Bought the cheapest M1 on the net - help with ID and specs?

[Cloverleaf]

I have some spare hardware from my gen 1 Tracer that looks like it will fit the pivot bolts - there are already a few mismatched ons in there that look terrible. I'll have to sort out the shock mounting hardware when I source a shock. Thanks for the info Cloverleaf, that's helpful. The lower shock mount hardware must be huge, the linkage is really wide there.

No probs. From memory the lower shock bolts were M8x100 (or similar) shouldered metric. Yeah, way to go bike industry, you just mix metric and imperial threads on the same bike! I found the lower ones to bend a little but as long as you're using a solid one piece steel pin you'll be fine. The older top hat style things would bend and snap so many bolts. I can't recall exactly what you needed to do to fit a 5th on the one you have but I seem to remember it including grinding the top of the boomerang to clear the adjusters and putting a dent in the underside of the tower to clear the top of the piggyback on bottom out. They were designed around the boggo Fox Van RC at the time.

ETA: The four swinglink bolts were definitely smaller, and the FSR link bolt at the back a bit bigger. Maybe that one was 1/4" and the others were 7/16"? It was a long time ago I had that bike!

 

[rentedmule]

Cool - I'm going to try sourcing a decent old Van RC rather than modding to fit a 5th element. I don't need those last few percentage points of performance or efficiency - I was never that good a rider to begin with!

 

[rentedmule]

Progress on project Inexpense M1

Used Deemax's with new Minion DHF/DHR tires, period correct Van RC shock, and a random seatpost for something to clamp to. I have a local machinist working on the shock mount bushings and I did have some extra weird metric/course thread imperial bolts for the pivots from my Tracer.
20230907_204011 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

Sweet Inbred seat that I paid too much for on Ebay, maybe from a member here?!
20230907_204117 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

XTR M952 drivetrain, including Ti cassette, and a vintage MRP chain guide with new MRP rollers (not sure I'll be able to make this work...). I also snatched the Hope M4's off my Tracer, since they were overkill for an XC bike
20230907_204023 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

And after searching constantly for months on end, I finally scored a period-correct X-Vert Carbon (the TPC version). It's well-used, but wow are they hard to find and it was much cheaper than I expected to pay. It hasn't actually arrived yet, this is a pic the seller used in the ad. What's cool is that the seller was parting out a cracked M1 and he threw in all of the pivot hardware from the frame for free. Unfortunately he didn't have shock mount bushings.

Xvert by Rented Mule, on Flickr

I have a pink Chris King Pretty and Strong headset coming in the mail (my second one!) so as soon as that and the fork arrives, I'll start mocking things up. I can't wait to have a rolling chassis.

The plan is to media blast and powder coat the frame and rear end the same color. Maybe battleship grey? Thoughts? I'm also on the fence about decals. I like the look of the late 1990's SL decals but maybe the 2000-up style would look better with this component set?

For the cockpit, I'd like to find a nice Easton MG60 stem - if anyone has a lead, let me know!

 

[stevet1]

Those forks are lush, good look with the build.

 

[rich860]

A red m1 is always a winner. Pearlescent white would also be nice.

 

[greencat]

A red m1 is always a winner. Pearlescent white would also be nice.

and be somewhat in keeping with the saddle as that was originally supplied with a white on-one inbred.

 

[rentedmule]

I had considered white, and you're right, the seat (and fork) would look good on a white frame. I'll look into decal options and see if I can find something that would compliment it in white.

 

[mk one]

A polished M1 is the nicest option, maybe with red/white decals to match the forks.

 

[rentedmule]

I agree, particularly the early SL frames.

On this one, the previous owner apparently tried to remove the original paint with a lawn mower or maybe one of those flail tanks used for clearing land mines. It would take more time and effort to polish than I'm willing to invest. With a little bit of prep, I think powder coating could come out decent so I'll likely go that route.

 

[rentedmule]

Progress has been made! I had shock mounting hardware machined so I could finally get it standing on its own.

For the record, the lower shock bolt is nothing exotic, just an M6 x 75 mm. The top shock bolt is an M8 x 50 with a lock nut. I couldn't source socket head cap screws locally so I just have hex head bolts in there at the moment and have ordered the others.

I still haven't decided on a colour, but I'm getting impatient now that it's a roller and may just build it as-is for the time being.

20240323_153753 by Rented Mule, on Flickr