Andy's Proflex 856

[andym999]

Original for sale…

Vintage K2 Proflex 856 857 Full Suspension 26" MTB Bike Frame OEM Cable Guides | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage K2 Proflex 856 857 Full Suspension 26" MTB Bike Frame OEM Cable Guides at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

£66 postage? entirely reasonable...


Update - have recently acquired a correct Proflex stem (which I'm very pleased about - and for less han half the cost of posting some cable stops from the US...) a nice Impel chainset and a set of XT V-brakes. If only Evri hadn't lost my bottom bracket....

Anyways, build starting this afternon - pics to come...

 

[Joe*Pro]

£66 postage? entirely reasonable...


Update - have recently acquired a correct Proflex stem (which I'm very pleased about - and for less han half the cost of posting some cable stops from the US...) a nice Impel chainset and a set of XT V-brakes. If only Evri hadn't lost my bottom bracket....

Anyways, build starting this afternon - pics to come...

Message the guy, do a deal or get a US person on here to help be middle man.

 

[andym999]

So, first afternoon of building. Frame went back together fairly easy, though the fit of the pivot under the saddle was very tight and necessitated a bit of sanding. Fork was also as expected but I completely missed that I don't have the right size for the top half of the headset. Reducer installed to take frame down to 1" , and once I have the top half of the headset I'll be able to install the fork properly.

Decided to mock up bars as well, although I'd prefer some straighter ones.

Proper checking has revealed that the XT front derailleur I bought as 31.8, is in fact the smaller size. Although chainset has to wait anyway as Evri lost my bottom bracket...

Also annoyingly, the donor Spesh has clearly had the wheels swapped at some point and they won't fit an 8 speed cassette, so wheels will need to be acquired sooner rather than later.

 

[Suprachrgd82]

£66 postage? entirely reasonable...


Update - have recently acquired a correct Proflex stem (which I'm very pleased about - and for less han half the cost of posting some cable stops from the US...) a nice Impel chainset and a set of XT V-brakes. If only Evri hadn't lost my bottom bracket....

Anyways, build starting this afternon - pics to come...

What’s the exchange rate currently? That set is $31 posted within the US. Is ebay upping costs for items viewed overseas?

 

[andym999]

More building progress and more bits received... Current pics below.

Temporary solution to the wheels issue has seen me 'borrow' a more modern set of 26" wheels from my wife's rarely used Dawes MTB. Tyres are a mismatched set hanging round for the (very) occasional off-road use of the Team Marin. (She has also just acquired a road bike too so won't be missing these for some time.) Plan is still very much to get a suitable set of period correct wheels and tyres, ideally XT/LX on some Mavics or similar, with either WTB Velociraptors or Smoke/Dart combo - but that can wait for now.

1" headset meant I could finally install the forks properly which went smoothly. Could also finally install a Shimano UN300 cartridge BB after Evri lost it pre-Xmas (hard work but maybe that was just the extreme cold?) Also received a straighter bar (eBay) and some cheap bar ends from @d8mok (these not installed yet as the bar's pretty narrow already and if I'm cutting the NOS Gripshift grips I want to be sure about it....)

Also installed the lovely and very reasonable Impel chainset from @Double-E F along with XT rear derailleur and a replacement LX front (eBay), GS X-rays and Dia Compe levers. Pedals a randon old set I have hanging around, also have the option of some SPDs. Adding the stickers (@gil_m) made it somehow look a million times better and more real... (Saving the swingarm stickers for now in the hope I can get it polished nicely.)

Spring on the back is good and bouncy, and adjustable - not sure what state the damping is in but seems good. Fox shock on the front is set up pretty harsh (I'm a featherweight btw) so may need to be adjusting that once we're up and running. Looking forward to playing with it all soon enough and getting it dialled in - I remember comments about a bit of sag being required on the back.

As well as wheels I'm also on the lookout for a better saddle, and I'm regretting the cheapo black post already - need a silver one to match...

Still do do: V-brakes to install and cable, chain on, cable up and adjust derailleurs...

 

[andym999]

Supplementary post - the delayed house move meant nothing of any use was taken from the Specialized donor bike. Disappearing down a bike-related You-Tube hole over Xmas has sparked the idea of stripping the paint and using it as a beater single speed - which I should be able to do for very little moolah. I *think* I have the space for it, and it could teach me about stripping paint, maybe even self painting, and stripping and rebuilding the Judys...

 

[andym999]

V-brakes last night - or not as the case may be. The only bolts to hand had a flange that was too wide and wouldn't go past the parallelogram bit of the XT V-brakes.

Ended up using the V brakes from the Specialized to get it working and sort the cabling out. Final adjustments will have to wait for some new bolts, but I can also allow myself to get some replacment cable bend things which are in better shape.

Fingers crossed for some time this weekend to get the chain on and cable up the derailleurs.

 

[mk one]

Looking nice with the decals on now. I do like frames without decals but the yellow on red really looks nice, miss my 856.

 

[andym999]

Looking nice with the decals on now. I do like frames without decals but the yellow on red really looks nice, miss my 856.

Thanks - the dirty tyres are letting the whole thing down now.... need some Autosol and some time to bring a bit of life back into the forks and swingarm too.

 

[raidan73]

I have a pair of wheels that might suit. I think they came from a 97 Proflex 857. Mavic 221 rims (I think), with WTB hub on the front and a Shimano (LX?) silent clutch on the rear