Due to my new-found wrenching skills I’ve taken point on the DJ300 build. This poor baby has been resting for a while so she’s ready for her makeover. Most recently I removed the temporary cranks RL had on there and I’ve installed a Raceface FR bottom bracket. On the BB will go a set of Gravity downhill cranks and, obviously the beautiful Blackspire chainguide.

DJ300, itchin’ for parts

Today I got the majority of the remaining parts in the mail. This includes front and rear brake cables, rear derailleur cable, chain and brake levers. Arriving next week are the Gravity cranks, FSA Pig headset and a set of DJ specific grips. I should have this monster built up sometime next week so stay tuned for the finished product!

Scratch for the itch

Popularity: 8% [?]

Khoa felt the need for steel… so he decided to build himself a nice ‘Steel is Real’ Mountain biking machine. Yes haters, that is a Nashbar frame, a rather sweet one may I add..

Check out his specs at thebikegeek.com by clicking here!

Popularity: 3% [?]

You all may remember that I stripped the paint off my Woodstock 707. Since everyone thought a brushed aluminum look would be better than painting it, I went ahead and got some advice from two people that I knew who has some experience with this stuff.

After talking with Randy and Khoa they suggested that I take some wet/dry sand paper and buff out any of the lines that were created when I was brushing the frame. For those of you that didn’t know, Khoa is totally obsessed with body finishes on cars and has been known to polish aluminum bike parts to the point where they look like mirrors. Randy did some work on his old Mustang in which he was able to get any of the aluminum parts to look like glass too.

So I drove down to the local Wally World and got myself a 2000 grit wet/dry paper and went to town on the frame.

I treated the down tube and check out the mirror finish!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Yes I know its not even close to Thursday. Given that it is Turkey Day this Thursday, I doubted that most of you will be visiting the site since you’ll be enjoying the effects of tryptophan.

So here’s my latest How To. I’ll be showing you how to build your own truing stand with an old Thule wheel mount.

The first thing to do was to measure points on the mount where the exact rim positioning would be for 26″, 700c and 29er wheels. Once I had it marked, I drilled a few holes on both sides.

I then inserted some 2″ long screws into the hole. This was for the 26″ wheel. I placed nuts on both sides of the screw to make sure I can get it tight and adjusted.

You’ll notice that I have one screw of the mount in place. I put that there to prevent it from moving. I used a C-clamp to hold the stand. I would have used both screws, but I wanted the option to remove the stand if I wasn’t using it.

You can see that it will fit front and rear wheels in either 26″ or 700c.

700c wheel. A 29er wheel would have fit, but I didn’t have one handy in my garage. Notice the second set of screws on the stand. That’s for the larger wheels.

This stand has to be the cheapest option I have in getting a truing stand. Minoura makes a home mechanic stand for about $45-50…not a bad deal. But I had this wheel rack sitting in the garage unused, so I basically didn’t spend anything and it only took me about 10 minutes to build.

Now if I can just get my truing skills honed…

Popularity: 12% [?]

It’s been a while since I’ve even mentioned rebuilding my old Giant Warp frame. But I’ve been slowly been piecing it together and today I was finally able to complete it.

So here’s the tale of the tape:
Sram X7 shifters and rear derailleur
Spinner Cargo Fork
Avid BB5 Disc Brakes
WTB Wheelsset
WTB Saddle
WTB Headset
TruVativ Blaze Crankset
SRAM cassette

Cargo Fork baby!

X7

The Giant Warp was my first Full Suspension mountain bike. I do love this frame because it fits me rather well. The current set up has 6″ of travel in the front and 5″ in the back. The frame has beautiful shaping, thanks to the Fluid Form technology that Giant uses.

After everything was said and done, the bike weighs about 32lbs. Now if I were to go with my lighter Marzocchi Bomber fork, I can get this puppy down to 30lbs. Ooh and once I replace the rear coil over shock, this will be below 30lbs. But I’m not too worried about the weight right now, I just excited to get back on the trails with my Warp!

