DMR Trailstar resto-mod

[petehaddock]

So the eldest lad has outgrown his 24" bike so the search was on for a suitable 26. The bike needed to be good enough to make long-ish rides out with me enjoyable but at the same time cheap enough to suit knocking about with his mates and getting left outside shops etc. It also had to have some form of 'street cred' in eyes of both the 15 y/o riding it and the 33 y/o building/paying for it (me ). Brandan is not particularly tall for his age so no garden gate frames and the bike needs to be durable enough to be passed down through my other 2 boys when the time comes.

So I'm sat in the shed pondering when I looked at the DMR Trailstar I built last year.......

Lightbulb moment! 16" frame, cool brand, tough as old boots and can be retrofitted with all modern parts. Now there was no way he was having my Trailstar to thrash about but I don't have any projects on the go at the moment so a plan was hatched. Looking online it seems around £350-£400 is the going rate for new bike with a half decent spec so the challenge is to complete the build for under £350.

 

[petehaddock]

Re:

I found this on eBay. It's another mk1 but not as early as mine.

It's perfect for this project as it has a rear disk mount, it's got the BSA BB shell (which also means the tubing is double butted, BMX BB frames use plain gauge tubing) and also it comes with bottle cage mounts. The paint is b*lloxed but that's not a problem as Brandan has me under strict instruction that the bike must be red so it will be getting powder coated anyway!

The total cost included postage was £220 but seen as I only want the frame I'm hoping to get most of that back from selling the other components (if the forks are in good nick and working they should fetch a good price).

 

[CTK]

Good start to the build. Will be much better than a new bike. Why not keep some more parts from the donor bike? wheels, forks, brakes all look good

 

[petehaddock]

Wheels are 24" mate (plus they are Halo combats so bomb proof but weight more than the moon). Forks are lovely but 1. They are talas so notoriously unreliable, 2 I worry they are too blingy, I'd hate my lad to become a target riding around town and 3. I have a set of old rockshox recons in the shed so selling them could pretty much fund the rest of the build. As for brakes they need pads and both hoses are badly kinked. It would cost about £40 for hoses and pads or I could sell these for £15-20 and buy a brand new set of Shimano M355 for £35 which are very good brakes for the money, I have them on my commuter and they are excellent.

 

[CTK]

Makes sense I wondered if they were 24". A couple more donor bikes like this and you'll be in profit by the time its finished ;-)

 

[petehaddock]

Makes sense I wondered if they were 24". A couple more donor bikes like this and you'll be in profit by the time its finished ;-)

I used to run a little side business buying bikes and breaking them for spares. I got pretty good at spotting the profitable bikes. Other people look at a bikes bad points and buy with their hearts, I just used to make sure I would break even at rock bottom prices and any extra eBay bids were my profit.

 

[petehaddock]

Re:

So I made a start on the build. I stripped the bike down and I have sent the frame off to Gil so he can make me a proper set of decals for my other trailstar, whilst it's away I got the usable parts cleaned up and listed on eBay. I have chosen to keep the cranks in the spares box as they are in lovely condition and will come in handy one day. The forks did really well and the wheels went for what they were worth in my opinion, I was shocked how popular the brakes were but I was 100% honest in the description and took lots of detailed pics. I started the auction at a tenner so some-one really wanted a set of scabby old deore's with busted up kinked hoses!

So if I take away fees thats around £200 which means I got the frame for £20 (along with a nice set of DMR crisis cranks complete with 36t Profile sprocket and a decent condition FSA Platinum ISIS BB). Happy with that! I'm going to start looking at the forks next and start hunting around for a nice wheelset.

 

[coomber]

Re:

Nice.

Mental selling price on the deore brakes!

 

[petehaddock]

Re:

The frame is still away with Gil so I spent a few evenings sorting the forks out. I've had an old set of Rockshox Recon's sat in the shed for years. The seal head 'o' ring had failed (a common fault on these early motion control forks), this means the damper oil migrates into the lower legs and hydrolocks the forks leaving you with 1 inch of travel. Also the rebound adjuster knob was missing and the paint was battered. The going rate for a motion control overhaul kit is about £22 but I found a bike shop online selling the entire damper assembly for £20 complete with a new rebound knob. I stripped the fork and gave it a coat of silver crackle paint (hides a multitude of sins!) before rebuilding with the new damper. I also chucked a few spacers on the shaft to reduce the travel from 140mm to 100mm to better suit the Trailstar frame. I might get some decals for them if the budget allows.

Also I won an eBay auction and I think I got a bit of a bargain. A complete Alivio groupset apparently taken from a 2019 Claude Bultler Cape Wrath. I ended up paying £67 including postage and the fresh green Shimano grease on the rear mech would seem to show it is all brand new and never ridden. Alivio might not be the sexiest groupset in the world but its a good workhorse and still a step up from the Acera/Tourney you would expect to see on a new bike within my £350 budget. Speaking of budget, I already had the fork oil and paint so thats frame, forks and drivetrain sorted for a total spend of £107