Santa Cruz Heckler comes home

[jonnyboy666]

several years ago i had a Santa Cruz Heckler, it was when i first started working for GA cycles, so at a guess 10 or 11 years ago, i used it for 9 months including a trip to the alps and a race at Salisbury plain where i came in 10th over 35km so i did like it. unfortunately when i was in the alps it got a rather large bunch of scratches on the down tube due to someone packing it incorrectly on a bike trailer. it pissed me off so much that i sold the frame/fork when i got home.

cut to a month or so ago and the friend of a friend it got sold to sold it back to my friend who then discovered the seat post was seized in the frame, this scared him so he then passed it on to me for less than he paid. so i had a full bike, heckler frame with 5th element coil shock, marzocchi z1 free ride forks, hope m4 brakes, hope hubs on mavic downhill rims and running middleburn and xt gears etc with an easton finishing kit.

that said the bike was in a bit of a poor state, mainly the frame and paint

so i managed to get the post out of the frame, took a huge amount of effort and a little help from a friend to get that thing out!

so here's the build in pictures, oh and FYI the spec is from my ST4, which unfortunately has cracked on the chain stay


i was trying nitromorse to remove the paint but no joy
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the rear end
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the parts
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the wheels
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

cut to 2 weeks later

facing the head tube after paint
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the BB faced, rear end re-assembled
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

powdercoated in original white
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

facing the disc mounts with the old Hope tech tool
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

taking shape
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

almost finished
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the 5th element spring is a bit of a state but the shock works spot on, that said i've just won a dhx air on ebay
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr


the build finished, except stickers and the replacement shock, that said it rides lovely as is
Untitled by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[EarlofBarnet]

Looks great that, really modern. Nice attention to detail facing the head tube and disc mount.

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

i have a headset facing tool and could borrow the others, with powder coating it makes a lot of sense to do this, it makes the bike so much easier to build

 

[superstu]

Brilliant stuff. Are you planning on putting decals on or keeping stealth?

 

[racefacecannondale]

Nice looking fresh. Looking forward to seeing the final build.

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

here's the finished bike.

IMG_2946 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2949 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[yeti_bomb]

Re:

Nice build!

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

Unfortunately I didn't even get a chance to ride it! It part funded my trip to new Zealand so the frame set got sold almost straight away, shame really as I liked it when I did the test ride around the street but I got a sensible offer so I took it.