Late 90s Santa Cruz Heckler X

[StPeteFlorida]

Picked up this late 90s Heckler X yesterday to replace the Proflex 600 series I had shortly before it was stolen. This Heckler is not as light but is quite a nice ride. I’m new to restoring, looking for advice on the following:

cleaning up the marred paint job
raising the bars
Upgrades all around to lighten it up

Thanks in advance!

 

[wadsy]

If it was me, I reckon I'd do a full strip-down and rebuild. Allowing you to clean and polish the frame etc, and ensure everything is clean, lubed and fully functional.
You can then fit lighter parts, starting with wheels/ tyres and a better fork and probably saddle, seatpost, stem and bar, all budget depending!
From the pic, I doubt you'd get a much higher bar height though.

Cheers

 

[ishaw]

As above really. Not much you can do to raise the bars without a longer fork steerer and more spacers under the stem.

You could see what a longer travel fork does to the front end and ride quality. May help.