Forum

I've now assembled all the bits to get cracking on my first ever build, so I thought I'd make a thread and keep it updated as I go along! Hopefully it'll encourage other newbies to the bike-building world to give it a crack (or it may well have the opposite effect and put them off forever I suppose )

Disclaimer - if you're a stickler for everything being done in exactly the right way, please avert your eyes. I'll be trying to build this up using nothing that can't be found in the common garden shed. There will be bodging, filing, poking, and prodding where there probably shouldn't be. If this is likely to offend, please close down your web browser, forget all about this, and do something therapeutic, perhaps polish your headset press

So, as of last night (9.5.12), this is how it was all looking:



Shortly after taking this, I decided to kick thinks off by fitting the headset. How hard could this be I thought? As it turns out, fitting a headset is just about the most difficult thing man has ever managed to accomplish. After several hours I finally crawled into bed, covered in blood and grease (the grease is red too, so I'm unsure of the relative proportions), having completely failed to get anywhere.


10.5.12 - Man vs. Headset, Round 2

Having dismally failed last night, I decided to do some research, and discovered a process known as 'reaming'. This ancient witchcraft is key to the fundamental problem of getting a headset which is 34.09mm in diameter into a slightly oval headtube which is 33.62mm in diameter in one direction, and 33.76mm in diameter in the other.

You can get yourself a reaming and facing set from CRC for the bargain price of just £489.99! I think not. I could have given it to my local bike shop, but they have at least a 3 week wait time and I wanted to do as much as possible myself. So I broke out the files.

Filing a headtube is something that I'm not sure I can really recommend. I certainly wouldn't do it on a downhill rig that's going to take a lot of punishment, but taking 0.15mm off each side of the headtube on an XC runaround I thought wouldn't be too bad. Only time will tell eh?

Anyway, word of warning, the stuff On-Ones are made from is seriously tough, and I wrecked a fair few files just taking a fraction of a mm off.

So then I fashioned a headset press from some threaded bar and some washers, greased up the lot, and got tightening. The result:



Time will tell if it's o.k, or if it creaks etc, but it's seems rock solid. I'll consider this battle won (but I may eat my words further down the line )

Brilliant chris I have slowly collected tools over my 10yrs riding. So have a headset press for my build.
I might do a docu thread for adjusting fork travel

I started with a block of wood and a mallet! Got it all part way in then decided to fashion a press like you so it finished snug and aligned.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

I've always been a fan of a work mate and a wooden mallet.

Nice one! Hope my 456 doesn't need reaming, aligning or the BB facing. I have no tools for that but I do have a proper headset press (these can also be used for press fit bottom brackets of course) and I have the tools for most other jobs. Looking forward to building mine!

Eccles mine was all fine. It might be a problem with the summer season. I'm riding msg rd3 then adjusting fork travel and trimming brake hoses. I don't want to make it unridable before Sunday

Hitting it with some wood was option number 2, luckily it wasn't required!

10.5.12 - Update

This morning I was looking at the bottom bracket I've acquired, and I realised glumly that the chance of fitting it without the right tool was pretty slim. It's a square taper jobby rather than a hollowtech one, as it matched the chainset I got on the cheap from Joel.

So I had to spend a few quid on the tool, and it went in pretty easily in the end, and within a few minutes I had this:



At this point I was quite enjoying myself, as compared to fitting the headset this had been incredibly easy. So I decided to see how hard it is to fit a crown race. Obviously I don't have the right tool, so wrapped a screwdriver in electrical tape, and broke out the hammers

It went on pretty easily too as it turned out, tapping it down gradually by the lip, not the bearing surface. It only took a few minutes, and wasn't as worrying as I first thought:



I was going to get into bed at this point, but couldn't resist seeing if it all fitted, so greased up the steerer, found out my headset spacers (and realised I need another few mm of spacer), located a stem, and went for a trial fit! Fairly amazingly it all went together nicely, the forks are turning really quite smoothly, need a bit more tweaking before it's spot on though.

11.5.12 - UPDATE

So I started small today, seat clamp, saddle and seatpost:



Then bolted on front & rear mechs, pedals, attached rotors onto the hubs, and fitted tubes and tyres. Found out the bars from my big box of bits, stuck those on, and did a trial fitting for the shifters and brakes. All feeling pretty good so far

Then the front tube hissed loudly and went completely flat, but it was a pretty old tube so it was going to need replacing soon anyway.

It was when I took a step back and had a look that I realised I've completely failed in what I was aiming for. I'd set out to create a light, XC runaround. What I think I might have actually made is a 30lb downhill-ready hooligan of a hardtail



How slack is that?!

Tomorrow's jobs - set up the brakes, tweak the headset, connect the shifters and mechs, and get a powerlink thingy to put the chain back together. Can't wait to see how it rides!

If the forks are talas they are the same as on my enduro loverly forks. One thing to watch is the pinch bolts on the axle mine came back from mojo with a little shim to stop over tightening .
It's looking cracking chris

Cheers

They are indeed talas (talases? Tali? What's the plural of talas?). Anyway, I have a feeling the adjustable travel might be useful looking at the head angle! I'll keep an eye on those pinch bolts too, thanks for the tip.

Chris

It looks like fun but possibly not a mile muncher at the moment

But it's got X0 shifters and a 3x9 setup, that makes it a mile-muncher doesn't it?

Might need to lose the 2.5" tyres though...

I really like that!
I knew i should of got one! Grrr

This is (well, WAS - before I realised I've made a DH bike) supposed to fill the same gap that you've filled with a CF 29er though! Does look pretty though.... What was your plan if you'd got one?

Tallas fork. Dropper post and big wide bars. Single ring up front and 1x10 out back.