My 99 Lobo Restoration and build

Also powder coating would be out of the question if you use car body filler.
As the heat makes it bubble i know this first hand.
I even tried metal filler and mixed aluminium powder in with it and that still did not work.
So normal paint i'm affraid , unless you get it brass brazed.

I think it is powder coatable but only with care. I have a filler that will take the powder coat but you as you say it need careful heating. Should be careful anyway cos the frame is heat treated and you don't want to lose that.

I am trying to decide if I should use normal polyester filler or the aluminium stuff. On one hand I already have the alu stuff but its a bitch to sand and as you can see that top tube is gonna need some shaping alright :shock:

The pearl white paint I got is bloody near as damn transparent so I've had to buy plain white to use as a base cos it looks like silver over the grey primer. Thats like £150 in materials alone now if you count the mask and suit etc. It is going to end up with many layers and an empty pocket! I have week off after next and it will be done then

Had a few deliveries, first I got some o-rings to cover the main pivot bearing. 19mm ID about 4mm thick, perferably 2mm wide and 4mm thick but they are hard to find so I have two 2mm stacked. Sitting ontop of that I have two choices of 'cap' from Probolt. M8 countersunk washer and bolt or a 'flared washer 25mm' with a M6 bolt. I will machine a small plug to go inside the pivot tube with tapped holes to receive the bolts and hold it tight. It is in no way structural, just for sealing and show



I got a full bearing kit from Benscycle and its pretty cool. Original GT parts NOS, I bought the 'rebuild' kit just cos it seemed the same as the other kit but had new pivot tubes. All bearings fit and it all seems to be spot on. There were some parts in the kit missing off the bike but you wouldn't know unless you had the kit!
The upper bearings are SCE126 and lower SCE129, rear upper ones are 2x 6262RS oer side, 4 in total. All easily available which is good to know. Disappointingly the lower rear horst link pivot is just a nylon bush job. I might try to get some proper bearings in there and I'm speaking to BETD too because thats where I have that partially sawn through bolt and I can't find a replacement.

I've scanned the manual and PDF'd it here if anyone wants a look.


I've started to sand the rear triangle parts, it is a pain in the ass and I'm cautious of removing too much material to get one or two deeper marks out. I think I'll remove most marks but the odd one will remain to save the frames integrity.

Back to sanding... :cry:

This is smart!! The other one is too much red.

If you don't like red watch out, if its not polished or white, it will be red!!
Haven't made much progress, pretty unhappy with myself but got tied up in other things. Took a week off but ended up building a one handed bike for my Dad and the inevitable test ride meant my dusty LTS needed to be cleaned (a day job!), cost me the week in all



Got the frame clean and roughed up a bit, almost ready for filler. I tried to polish the rear but man its a PITA. I have a full kit of polishing wheels and compounds plus nearly 100 sheets of different wet n dry but how you easily achive a mirror finish I do not know :roll:. I sort of got there but the finish is very fragile, rub it lightly with a clean cloth and it picks up fine lines.






Boxxers didn't exactly strip to perfection, Nitromors formula has changed and that discoloration I don't understand, Magnesium thing? More sanding anyway :twisted:



Bought another brake as a 'spare', misread the auction and got a whole wheel aswell with a perfect Hope Bulb in it! Discovered there is a difference between the GT brake and a normal Hope hub mounted one. The GT one is shorter, taking only a 155mm disc vs 165mm of the other, the GT one has a larger axle bore that allows it to run two plastic bushes but its perfectly usable and mounts up ok. The original caliper uses one of the bolts to mount to the chainstay whereas the other one has a proper mounting tab, not much use on the Lobo as its in the wrong place but you can use the upper left bolt like GT do without issue. I am going to try and make it work as an open caliper, removing the springs and replacing the seals with O2 ones, appears there are no differences other than the seals really. I want to use new, open only levers which is why I'm doing this.




I now have one bike, five 321cd rims, three Hope Big Uns, two Hope Bulbs, four calipers and four levers I didn't plan this but you know how it goes, I'm still trying to stop myself buying bits I already have just cos they are shiny

Found out the bushing kit I got is missing two plastic ones so I had to buy another kit to get them

Stendtec have told me they can rebuild the shock however its £95...ouch, for a oil change and some Nitrogen. I should just bite the bullet and pay up but I can do it myself, I just need a Nitrogen fill.

