Hello again!
Got a first mockup done with another long time project of mine so I thought I shared the story behind it at the same time.
A little over two years ago my friend here in Finland offered me a beaten M1 with no shock for a very cheap price, and naturally when I saw it I knew I had to try and rescue it somehow. I have a soft spot for old DH legends and especially when they're in awful shape, cheap and about to be almost thrown away. It's always then when you can see all the potential in them and start wondering what the heck have you gotten yourself into again!
So this is the picture my friend sent me back then and this is how I got the frame. The paint was dull and scratched, the bearings were shot and someone had even installed the links upside down.. Also the integrated cable guides on the side were broken so had to do something to them also.
I started by taking off the paint, asking my friend to weld new guides on it, fine sanding everything and polishing it up. I didn't go for 'show room' polish, only sanding it down to about 1200 grit and hand polishing everything with autosol. I also replaced the bearings, all eight of them, and installed new decals. Also found a TF tuned 5th Element shock for it, and it all came out pretty nice!
I've also slowly been collecting parts for it and during these two years I've managed to gather the majority of them ready. The wheels I just finished building this summer with Intense Mag30 rims on first gen Saint hubs. The Shiver I had already previously and just thought from the start that it might fit this perfectly. Some of my Intense purist friends have been against it but I've tried to convince them that it will look awesome here!
But when the time came for the first mockup I was pretty nervous as I had been planning everything in my head and gathering the parts I had visioned for this, but I honestly had no idea if everything would look as nice in real life as in my head. So when I got the first mockup build up and rolling a couple of weeks ago, I was pretty relieved on how it all fit together!
I have pretty much full first gen Saint groupset waiting to be installed on it, but first have to start by getting some new bushings for the shock. Then slowly finishing everything during the winter as there's pretty much no hurry with it after already having it over two years in the process
Got a first mockup done with another long time project of mine so I thought I shared the story behind it at the same time.
A little over two years ago my friend here in Finland offered me a beaten M1 with no shock for a very cheap price, and naturally when I saw it I knew I had to try and rescue it somehow. I have a soft spot for old DH legends and especially when they're in awful shape, cheap and about to be almost thrown away. It's always then when you can see all the potential in them and start wondering what the heck have you gotten yourself into again!
So this is the picture my friend sent me back then and this is how I got the frame. The paint was dull and scratched, the bearings were shot and someone had even installed the links upside down.. Also the integrated cable guides on the side were broken so had to do something to them also.
I started by taking off the paint, asking my friend to weld new guides on it, fine sanding everything and polishing it up. I didn't go for 'show room' polish, only sanding it down to about 1200 grit and hand polishing everything with autosol. I also replaced the bearings, all eight of them
, and installed new decals. Also found a TF tuned 5th Element shock for it, and it all came out pretty nice!
I've also slowly been collecting parts for it and during these two years I've managed to gather the majority of them ready. The wheels I just finished building this summer with Intense Mag30 rims on first gen Saint hubs. The Shiver I had already previously and just thought from the start that it might fit this perfectly. Some of my Intense purist friends have been against it but I've tried to convince them that it will look awesome here!
But when the time came for the first mockup I was pretty nervous as I had been planning everything in my head and gathering the parts I had visioned for this, but I honestly had no idea if everything would look as nice in real life as in my head. So when I got the first mockup build up and rolling a couple of weeks ago, I was pretty relieved on how it all fit together!
I have pretty much full first gen Saint groupset waiting to be installed on it, but first have to start by getting some new bushings for the shock. Then slowly finishing everything during the winter as there's pretty much no hurry with it after already having it over two years in the process
