1996 Santa cruz heckler

This was one of the bikes I always wanted when I was at uni. So when this one came up cheaply on ebay I couldn't resist.
I didn't like the red with silver fleck paint so decided polished was the look I'd like to go for.
I forgot to take photos before I started stripping it!
Heres the paint removal





Everyone needs a Ruth to help out!



Frame stripped





And polished a little bit of it to give me an idea of how it will look



I think I can see my taste in bike frame shape goes through the years!



I must say I'm enjoying collecting bits for it!

Hi chap,

That was a massive wish list bike as well when I was young. Just about the first decent full suspension bike in my opinion.

What are the build plans? Bombers? XT M738? Do tell!

I've bought z1's and some hope hubed wheels. I'd like to use m950 xtr and early hope discs

Z1's would be my choice as well. This is going to look brilliant. Genuinely excited to see it built up!

No knowledge of early discs, if you get stuck with them big_eck is in the know. He ran the double disc on some some Z1s once as well (have mounts both legs)

Any idea where it got that rear disc mount from? They didn't have them until '98 and then the dropouts changed completely -- that one looks like a retrofit. I assume you've got a shock for it?

big_eck is my supplier lol!

The guy who I bought it from had a mate that worked for orange who welded the mounts on.
I bought a modern air shock for it as I wanted to save a little weight, I'd like it to be a bike I can ride allday.

looks like a great project, what have you used to strip the paint? am about to do a polished frame GT myself, but have never stripped a frame before....

Good old nirtomors

Good plan with the shock, I've got an air shock on mine which knocked almost a pound off compared to the Vanilla. BETD and TF Tuned do heavy-duty mount kits (with a full-length stainless spacer rather than aluminium "top hats" which last better than the standard setup too.