After weeks of hunting I finally found the stickers that come on the black frame, the guy flogging the £999 Lobo on eBay had previously had them scanned before repainting his bike and he was nice enough to point me to ImageWorks who tell me they have the scan and can do them for £25. Woohoo!

More time off next week, hope to bring some pictures of it in paint! Then you guys can see something worth looking at cos its a bit boring at the moment

I have to send two Big Un's, a Bulb, the Ti6 caliper, both rear calipers, newer 2007 Hope levers and a load of bolts n stuff to be anodised red so that'll be exciting too!

Magsy":3uqxiymy said:

I now have one bike, five 321cd rims, three Hope Big Uns, two Hope Bulbs, four calipers and four levers I didn't plan this but you know how it goes, I'm still trying to stop myself buying bits I already have just cos they are shiny


After weeks of hunting I finally found the stickers that come on the black frame, the guy flogging the £999 Lobo on eBay had previously had them scanned before repainting his bike and he was nice enough to point me to ImageWorks who tell me they have the scan and can do them for £25. Woohoo!

More time off next week, hope to bring some pictures of it in paint! Then you guys can see something worth looking at cos its a bit boring at the moment

I have to send two Big Un's, a Bulb, the Ti6 caliper, both rear calipers, newer 2007 Hope levers and a load of bolts n stuff to be anodised red so that'll be exciting too!

Click to expand...

Great news on the stickers!! Don't suppose you know if they can change the colours?
Any of your front hubs silver?

Thought you were going black? These are the right ones for you! The exact ones for sale are on this bike..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/gt-lobo-1000- ... 35b4ec0d58

They are really slow at email, 1.5days slow I'll ask about colour when they reply telling me how to pay. I was gonna get a set like this just to see then go from there, they should really be different on my white frame.

My Big Uns are all a lovely shade of pink I found an anodiser and he seems to have done quite a lot of bike work, cheap too. I really want everything the same shade so I'm having it all done. Maybe get any one and have the pair re-done in silver? I think it'll only be £15-20

Oh yes, frame is still going black, I just saw a pic of Steve Peat on a lobo with blue stickers. Will do more research on that though.

I've ordered a red black set today, had to call 0115 944 3111 n spoke to Graham who immediately knew what I was on about.

Good news for you, he said he can change the colours

Keep it up. My favourite current thread on here

Got ill which sucks, slowed me down

Filled and sanded the forks, they are ready for primer now. The frame was filled and it didn't bloody set, I can't of put enough hardner in. This hurts cos you know you have to remove it all otherwise it will move later but you sooo want to believe you can fill over it and it will be ok :roll: I tired heating it but in the end wasted over an hour scraping it off in the shower with a nail brush of all things . Forgot to clean the bath, bownie ponts lost :evil: Refilled it and sanded it once, currently on its second fill to cover some low spots, final sand and then it too will be ready for primer






During my filler tantrum I decided I couldnt be arsed to polish the rear triangle anymore so I outsourced it! Guy wanted me to pick a price which was offputting but in the end reckons he can do the whole rear, mirror finish in 3 hours...how the hell he is going to do that I don't know but he swears it will be £60-80 no more. His work was awesome : APS Swansea

Pretty crank arms arrived from the US, took me ages to beg the guy to ship them over here. $39 + $17 shipping is pretty good deal I think! Not the right ones but from the vintage and pedigree, plus look super cool Chain ring is original and from some chap here. Downside is the arms are 160mm, I think most people find 165mm ok for downhill so I'm hoping they don't feel too weird. I'm 5'10 so they are too short but I'll give em a go.




Stripped three wheels to release the hubs, realised my front Big Un is 36h and my D321's are 32h. FS :twisted: hub or rim? Scored a second hand 36h D321 in the end and hopefully its condition is good. Lots of other stuff stripped ready for the anodisers to turn red but I'm still waiting on another Hope master cylinder and M970 XTR shifter which need to go too. Shifter is sexy as hell, I know its wrong for the bike but I'm having it anyway