94 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

Checked over my old bonded frame that was hanging in the garage and decided it was good

Found some wheels and started the build . . .


original Ti bars are there but Ti stem was repainted black (got old MTrax one on for now). Reckon white grips would be nice

need to find a BB and crank set in my boxes, then have to figure getting the chainline/cogs sorted

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

Today I swopped back to original Ti HB stem and tracked down the BB, cranks and pedals. Reckon the stem will have to go back to bare Ti though

Boring old Shimano 52 BB in for now. Pedals are old "grenade" style Shimano SPDs from mid 90s, but one bearing feels goosed so might look for something else here

Crankset is an old White Industry triple ring I swopped off for XT in late 1990s - after a few teeth breakages, chain rings look minty

Have pulled off the granny ring of cranks but hoping to run without a chain tensioner so leaving 32 and 42 rings on for now

Over the w/e hope to put a cassette wheel in the back and figure a good cog size / chain line - looks like I binned my old cassettes at some point (which I was planning on stripping for spacers) so may have to pay real money for a spacer set

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

Thats gorgeous, is this the one with the slipping seatpost?

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

thanks

finished the singlespeed build and it is great to ride, but yeah seatpost isnt quite right yet. Ended up swopping the all white tyres for white walls though - bit more subtle

once the seat is fixed will post another pic

Most of the parts were in the garage but had to get some white grips and brake casing from On-one. And black Deore levers from Chain Reaction. Gearing is currently 32 x 18 - lots of slack with 47 link chain (and DMR tensioner), 46 link nearly worked but was too tight. In time I might go to 34 x 19 as my calculations and measurments suggest that will work without tensioner

iveto1983 very kindly donated the single speed conversion kit

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Not a catalogue build, not spent a fortune on nos parts, no xtr, single speed, something that is ridden.
= no comments on this site.

Its a shame that bikes that get built to use get no interest here.

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

I couldn't do SS: I am way too unfit. What are the wheels? It's hard to tell from the pics - and are we getting a completed pic or two?

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

Love the frame and forks! I have the steel ULGIs on a Diablo STX, and that bike is my go-to bike, despite being about an inch too small for me.

I'm pretty sure this would have been the 1994 Dynatech Diablo (STX special edition - with Ti fork blades and stem, instead of cromo). 1994 was the final year for Dynatech, and in 1995 the top end M Trax bikes (Ti 3000 and Ti 4000) inherited the steel and Ti UGLI forks, respectively. Sadly, by 1996 or 1997 (I forget now) the ULGIs and the bonded Ti + cromo + alu many forget or never realised the head tube was alu, as was the ULGI fork crown and fork dropouts) were completely discontinued, and the RSP range consisted entirely of welded steel (Reynolds optima or 853) and torus-like welded Ti frames.

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

Sad indeed: I completely lost interest when RSP went over to all welded construction: Silly I know but I just adore lugged Dynatechs, and slightly less fervently, lugged M Traxes. All of a sudden they were more like all the rest.( despite the excellence of the Torus frames) I shall pick up another Dyna one day and it will be lugged, and UGLI'd.
( I am pretty sure it was 97 but I can't prove it, BTW)

Re: 97 Dynatech Diablo rebuild as Single Speed

thanks kyle888 - I think your own bike is a bit like your own kids, very special to you but not to others. I am good with that. This Dynatech was a wonderful companion on some great rides, with some great friends. It was built because I love that bike and wanted it to live again. Also going singlespeed was cheap and levelled the playing field when out riding with my kids

Here is the finished article, as close to original as I can get from the bits I already have. - including original Ti Stem and handlebars. The stem was painted black for an MTrax all black stealth build, so plan to strip back to bare Ti come the winter. Went for V brakes over the original STX SE cantis, partly as I might yet sell them as they are minty

Wheels are original STX SE Hub, DB spoke with Bontrager/Weinmann rims, bitza skewers. White Industry /Sugino chainset running 32 / 42 and 18T rear (courtesy of iveto1983/Pat on retrobike - thanks Pat!). Once I get a feel for the best ratio hope to lose some chain slack, 34 x 19 is looking like a good option as it might work without tensioner, but means more expense

Picked up a cheap white seatpost from PlanetX - not as subtle as a plain alloy but £15 and 240gm. Tyres are white wall Mezcal and sooo fast

Biggest expense was the Flite Ti saddle - but that doesnt count as it was a birthday present (and only £30!)

Absolute blast to ride - totally get the single speed thing now

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Looks nice! Must be pretty light as well?

Always liked the idea of single speed and like how clean a bike looks.
its just i leave near the malverns so...