getting a decent set of short cranks for a reasonable price.
I've looked at the Thorn ones that POAH has used and whilst they look quality I can't afford the £120 for 3x set up.
I might just get the spider/cranks and see what I can pick up ring wise on ebay/forum.
Will probably go for a shorter stem to reduce the reach.

poah

you should be able to find some crank rings from someone that has gone 1X - my triple SLX/XT fitted the thorn crank.

Yakboy

Have you had a look at SINZ cranks, they sometimes come up on ebay and they do a 140mm version and they can be 2X. I would definitely ditch the big ring though.

The Rookie

I would consider using 8 speed at the rear as well, You can use 8 of the 9 sprockets from a lower end (non spider) 9 speed cassette and get a better gear spread than using a 7 speed, you need a 9 speed shifter but the 7 speed rear mech will still work just fine.

dirkpitt74

Couple of more parts purchased:

New 150mm crankset - not the lightest or prettiest but will do for the moment until budget allows for a Thorn spider and rings but better than whats currently there


£12 delivered from ebay.

Shorter stem:

£4.02 from ebay.

Also ordered a new chain, cassette and some 620mm bars from CRC.

Need to drop frame off this week or early next week for coating. Work and family stuff delayed getting there earlier.

dirkpitt74

Just got the frame back from the Powdercoaters.



Looks like a good job, couple of areas to tidy (remove overspray) and give it a good clean and make sure the threads are clear of blasting media.

Should be able to crack on with the build later this week!

dirkpitt74

Finally got round to making a start building this back up.

Put decals on:


Sorted out fork wheels and cockpit:


Bottom bracket and crankset:


Need to get the steerer cut and a new starnut as can't move the one that's in there down.
New front mech to be ordered as current one is tatty.
Hoping to get finished for May half term.

poah

is that bar not stupidly heavy?

dirkpitt74

FINISHED!!!!!!!
Managed to get the bike finished (until I sort some upgrades lol!) over May Half Term while my Step Son was visiting his Dad.

Been a really enjoyable experience - forgotten how much I enjoyed working on bikes.















Not happy with the cranks but they're a stopgap until I can afford the 150mm Thorn one.
Had to put the old front mech back on as the one a mate donated is a top pull.

Need to shorten a couple of the outers/inners on the brakes, replace the front mech and change cranks.

Have picked up some Shimano chain rings so will order the Thorn crank towards the end of the month.

Not a massive weight saving over the original at the moment but new crank and a couple of other changes should drop it a bit more.

He's really pleased with it, and likes the fact that's it's pretty much unique!



Maiden run around the visitors centre at the Chase went well.

Mattcee

What a great post - well done

dirkpitt74

So the Blast has passed to my Daughter who is now 8.
She's ridden it a few times but thought it was due some updates.
Revised spec will now be:
1*10 SLX/Saint drive train with Deore 11-42t cassette
Suntour XCT JR cranks with 30t n/w with Superstar alloy bash
Shimano M365 hydraulic brakes with Purple Superstar 160 rotors
Stan’s Crest on Superstar Electro hubs with Schwalbe Black Jack tyres
X-Fusion HiLo Dropper with Madison youth trail saddle

Inspired by Sam Hill's Yellow & Purple EWS Mega we ended up with:












So pretty much finished bar the dropper post (remote is in the post).

Happy little girl after maiden voyage:


Dropper waiting for remote:

Have a Bontrager lever on order from Triton.

dirkpitt74

oxoman wrote:

It's certainly stood the test of time from when you built it up originally. Hopefully the daughter will do it justice as well.

It certainly has - shows how much he didn't ride it - although I think he's riden the 26'er NS Clash I built him even less.

Still Daughter will have another almost new bike when she grows in to it lol