1996 Pro-flex 856 frame only build

[sparkybhp]

Here’s my latest project, I picked this up locally after winning the eBay auction. The seller was a nice bloke who said he was a member on here too, I forgot to ask his username though.
Anyway, here it is:

Overall it’s in great condition, should be the right size for me at 19” c/c. I’ve had a couple of these in the past and I do like the way they ride and how they look when built up.
I’ve not got a set of Girvin forks for it but I do have a nice set of Z2 Bombers which I hand polished (they were the bright yellow/green colour and pretty rough cosmetically). They will go perfectly with the silver swing arm on this.

I’m building this up with some decent kit which I’ve been hanging on to for a while. So far it’s got: Hope hubs on Mavic 217’s, XT 739 cranks, FSA ‘the pig’ headset. I’m trying a modern short reach stem on it for now - that may change as the build progresses but I’m aiming for something that’s semi-comfortable to ride.
Updates to follow..

 

[sparkybhp]

More progress this morning:

I decided that the stem wasn’t right but luckily I had this Specialized one which suits the bike much better.
Smoke/Dart tyres look spot on with the red frame. Found a Ritchey seatpost in 27.2mm that is exactly the right length too. The front mech is a m737 and I’ve gone for a nice short cage XTR rear mech. Levers and shifters are also the correct XT ones, same as the 8 speed cassette. I’ve gone for ODI attack grips.
Getting there..

 

[sparkybhp]

I found a pic of the forks before the strip, polish and rebuild:
It was a lot of work to shine them up but definitely worth it.
I finished the bike yesterday afternoon, cabling up was satisfying. I love the routing on this frame, the rear mech housing is one long length running through the swing arm and the front mech cable runs through the frame behind the swing arm pivot - trick (for the 90’s anyway!).
Here she is:

I did one of my regular routes on it this morning, a 15 mile loop with a mix of roads, byways and a few gentle single tracks. It’s a pleasure to ride, feels crisp and responsive with the shorter stem and wider bars, and the M737 group is as good as it gets for retro components without spending silly money.
The frame wasn’t dear at all and it’s been a good exercise to dig some nice parts out of the spares stash and hang them on a bike which I will use, maybe only from time to time but still..
I’m happy with this one, I might touch in a few of the tiny stone chips on the frame but otherwise it’s done and it’s a keeper.