Felt Q650 build

fuddymox1994

Dirt Disciple
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Here is a picture of my current 15/5 inch Felt Q650 Mountain Bike. Its had quite a journey, and its just amazing how idle hands, ebay and a little motivation can change things.

So let me explain a few things, Im a little over weight with bad knees, my doctor suggested I take up swimming or cycling, as I don't particularily feel happy with only some trunks, cycling was chosen.

I started looking through ebay, gumtree looking for a bike, and I chose a mountain bike because of the frame strength.... no anybody with any sense would have done some research, find out what frame size etc, but not me.. i found a average condition Land Rover Sabana Defender in blue... looked nice but was just after a frame I could build on.

It had some Suntour Suspension forks with it and it cost me the sum of £35 complete. Pic below is frame and Forks from Shed. (these are for sale if anyone is interested)
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So i had the bike, and quickly realised that it needed some work and bits sorting, well i replaced the bb and headset, and took it into the woods near where i live in Maidstone.

After a short while I realised why it was cheap, forks where buggered (just needed servicing i found out after) and after about an hour of struggling I got home and prompt took the bike to the local Bike ship and asked them to give it the once over. Being all new to this having not ridden a bike for like 25 years.

In the couple of days that the bike was at the LBS, i surfed the net and did some research and found a new framesize compatible with my short legs (26in inside leg) and pretty much taught myself how to build it from scratch... gotta love the internet.

Bike returned from the lbs and £100 lighter, i decided to use this as a donor and build something my size. And that is is pretty much where we stand, Things in progress... going back to suspension forks in the near future, although my rigid forks make the bike so light its mental.

I have been bitten with the bike building thing most of you have.... but I dont have a shed or garage .... but soon ihope to remedy that.

Will post some more pictures, but heres my spec:

Frame: Felt Q650 15.5

Fork: Mosso Rigid Blade Forks

Headset: AEST Semi Integrated Black Sealed Cartridge Bearing
Stem: Woodman Components rockster 35mm Stem
Handlebar: Felt Riser bars
Grips: Ritchey pro true grip black/white
Barends: Ritchey

Brakes: tekro vbrakes
Brake Pads: vbrake in white
Brake Cables: clarks
Cantilever cable hangers: na
Brake Levers: shimano combi

Shifters: shimano acera combi levers
Front Derailleur: fd-m360 shimano acera dual pull
Rear Derailleur: rd-m360 shimano acera
Derailleur Cables: clarks
Cassette: shimano hg31 8 speed 11-32T
Chain: clarks white
Cranks: suntour XCTv2 42/32/22
Crank Bolts:
Chainrings:
Chainring bolts:
Bottom Bracket: shimano 155mm sealed bearing
Pedals: superstar components

Hub Skewers: a2z crmo axle qr
Rims: alex rims ace-18
Hubs: tbc
Nipples: tbc steel
Spokes: tbc black
Tyres: schwalbe cx comp
Tubes: schwalbe

Saddle: Aest
Seatpost: felt
Seatpost Binder: aest

Weight: 12kg


Its not a top of the line machine, its a work in progress for my skills and weightloss. hope you like it as I haven't seen many Felt Frames on here.
 
did some research on the bike and found its original spec...
Frame: Felt Hydroform series 6061 double butted Aluminium frame with monostay design and
replaceable derailleur hanger – Disc brake specific – Basta lock compatible
Fork: RST Gila T6 with preload adjust – Aluminium lowers and 80mm travel
Gears: Shimano Deore 9 speed gearing
Shifters: Shimano Deore Rapidfire / integrated
Chainset: Truvativ Blaze with 42/32/22 teeth chainrings
Brakes: Tektro 855-AL V-Brakes
Wheels: Alex ACE-18 doublewall rims with CNC machined sidewalls built on to a Formula front hub and a Shimano rear hub
Tyres: IRC Mythos XC
Handlebars: Butted 6061 Aluminium
Stem: Felt Aluminium Stem
Saddle: Felt Form Sport
Seat post:Aluminium
Pedals: MTB design alloy cage / alloy body

Everything in green is what i have.

so original spec is 9 speed and mine is 8 speed.... will have to look into that, not a big problem atm.

on searching the net, the rst shocks and irc mythos tyres took a hammering so i have fitted a set of rockshox dart2 and will leave the schwalbe cx comps on instead.

gotta find a felt stem and bars

bought some rapid fire shifters and new shimano brake levers.

shes looking good, but dull.. everything seems grey or black, so i changed the cables to light blue and put a white chain on it.

new pic to follow
 
bike1.jpg


new pic as promised... fitted schwalbe big betty's to it now and its like a mini fat bike....

tyres slightly rub the noodle on the vbrakes.... any suggestions?
 
how did you find the mosso fork? I looked at those a while back when I was fork hunting
 
BobCatMax":2em0mwsn said:
how did you find the mosso fork? I looked at those a while back when I was fork hunting
very good, still have them. very light and with a short stem, it gave good direction change.

on hard compact stoney trails like the cyclopark trails in gravesend, after a couple of circuits, i got fed up with the vibration transistion (smaller tyres too).. but on roads and stuff extremely good.

thinking of using them on another frame for a single speed trainer bike.
 
revised current spec:

Frame: Felt Q650 15.5

Fork: rockshox dart 2 80mm

Headset: AEST Semi Integrated Black Sealed Cartridge Bearing
Stem: felt 90mm stem
Handlebar: Felt Riser 6061 oversized 31.8 aluminium bars
Grips: lock on
Brakes: tekro vbrakes (soon to be Shimano Acera v brakes)
Brake Pads: vbrake in white
Brake Cables: clarks
Brake Levers: shimano acera


Shifters: shimano acera
Front Derailleur: fd-m360 shimano acera dual pull
Rear Derailleur: rd-m360 shimano acera
Derailleur Cables: clarks
Cassette: shimano hg31 8 speed 11-32T
Chain: clarks white
Cranks: suntour XCTv2 42/32/22
Bottom Bracket: shimano 115mm sealed bearing
Pedals: superstar components

Hub Skewers: a2z crmo axle qr
wheels: Alex ACE-18 doublewall rims with CNC machined sidewalls built on to a Formula front hub and a Shimano rear hub
Tyres: schwalbe big Betty
Tubes: schwalbe

Saddle: Aest
Seatpost: felt 27.2 diameter
Seatpost Binder: aest

Weight: 12

I have tried to be consistent with the original build in most respects, although i have gone for acera group set rather than deore due to financial contraints.

I will be using this bike to get fitter on and have lots of fun... its a stepping stone to hopefully getting a Voodoo bike in a 16" frame at some point, so no point in looking to upgrade bike to discs and stuff.
 
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