As some of you know, I had to sell my Niner EMD frame and my wheels and my Reba and a bunch of other stuff earlier this fall to help cover some hockey registration fees that were due for my kids.
Well recently a cool local guy gave me his Zion 853 frame (we had been going back and forth a bunch earlier when my Surly KM frame was up for sale/trade). In exchange I thanked him with a Sam Adams Sampler 12 pack.
So I had a base to work from again. He had the Zion set up as a 29/26er so I thought I'd try that too. Also decided to just single speed it ghetto stylee.
The frame came with an old school Ringle watter bottle holder and I had an old Ringle headset in my parts bin - so that went on the frame.
Went over to a local riders house and he gave me the following items in exchange for a little bit of $$ and a 12 pack of beer:
1. Old XT Cranks, with 34T salsa chainring and RF bashguard
2. Shimano square taper bb to match the cranks
3. Salsa Pro Moto handlebar
4. A couple of tires.
So I was that much closer after that visit.
I already had some Avid mechanicals, a stem, headset spacers and pedals so those were good items with which to work with.
Yesterday my 26" Zion rigid fork came via a guy on mtbr.com and the dirtrag forums. I don't think he ever used it and I saved a lot over the price of a new one and used money from other stuff I sold to pay for it so it was pretty much a wash for me.
Then late yesterday afternoon a local 29er guy sold me his extra set of disc 29er wheels for a great price! These are Bontrager Superstock discs and the front will serve as a great base for this 29/26 project.
So last night I started to put things together and here's where she sits as of now.
I've got a 21T cassette cog I think I'm going to try and use initially for a 34:21 gear ration set up. That should be fine for now and I can adjust later in the spring.
A seatpost and some brake levers are en route from a guy I sold some flat pedals to a couple of weeks ago - so those two items are covered. The seatpost will be paired up with my Fizik Nisene saddle.
What I still need is a rear 26" disc wheel (may get one from splat that is SS specific, or may get one locally from a fellow rider).
I have a slightly used 8 speed chain that'll work I'm pretty sure. But I do need a few more cassette spacers, one chainring bolt set (one of the ones I have is being finiky), and more than likely some kind of chain tensioner. Oh and some brake cable and housing, but I might have that covered as well.
We'll see how she turns out in the end, but so far it has been a fun and inexpensive process. Essentially I've been using money from the sale of other parts and my only real cash outlays are for those two 12 packs of beer (one for the frame and the other for some of the parts).
Right now, I'm a little nervous that the front end is a little choppered out, but we'll she how she looks with a seatpost and a saddle on there and the use of a slightly wider, higher volume rear tire on the back.
Whattya think?
Well recently a cool local guy gave me his Zion 853 frame (we had been going back and forth a bunch earlier when my Surly KM frame was up for sale/trade). In exchange I thanked him with a Sam Adams Sampler 12 pack.
So I had a base to work from again. He had the Zion set up as a 29/26er so I thought I'd try that too. Also decided to just single speed it ghetto stylee.
The frame came with an old school Ringle watter bottle holder and I had an old Ringle headset in my parts bin - so that went on the frame.
Went over to a local riders house and he gave me the following items in exchange for a little bit of $$ and a 12 pack of beer:
1. Old XT Cranks, with 34T salsa chainring and RF bashguard
2. Shimano square taper bb to match the cranks
3. Salsa Pro Moto handlebar
4. A couple of tires.
So I was that much closer after that visit.
I already had some Avid mechanicals, a stem, headset spacers and pedals so those were good items with which to work with.
Yesterday my 26" Zion rigid fork came via a guy on mtbr.com and the dirtrag forums. I don't think he ever used it and I saved a lot over the price of a new one and used money from other stuff I sold to pay for it so it was pretty much a wash for me.
Then late yesterday afternoon a local 29er guy sold me his extra set of disc 29er wheels for a great price! These are Bontrager Superstock discs and the front will serve as a great base for this 29/26 project.
So last night I started to put things together and here's where she sits as of now.
I've got a 21T cassette cog I think I'm going to try and use initially for a 34:21 gear ration set up. That should be fine for now and I can adjust later in the spring.
A seatpost and some brake levers are en route from a guy I sold some flat pedals to a couple of weeks ago - so those two items are covered. The seatpost will be paired up with my Fizik Nisene saddle.
What I still need is a rear 26" disc wheel (may get one from splat that is SS specific, or may get one locally from a fellow rider).
I have a slightly used 8 speed chain that'll work I'm pretty sure. But I do need a few more cassette spacers, one chainring bolt set (one of the ones I have is being finiky), and more than likely some kind of chain tensioner. Oh and some brake cable and housing, but I might have that covered as well.
We'll see how she turns out in the end, but so far it has been a fun and inexpensive process. Essentially I've been using money from the sale of other parts and my only real cash outlays are for those two 12 packs of beer (one for the frame and the other for some of the parts).
Right now, I'm a little nervous that the front end is a little choppered out, but we'll she how she looks with a seatpost and a saddle on there and the use of a slightly wider, higher volume rear tire on the back.
Whattya think?
