Re:
MWC said:
Awesome build King Boonen! The essence of a well executed Frankenbike!
But barcons are "sub-par", winkybiker? Apparently my rando-commuter for the last 16 years has been sub-par all along. Who knew. :lol:
Cheers

I'd ideally like a decent fork on it, that On One thing is horrible but I got it really cheap

Other things like better cranks, clutch rear derailleur etc. will come in time if I decide to keep it like this. More below:
42x16ss said:
My first reaction was BLECCCH! mostly because of the paint job, but the more I look at it, it looks like a lot of fun.
One thing I'd consider, is putting 650b/27.5" wheels in rather than 26" if possible, just for that little extra speed on the roads and firetrails, but that's just me. If you want it to be more versatile as a hard tail it's looking good.
Have you had a look at gevenalle.com (formerly RetroShift)? They do a few different 2 in 1 friction shifter/brake lever combos that might be better on the trails than a bar end shifter.
I think when I get a decent, black carbon/steel fork on there it will improve the look of it massively. I'm looking at either the Salsa Chromoto, Firestarter, Enabler or Fargo in steel (need to decide if I want rack mounts or not) or the Surly Karate Monkey. The Chromoto Grande thru-axle is probably the best option if I don't want rack mounts. Carbon it would have to be something fairly cheap like On One, but I've contacted a local company who do a very similar build, albeit much better, to see if they are willing to sell a fork only. If Sram did black parts for the BB7s instead of red that would also help!!
The aim is really a do anything bike. I'd love to have something I can ride on club rides, long road rides, do on-road/off road touring and take to the MTB trails. I tested it this weekend at Glentress and it handled a mix of blue, red and black trails fine so I'm happy it can do that. The club rides and long road rides are going to be the biggest test. It's not going to be anywhere near as fast as my road bike, but as my general road riding averages between 25-30kph (on geared and fixed and most of my club riding is on fixed) I'm not looking for it to be massively quick anyway. I think it'll work, but we shall see
The wheels are what I had when it was a proper hardtail. I could fit 650b's in there but there would be limited clearance for proper MTB tyres and it would lift the BB. What is more likely is, if it works really well, I would consider having some 700c disc wheels built. I tested it with my road bike wheels and with 28mm tyres they are the same diameter as my 26" wheels with the 2.2-2.4" tyres on so I could easily run a set of disc wheels with either road or cx tyres for road/xc stuff and just stick the big wheels on for the MTB stuff. If I go that way then I may very well consider moving the road groupset on my road bike across to this (hence why I went with cable disc brakes) using a Wolf Tooth Components Tanpan to run an MTB derailleur with the STI shifters. I can also get a friction shifter that does have range for a 10 speed MTB RD, the current one is Dura-Ace and I can only get 9 gears out of it. Friction shifting wasn't too bad, will see how I get on with it. It's a long project but I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I could end up with a really fun bike out of it
