SquashCycle Bikes

[Squashfest81]

Also pulled the Black Ops pedals apart to regrease. 14 tiny balls on each side. Haven’t reassembled yet.

no touching gif

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Man, you weren't legit if you didn't have these back in the mid-late 90's!

While on a making things shiny binge. I stripped the bottom funky bar-end, sanded, and shined it up with a soft wire wheel.

 

[Squashfest81]

Thanks Bigblue! I’m just trying to keep the retro 29er as ridiculously retro as possible. Xt thumbie, canti brakes, and blue anodized that doesn’t even go with the black neon….

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Been slowly working through the grits to get these cranks polished. I’ve been wanting to try some polishing, but it’s not going to be my thing. I have hours into sanding these and I expected better. They are shiny enough for me.

The easiest way to get a high shine when polishing metal I’ve found is to sand like you have done but take it to a much higher grit. Mirka makes these foam sanding discs designed for auto body work that go up to 4000 grit. Use normal paper to 400 then use the mirka at 500 then 1k, 2k, 3k then 4k. You can finally add apply a buffing compound with a rag if you don’t have a buffer. That will give you a mirror like finish and is surprisingly quick to do. Most people waist too much time on each grit pass when sanding.

 

[Squashfest81]

That’s some good info. Thanks Grant G.
I’m messing with another crankset that someone spraybombed black. I’ll post up when done. Here’s a sunset pic of the first real ride on the Hardland. Really curious to see a pic of another one if you know of one.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I still love that Flying V shape. Even if the kenimatics are horrible. The 16 year old in me still wants one!

 

[Squashfest81]

Ski season has interrupted the bike progress, but we’ve made some.
Started rotating bikes through the basement. Gave the wife’s a lube and adjustment to get it shifting right. The boys got a cooler fork and hydraulic brakes off his sisters bike she doesn’t ride, cause she rocks my Gary. Just adjusted the brakes on the K2 Proflex as there was something grinding in there and now the ‘91 950 is ready to get its upgrades and cables.

 

[Squashfest81]

The only bike pickup since that Dec post. It came up local on the facebook cheap and was just odd enough to save.
96ish Diamondback WCF. Welded Carbon Fiber, so the 3 main straight tubes are cf. Plan is to build up the frame with other fun stuff.
Ignore the shed shop mess.

 

[Squashfest81]

Got the ‘91 Trek 950 rebuild back on the path. Switched out to old Velociraptor tires, Zanzibar bar ends, pink accents, Girvin Flexstem, Suntour expert thumbies, Diacomp ss7 levers, and recabled in black.
I haven’t shifted with nice thumbies since I was a teen!

 

[slowtwitch73]

Think u got em on backwards.

If they made those treads in 29" I'd run them in a heart beat. Great tires.

 

[Squashfest81]

Oh no, this is reminiscent of the backwards fork install on the Gary Fisher. They definitely may be. I know one is coming off for a leaking tube. Maybe both…

 

[Squashfest81]

Ahhhh, Slowtwitch, I forgot to check the tires!
Back on the retro 29er, I decided to use the little rotary carbides to elongate the dropouts to gain a little bit more clearance.

 

[Squashfest81]

Here’s an aluminum Stronglite headset off a nicer older roadbike. Also got the bottom bracket greased and installed.

 

[Squashfest81]

Here’s the stance. I like it.

 

[Squashfest81]

Got the brakes decided. I’ve got this cool set of machined anodized blue aluminum ones, but I just couldn’t work out the springs and spacers. Went back to a plain set. They are mostly hidden behind the bridge anyway. Then she got the boiled linseed oil rub. Overall I’m liking the look and stance.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

My daughter's friend had his birthday party at the BMX track today, so we all got to ride. The weather was beautiful and I finally got to ride a new bike I put together a year and a half ago. The best part was I finally got my wife on the track (after 4yrs of trying) and she's hooked! They do a Mom's race around Mother's Day she wants to do. She's currently training for a 25mi MTB race, so she's going to augment her training with some track time.

 

[Squashfest81]

Got the cranks on. The cheapy 25.4mm seatpost came in, so she’s got a saddle. Moving slowly towards cables.

 

[Squashfest81]

Reassembled the Black Ops pedals with new grease. They felt horrible. Try again after a little sand. No good. Fine, I’ll order a set of new little balls. Reassembled this morning. Better. Try again. And again. Better, but not as buttery smooth as I expected. I’ll run them and see if they wear in.

 

[Squashfest81]

Screwed onto the kinda polished crank with Rock Ring.

 

[Squashfest81]

Decided on pink grips. On to cables and the rear derailleur. Going to run her as a 7 speed.

