Fat Chance Buck Shaver! updated 21/11/12

it's sort of finished

i got most of the parts in the last few days and i got the forks sorted this morning. i am happy with the look and a quick spin around the block tells me it feels really nice, smooth and just the right position at the front.

there are still some things to sort out, i still need a rear mech (in talks at the mo) also i am waiting for some nicer bottle cage bolts.

also these are probably not the wheels that will remain in here. i have the hubs (m750 xt) but i was originally gonna use mavic 517 citron rims so they'd look good with the stickers i was having at the time but since i changed to the fatlanta decals i think the citron colour would look awful so i have to decide what rims i'm gonna use, was thinking black rims. what do you think?

anyway here's some pics

more

Love it Jon

Looked great in the flesh at the weekend as a frame but now looks even better.

Now then the choice for round 6 ? MF or FT :razz:

not sure! probably this it'll be nice to have brakes and suspension at a retro ride!

OMG, just looked at this thread for the first time and saw one of the most beautiful steel frames ever made and in the best colour with original decals and logos - WOW. As a designer, I thought this look is a refreshing change from the white framed, polished shimano, anodised bits bling look. But when i got to the end of the thread, it had changed!!!!! Still a nice bike, but I personally thought the red and black was one of the best looks ever!

i am sure that if you saw the frame up close before the paint job you would have understood the decision to paint. you can see some of the spidery marks underneath the paint on the headtube shot on page 1 of the thread, it would have needed doing at somepoint.

i went for white because i wanted a clean look and also because where i was originally going to use the spinergy wheels the yellow spokes had to match in with it and that meant a limited choice of colours, white, gun metal, silver etc, there are not many colours that the yellow spokes would have worked with and i felt that white was the best option.

being honest though i really don't like red! never have! and the combination of red and yellow was hurting my eyes!

i decided to use the fatlanta decals for no other reason than i thought they looked cool! but that forced a change of wheel set aswel.

i'm going to put on a couple more blue and red ano bits here and there, noting big, just bolts etc.

overall i am really pleased with the build

I fully understand now, red I admit is a bit of a 'marmite' colour which you either really love or hate! If reds not your thing, then white is a good choice with those nice decals. To be honest the quality of an understated quality steel frame of this caliber will shine through no matter what colour as its one of the finest ever made. Bet its a sweet ride!

first ride was a little weird! :shock:

initially it felt wrong, then i realised the seat height was slightly too low, that sorted and it made a huge difference to how it rode, but i still need to tweak the bar position etc, it felt a little low at the front then i realised that the forks were a little to soft for my current weight! so i need some harder springs but i may go for a slightly longer fork (by swapping the internals but using the same lowers)

also, defo needs bar ends, or in an extreme case maybe riser bars, we'll see.

here's a pic from todays 25 mile ride around the new forest

a little update,

i got some harder springs for the forks, unfortunately they still weren't hard enough so i decided to go on the look out for another fork, i checked whether a longer fork would work by fitting a spare judy race fork i have, again this fork was too soft but it felt fine handling wise so when i saw Jon's (cornholio's rc200) sids for sale i thought they'd do the job. they arrived this morning and i have fitted them. the paint is in pretty good condition but stickers are a bit tired. i am going to ride them for a bit then if they feel fine (test ride says they are ok) i will then get them painted to match the frame, although the blue doesn't look out of order with the frame.

also these are slightly longer a-c with a little more travel so the bike feels more comfortable now aswel.

the keen eyed among will also notice the new wheels, the hubs match the rest of the groupset so it's pretty much all m750 XT now and i got xm317 rims which are basically x221's from back in the day.

so now i can ride it properly!!

so looking good all round then

Looking good Jon ,

Interested to hear how it rides , keep us updated