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’ve brushed the Woodstock 707 Frame to make it all shinny. I still have some spots to treat and remove old paint, but for the most part the frame is starting to look good. But from what Khoa told me, I can get that frame as reflective as a mirror if I use some elbow grease and Mother’s Aluminum Polish. Since I’m strapped for cashola, that portion of the project will have to wait. I’ve also learned that aluminum will oxidize..kinda like how silver tarnishes.

So here’s where I’m at. I reinstalled the rear triangle just to get an idea on how this will look.

I rebadged the 707 with some new stickers that I had in the garage…Now this bike is the KHS Bicycles…Full Suspension Evomo. hehe

Check out this decal that I had. This iron cross makes it look legit!

I still have a few more things in mind in getting this frame exactly the way I want. Stay tuned.

Popularity: 4% [?]

At about 35lbs, the KHS AM2000 needed some good stopping power. Enter the Hayes El Camino Brakes.

Specs:
Power Adjustment Dial
Tool-free lever reach adjustment
Mono-block caliper
Concealed fluid reservoir
Hayes phenolic pistons
Weight:420g for the entire system

My observations: I have owned 3 different types of hydraulic brakes and nothing feels like the El Caminos. As I came down on ‘The Luge’, the brakes didn’t fade and I was able to slow down with minimal effort. My hands were not tired of braking as with other brakes that I’ve used, and as far as I can tell, the rotors didn’t severely overheat.

I hadn’t mess around with the Power adjustment dial until recently, this little knob allows you to modulate the braking power Plus or minus 10%. I ended up staying at my current setting since I was already used to how the brakes behaved. Another cool thing is the Tool-free lever reach adjustment, not need for a hex or a screw driver, simply twist on the little knob.

Recommendation: I really love these brakes, the stopping power is amazing, the adjustments are easy to do and they also look bitchin’. At 420g, these brakes may not be ‘feather light’ for an XC rig but they are certainly light for AM and Freeride bikes. Do you need REAL stopping power? Get the Hayes El Camino.

Popularity: 13% [?]

I currently ride the Woodstock 707. It’s been a great bike, but I wanted a little change with the scenery. Actually I wanted a dramatic change. So the best way to mix things up with a bike other than spending tons of cash for new parts is to paint it. But I’m not really going to paint it. I just want to achieve a brushed aluminum look on the frame.

First thing you need to do is remove all the parts from the bike. I am only stripping the frame portion of the bike. I’m leaving the rear triangle the original color, its to add some character to the project.

Try to remove all of the suspension bearings. If you can’t, just cover them up with some tape like I did.

I then weighed the frame to see how much paint comes off the darn thing. It’s right around 4.5 pounds.

I picked up this foaming paint stripper from Walmart for about $5.

I sprayed the frame, I ended up using the whole can because I treated it twice. The OEM paint was really thick.

I waited about 15-20 minutes for the foam to do its stuff. Then I started to wipe off the paint.This is after the first treatment…gnarly eh?

After cleaning up the frame, I wanted to see how shinny I could get it by using a brush attached to my power drill. I still have a few spots to treat. But once its all cleaned up, the bike will be assembled.

I’m debating if I should paint the frame. If so I wanted either a flat military green, baby blue, pink or a gun metal gray…what do you think?

By the way, I ended taking off 1 whole pound of paint from the frame. Now it weighs 3.5lbs.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Not it is not a Reba…. it’s a SID Race!!! The KHS Alite Team’s first upgrade is a RockShox SID race fork. I’d mentioned that the Manitou Black Super was the weak link of my race bike, so I invested on one of the lightest production forks. The SID Race weighs merely 2.87 lbs, so the KHS Alite Team should lose about 2lbs and that should put the bike at about 23lbs.

Next upgrade: XT Crankset

Popularity: 9% [?]

Mmm, I wonder what’s in that box???

Popularity: 6% [?]