 

[Squashfest81]

Got a little more practice in on the ole trueing stand. Getting better.

 

[Squashfest81]

The frame and wheelset used a derailleur that had an integrated mount that hung on the axle as the frame does not include a hanger.
Google found someone using one of those emergency derailleur hangers that work off the axle.
Hard to see in all the black of the pic. I was concerned with leverage, but it actually locks in pretty solid.
Going to run the older LX for the look.

upload picture

 

[ericm]

If you're using non SIS shifters the distance from the cogs to the upper pulley is less critical.

 

[Squashfest81]

Cables are run. She looks like she will shift. The brakes may need some more tweaking, maybe not. Chain arrives tomorrow. Then it’s on to the path.

 

[Squashfest81]

Chained up last night and got her out on the path in the drizzle today. Going to need to realign the rear wheel, maybe keep trueing, as I’ve got a slight rub. She rides nice though.

 

[Squashfest81]

Been too long not messing with the bikes. Decided to get a plan going for the Diamondback WCF. Pulled the rebound-less Rockshox and tossed on this Suntour xct. It will need to be cut down. Had this long Giant stem and Azonic bars. Stem may stay, but she needs black bars. Then she got a WD wipe down.

 

[Squashfest81]

Carbon is cool looking.

 

[Squashfest81]

And yeah, she’s equipped with Snake Stays!

 

[Squashfest81]

This guy, minus wheels and tires, popped up local on Marketplace. Grabbed it cheap. It’s got a similar frame as my old Stumpy fsr, but this S-works has disc mounts on the rear swingarm. I thought it would be worth it for parts. That SID fork is cushy and will move to the WCF. The reds aren’t the same, but they should work. Swingarm may make it onto the Stumpy if I confirm they are pretty similar. Headset and bb feel good, so they will get used.

vccuonline

 

[nadogail]

I lucked up about 10 years ago into a guy selling all his park tool stuff and grabbed a ton of tools for 40 bucks. This year I grabbed a park tool truing stand,park tool bike stand and a dish gage for 60 dollars. I am always adding to the collection. Right place at the right time it has seemed. These tools have been a huge help this year as I have really gotten back into riding as much as I can. My only issue is storing all my bikes as well as my kids bikes. Theirs arent too bad, but my wifes e bike is always in the way and mine is currently stuffed in the back of a volvo wagon. Any suggestions for storage?

Buy an Ocean Shipping Container.

 

[Squashfest81]

Tossed the SID on the WCF to get the feel. I’ll proceed.

 

[Squashfest81]

Got the WCF torn down to the bare frame, all parts decided on and tossed through the parts washer, and I finally read the sticker. I was expecting a local shop, maybe Rhode Island, but Cali? That’s fun. Sent them an email with pics cause they’re still open. I’ll keep you all in the loop on any response.

 

[Squashfest81]

No response from The Off Ramp yet, but we will carry on.
Used the BB and the nice headset off the recent Specialized grab. New tubes on the original cleaned up wheels. Different stem, bars, and crankset. Stock seatpost.
Going to try a few things to get the shine back. Wax? Boiled linseed oil? She looks great wet.

upload

 

[Squashfest81]

Shout out to Sarah at The Off Ramp! Hope she doesn’t mind my posting her response. Send them your business if you are local.

Hello,
How nice to hear that someone is still enjoying a classic! Enjoy the restoration and then the fun rides when it’s ready.

Sarah
The Off Ramp

 

[Squashfest81]

The wife went off with her mother, who is up from Florida for her 80th, and the daughter to the movies while the boy hung with a buddy gaming. I took the moment to take the retro 29er out on the path for a real shakedown run.
When I ride with the wife I need a “proven” ride.

 

[Squashfest81]

She’s a dog. I’m thinking it’s the heavy cheap 29er tires? The little bit of front rub doesn’t help either.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

This guy, minus wheels and tires, popped up local on Marketplace. Grabbed it cheap. It’s got a similar frame as my old Stumpy fsr, but this S-works has disc mounts on the rear swingarm. I thought it would be worth it for parts. That SID fork is cushy and will move to the WCF. The reds aren’t the same, but they should work. Swingarm may make it onto the Stumpy if I confirm they are pretty similar. Headset and bb feel good, so they will get used.

vccuonline

I wanted one of those so bad back in Highschool!

 

[slowtwitch73]

It was really hard to sell other FS brands against Specialized in those days.

Things change.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

If I'm remembering the timeframe (2003ish), it was Specialized and Kona that were the hot tickets in town.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Yeah Kona and Rocky Mountain... but they were both a tough sell against a Specialized esp XC.

Kona is a shadow of what it once was.. sad. I hear the founders are buying it back or some such.