Have had this frame for a few months now quietly hanging in a corner giving me the eye.

There's a bit for me to struggle with here.

1- my distaste for black frames/components on bikes.. it should be glossy colourful paint and silver components or ano at a stretch.. always thought black components looked cheap even the high end gear.

2- Disk brake only frame.. ugh I've only just come to terms with V's

3- 29er I dunno.. can't see why it wouldn't be fun to ride... 2 wheels + puff puff = fun. right?

righto.. I have a plan: Black, little silver in there so it knows that its a bike. hang the period correct thing and try and find some skinwalls. easy

Feeling better

Here's the frame. Salsa forks and a Crank Bros Cobalt headset.

Found some SS 29" wheels on a local mtb forum full of young armor plated mountain bikers that make me feel like an old man.. [in - grab wheels - out]

piece of cake.

Cranks.. from bike-vintage.com

If I fall in love with the bike it can have something speccy like some old hopes but for now I figure keep it cheap and cheerful. read a few reviews and bb7's seem well regarded and I can use any old v-lever

Quote from lbs.. $100 an end for the bb7's
eBay.. brand spanking - both ends for $70 shipped

I'll just have to live with the guilt this time.

Skinwall 29" tyres.. yeh right!

Looked through the net and found zilch except for Kenda Karma OEM on a charge bike a couple of years ago.. meh.
Called every charge dealer in Aus.. not a thing I had hoped that some young scrote might have bought a bike and insisted they remove the daggy skinwalls leaving a set for me lying around in a workshop somewhere.. apparently not

realized this build was an excuse to try a set of those cheap (and hopefully cheerful) cnc levers that pop up and annoy me when I search ebay.

will most probably regret this one.. at least it will serve as a reminder to withdraw paypal fund back into the bank account immediately as paypal $$ isn't like real $$ and is waaaay too easy to spend.

One set of Kenda Karma 29er pop up on ebay but the lising is UK only and the seller wont answer Q's.. Gaaaaaaaah!

Kenda KARMA.. worth a shot.

Within 2 minutes of making a help wanted add.... rojo to the rescue!

A dozen chatty pm's to one of the nicest guys on the internet (there's a list somewhere, I'm fairly sure he made the top ten) and a couple of weeks later.. SKINWALLS!!


Happy camper.

That frame is as mad as a bag of frogs......LOVE IT!

Watching this with interest, I can see a 29er slingshot being a great ride.

I've been out a few times with GreenRabbit on his slingshot road bike. They are indeed a bit odd.

Not surprised with two of you on it.

I'm not entirely sure I get it, I can see the hinge near the seatpost cross bar junction and I get that when you sit on the bike the rod/spring thingy holds it together but surely if you hit the front brakes hard the forks try to move backward and cause the hinge to fold the bike up?

mm.. can't say I get it either to be honest

The "hinge" is solid as all get out piece of fiberglass. I dismantled the frame last night, unbolted the board and had a good look/push/pull.. there's very little movement in it. I was hoping the board was only epoxied into the rear triangle as the top tube is slightly off center and I would like to get it back perfect but there is no budging it.

I threw a chain on and took it for a spin and under as much power as I was willing to give it in the rain with no brakes the frame does behave oddly when you get out of the saddle and stomp on it. A kind of quirky controlled twist and whip with each stroke.. veeeery weird but it's not random so I'm assuming it's the slingshot feel that I have read about and I'll get used to it and make it work to my advantage.

Will take photos with tyres on today.

Small update on the parts list.. Those AEST levers are crap.. serously bad. The bolt to tighten the levers to the bars is the pivot bolt for the lever.. that would be a problem if you could tighten them to hold the bars at all but no, sadly the allowances are so far off that bolted to their tightest possible they spin around on the bars as loose as anything. tried multiple bars with the same results. Also the levers flop around like limp lettuce. Quality wise the ano is lovely and the cnc looks fantastic but the fit is just horrible. Shame, with a bit of tweeking of the basic design they could be very nice little things.. as it stands they are for the bin.

They are mental looking things.

Not sure I could trust one...I'm sure they are fine but I'm not sure I could get my head around the missing tube!

Coming together, Still waiting on the calipers and pondering what to do for levers.