Kinesis Maxlight N+1 build

demelitia

After giving up on finding an on one whippet frame in my size I settled on this Kinesis Maxlight XC frame I managed to win on eBay for £35. It came with a sram x9 10 speed rear derailleur I figured i'd sell on as I had no use for it at the time.


No sooner had the frame been delivered when I recieved a notifcation saying a whippet frame had been put up on ebay. :evil:
There wasn't really any question over which frame i'd be using if I had a choice so I bought the whippet too.
The Kinesis frame lived up to its name...


I figured it needed to be made use of. N+1 and all..
Stripped the paint off to respray it, which was a massively time consuming job until I got hold of some starchem synstryp paint stripper off ebay. The stuff is amazing. Anyone that has paint to remove, don't bother with nitromors: go straight for this stuff. Ever since the EU neutered the use of dichloromethane and other nasties in nitromors its not been worth a damn. To make matters worse, nitromors costs a fortune for the amount you get. I think it was £25 for a 5l tub of the starchem stuff, I've barely used any with it being so strong. On that note, a word of caution: this stuff is STRONG. Wear protection, don't breathe the fumes etc etc. You know, everything you'd usually ignore on the back of the packet... :roll:

Shiny!


Pretty welds!


I Etch primed the frame and then applied two full cans of matt khaki from Halfords. Redrew the logos from the original graphics and cut myself some paint mask vinyl stencils at work. Matt black 1.5mm outline, matt olive drab inner, red xc inside the maxlight wording. Matt lacquer over everything.
I've not got any decent photos with the winter evenings killing the light before I get home.




I got some cheap wheels from superstar in their black friday sale. Managed to make the order about 3 minutes before the voucher code stopped working. Brakes, bars, stem and grips were out of the parts bin.

Frame: Kinesis Maxlight xc
Forks: exotic carbon 3k qr
Bars: brand x riser bars
Stem: brand x
Headset: acor caged ball
Grips: brand x
Bar Ends: brand x

Front Brake Lever assy: avid sd7
Front Caliper: avid bb7
Front disc: shimano deore
Rear Brake Lever assy: avid sd7
Rear Caliper: avid bb7
Rear Disc: parts bin
Hoses: jagwire ripcord


Shifters: sram x5
Cables: parts bin
Front Mech: 1 x
Rear Mech: sram x9
Chain Device:

Seat: superstar circuit
Seat Post: Post moderne smica
Seat Post Clamp: random cheap ebay find

Cranks: raceface ride xc
Chainring(s): raceface narrow wide 34t
Chain: kmc
Cassette: sram pg1030
Pedals: dmr v6
Bottom Bracket: raceface

Front Wheel:
Rim: mavic 325
Spokes: sapim race
Hub: superstar fuel
Tube: conti
Tire: conti x king 2.2 racesport

Back Wheel:
Rim: mavic 325
Spokes: sapim race
Hub: superstar fuel
Tube: conti
Tire: conti raceking 2.2

Weight: no idea yet, pretty light!

Went out for half an hour on it last night and as far as i can tell, its come together very well. It'll certainly do for those times when I don't want to risk leaving my whippet outside a shop or whatever.

The Rookie

Thanks for the stripper recommendation (snigger), I'm planning on stripping my Litespeed and going 'au naturelle'!

The Ken' looks good as well, should imagine that's at about 9-9.5Kg so a tad lighter than my LS.

demelitia

Thanks man, i'll probably try get some decent pictures of it in daylight over christmas; i'm quite proud of how well the paint came out, especially the text.
A couple of tips with regards to stripping your Litespeed:
If you can't do it outside, make sure you have some forced ventilation, a fan blowing across where you're working or whatever. If you can get hold of a properly rated respirator, even better.
Gloves, long sleeved shirt, eye pro. I know it sounds a bit preachy, and normally i'd be the first to disregard safety instructions but this stuff is genuinely nasty. Certainly not something you want in your eye.

I found the most effective way to get the paint off was to scuff the entire surface well with some medium-fine sandpaper then blather it in the stripper. Leave a thick coat on, dabbing rather than painting it on. The paint on the Kinesis was thin and of the right type that it bubbled up and in places literally fell off, you might have different results. On the more stubborn areas I left the stripper on longer and then added another coat of it over the top. Get a pack of different grades of scotchbrite pad, halfords do a triple pack that works. Then its just a case of gloving up and scrubbing/wiping off anything thats left with them. Wash the residue off with a hose or whatever. The pads will leave a nice brushed surface or nearly polish it, depending on which you use.

I'll keep my eye open for your results.

The Rookie

Thanks, will use a 'dust mask' and have plenty of space outside to do it, goggle and gloves it is!

I always abrade the surface before stripping and the paint on the LS is pretty thin anyway so confident it will drop right off, the anodised links I'll probably leave black.

demelitia

A few, slightly better pictures.
Zefal front mudguard, lights and hope finger chain guide fitted. Had to drill some extra holes in the mudguard to allow it to work with a fork crown rather than the stanchion bridge it was meant for.
I think I'll have to change off that rear tyre; it's the basic, wire bead version. The compound isn't great it seems, breaks loose quite easily. It's ok for having shoved it on an order to get free shipping but I can see myself losing patience with it.