1992 Sbike 728 - FINISHED : pics p.5

Rob Atkin":1x5uxgdb said:

I had some wheels made with 2011 Shimano Deore XT hubs, no disc mounts. Don't know if they are easily available where you are, I got mine from Merlin Cycles (not the ti people, the bike shop) in the UK. I see them quite often on ebay going quite cheap as most people want disc hubs. NIce quality, sort of light grey in colour, I got black QR's.

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Yeah, I found a set of modern XT hubs without disc mounts. (Just looked them up, and they're the T780 ones).
However with the recent change in plans, I probably won't use them after all.

And while I'm posting, I'll give a quick update.

The front mech and chain had some rust problems, so they're now bathing in Cola (the real one, of course. My bikes don't drink Pepsi). Keeping the chain rust-free afterwards shouldn't be much of a problem, but the rust on the mech's cage might be a bigger issue.
The rear mech and the cantilevers have all been taken apart, degreased, regreased and put back together.
The headset cups are now in the frame, but their base plate needs to be swapped from the RS racing fork to the rigid Sbike fork. Unfortunately I'm not tooled up for that and my LBS is on holiday. I need to visit him anyway, because I'm also out of cable end caps.

To make matters worse, I noticed that the 46T chainring on my crankset has been bent. I hope I can straighten it out, otherwise I might have to look for another one.

And here's the big issue : the cassette's lockring is seized. No matter how much weight and force I put on it, it won't budge. This is going to be a fun build ... :evil:

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EDIT : @ yetidh9 : That Zaco is nice indeed. Might look into getting one of those.

Raging_Bulls":243zgoj8 said:

EDIT : @ yetidh9 : That Zaco is nice indeed. Might look into getting one of those.

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So absolutly. But I dont think that there was many build... maby around 10. I used to race against a guy in such one in 94-96ish. And I think the frames was produced somewhere in the start 90ish... let me know if this is somethink that you mean so i can have a look for one and souce out information on it. The one in the pics are for sale at £750...

I was hoping to ride it by now, but had some trouble with the cable stops. Those are sorted now, so I can begin to build.

Here's what it looks like right now.



Still need to :

- Clean and install the front cantilevers
- Install the brake pads
- do all the cabling
- straighten that darn 46T chainring
- find new tyres (these Panaracer Smokes are seriously unsafe due to a disintegrating carcass)
- re-grease the wheel bearings


As for taking off the cassette : Cassette vs Raging_Bulls : 1-0 so far.
Thanks to the huge amounts of degreaser and WD-40 I used in my attempt to un-seize the lockring, the bearings now sound like they're running dry. They needed an overhaul anyway, so that's not a problem.

The front mech is now on the bike, but there's a lot of chrome missing. I suspect it'll start rusting again soon, in which case I'll need to find another one.
If anyone has a good XT FD-M735 bottom pull in 31.8 size and wants to sell it, get in touch please.

I'm awaiting delivery of a few sets of Avid Tri-Dangle cable hangers, so there's little I can do for now.
Tomorrow I'll be test-fitting the bike so I can align the saddle and levers, and then I'll clean the front cantis and cut the outer cables to length.
Not sure about sorting out that 46T tomorow, but I might do that as well so I can put the crankset on. IF I can sort out the chainring, I'll be installing the chain as well.

I might walk it to my old job sometime next week (not going to ride 8 miles on dry rear bearings). They have a super mechanic there and better tools than me.
Pretty sure he'll be able to sort out the rear wheel.

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EDIT : Got tired of looking at those front cantis, so I cleaned them, re-greased them and put them on the bike.

It's very nice, happiness for finished assembly.

looking good....

not keen on the bars , but i'd give it shed space
glad you went with older kit ,always think new stuff on an older frame looks wrong, bit like those old women you see in shell suits
btw a brass suede shoe brush is good for minor rust removal on chrome
parts

Minor rust on chrome isn't the problem. The rusted chain has been in contact with the mech for more than a decade. There's a 1/2" high strip on the inside where the chrome is completely gone. I think I'll need to replace the front mech entirely.

Also, it's impossible to sort out the big chainring. I've straightened out discs before, so it's not a matter of skill. I'll just need to find another one.

Just spent half an hour trying to sort out the brakes, only to find out that the XT pads are 1mm higher than the rim. There's just no way to make the damn things fit.
I'm not going to bother with them anymore. I'll just look for a set of Koolstop pads or similar. Anything that is properly designed really. Shimano really did a half-a$$ed job on their early to mid-90s pads.

Also, I'm running into the usual problems with cantilever setup. I simply don't see how you can properly align the pads with only 2 hands.
Whoever invented this system should be shot for crimes against humanity. I vow NEVER to work on cantilevers again. The proto will be the last canti bike I build, and even that one will have its brakes done by my LBS.
I just can't be bothered with this underengineered, overcomplicated, underpowered and obsolete braking setup anymore. There's a good reason why they've been replaced with Vees.

I've had it with this bike for now. I'm really close to just bailing out and selling everything retro.
I had to make compromises I didn't want to make, it's just plain ugly and full of scratches, it's been fighting me every single step of the build ... I've had enough of it really.
I'm taking it off the workstand and chucking it in the spare room for now, so that it's out of my sight for a while.

@ Mikee : as for the bars, my back simply can't handle the combination of such a low front end and straight bars. Ideally I'd need them to be just a bit above the saddle.
I much prefer the look of straight bars, but there's little point in those if it means I can't ride the bike without suffering extreme back pain for the next few days.

EDIT : and to complete this rant, I just got on the bike to align the brake levers properly. No problem on the left side, but the right shifter pod is hitting the brace mount.
What the hell? This is a barely used M730 set and it's about as symmetrical as a car that's been hit in the side with a wrecking ball.

Okay, I ignored the bike for 2 months, but now it's time for a little update.

The comments about the riser bar were duly noted and then disregarded. However you'll be pleased to know that I'll be using a straight bar after all.

A little while ago I found the rare aluminium Sbike fork with the titanium headtube, NOS no less. I snatched it up before the auction ended.
It came with a matching stem, which unfortunately is for a 31.8mm handlebar. So the 25.4mm Club Roost riser bar doesn't fit anymore.

Fortunately I still had a NOS Sbike 31.8 bar lying around, so the bike now has a completely new (and correct) front end.







Normally these forks are silver, but there was a black version as well, for use on one of the competition models.

Now all it needs are new tyres (these Panaracers are disintegrating), a chain and a new 46T chainring to replace the bent one it currently wears.
Once I have those, it's a matter of sorting out the cables and it's done.
Oh, and I'll need grips as well. Seeing as this build is becoming so original, I'll need those black foam grips or a set of Magura Corkies.

The current speclist is an exact match to the 728, so I'll be removing the current chainstay decals and will let Gil make new ones to correct that.
The frame was advertised as a 729, but there were no chainstay decals to prove that.
Both the 728 and 729 used the exact same frame anyway, so from now on, this bike will be a 728.

Imagine that, starting out with just a frame and the idea of building a 2012 version of the bike, and ending up with a 1992 catalogue-spec bike instead.

what's the handlebar'width please ?

Why not still 729 here is a original pic, looks just like yours, liking your sbike by the way