New winter project: Lipstick on a Pig

[William42]

if you don't mind me asking, how much are you spending on this project?

[Sandwich]

I don't have a total yet, as not everything is ordered. It looks like I may get a new fork @500 which will push the price higher than expected, but I'm hoping around 800.

[William42]

not bad, best of luck with that, hope it stays there!

[Sandwich]

Thanks dude. By my maffs, it'll hit $800 on the nose without a shock revalve. That should include a bunch of new parts.

[Sandwich]

updayyyts

Bike is 90% complete. I need to redish the rear wheel, cut the steerer, install shock bushings and clamp the reservoir, and I'm good to go.

Based on my calculations, I'm sitting at $800 on the nose after it's complete. I will probably need a shock revalve though.

[Sandwich]

Okay, so here's a little breakdown:

Frame: ADR Kaos, circa 2004-2005. Paid $300 for a complete bike
Fork: 2012 888 CR from Wheelworld, $500, new.
Headset: Finagleset, brand new gimbals for $52, used cups $10, used bearings $0
Stem: Specialized Demo direct mount, free for the price of some beers with a bud ($20)
Handlebars: Kore torsion 800mm bars, unborrowed from a friend since he has a newer set
Grips: Originally I was going to un-retire a pair of intense's that I had, but I decided to buy a set of WTB rexagon grips for my dirt jumper, and they ended up being a better fit for the DH bike
Shifter: Leftover XTR 8 speed from a sunday that I sold
Cassette: Leftover XTR 8speed 11-30 from that same sunday
Cable: Leftover XTR. Shifter cables on DH bikes don't see as much wear as other bikes, so I'll try it again with fresh housing this year, provided it fits through the housing.
Pedals: Leftover HT plastics. These were given to me by woody when he attended the taiwan trade show. They are super duper totally rad bro, and I can't believe that people pay more for pedals sometimes.
Cranks: Raceface nawthshawr that came with the bike, 170mm
BB: Something really wide and isis
Chainguide: Purchased from Crabjerr racepants in a group buy with some other stuff, $80 total
Brakes: Brand new XT, purchased from Jenson for $104 a side. These were a tough call, as SLXs are cheaper. The SLX ice tech comes with resin pads, and these came with metal and radiators, so I'm quite happy. I decided to splurge on brakes since I'm slow, and confidence in my brakes has made me faster in the past.
Rotors: Brand new Hayes 8" from jenson for $16. I was tempted to run used rotors, as this is an easy way to save weight, but the notion of brand new, true, thick rotors was too tempting.
Front hub: Leftover hadley from when I sold my brooklyn way back when. Yes, $0.
Rear hub: Sun ringle Lawwill, $80 from bikewagon. 12x150mm, 32 hole, smoking deal
Spokes: Debated for a while on spokes, but wheelsmiths proved to be the absolute cheapest you can buy. They're also high quality steel, and made in the US. That means something to me, but other people don't seem to care. They're regular silver steel, but they built into a nice wheel. $32 @ 0.50 each, from Cambriabike
Nips: Woody was kind enough to build my wheels for the cost of beers and some bike movies. He prefers hex head nips to really build a strong wheel. $0.15 from cambriabike @ 66
Rims: Some time ago, I asked about these rims for DH use. Lukewarm response at best. Still, they were sitting in my closet for free, so I decided to build them up. On paper, they make some sense. They are 22mm wide inside, and weigh 560g, so they're very close to a mavic 521. I've ridden them with high tire pressure previously with fine results, but gazzalodis and 32psi does not indicate a strong rim.
Tires: I purchased 2.7" DHFs from Huckntroll for $40 a piece for my last bike. When I sold them, I kept these tires and put the original tires that came with it back on. They're basically like new.
Shock: Avalanche DHS purchased from Dan-o. 8.5x2.5 for a short shock configuration. Should give me 8.2" of travel. 2.5" of stroke for 8" of travel isn't a great leverage rate, but if any shock can handle it, it's the DHS. Kind of a pig in weight, it should be able to handle anything I throw at it. I'll probably have to have it reshimmed as the rebound is too slow for my liking, but I want to ride it first.
Shock bushings: Offset bushing from proshox on ebay. Still haven't received these though I ordered midway through january. I hope they show up.

Once the bushings are in, I'll have the rest put together. Right now it sits kind of sad in the basement.

Numbers so far:
Chainstay @ 17.0"
headtube at 63.5-64* with a crappy cell phone level
BB @ 14.5". Kind of a disappointing number, and it won't get any better, but I did the maffs and if I lean the bike over at 4*, I'm at 13.9"

[dropmachine.com]

Pics of gtfo.

[Sandwich]

see the bottom of page two. I'll grab more better ones tonight. little by little...

[4130biker]

props for going for it and being honest about the numbers- even the "disappointing" ones. You found some awesome deals along he way- performance on the cheap can be pretty gratifying. Looking forward to hearing how that it rides!

[Sandwich]

I'm not terribly afraid of the high bottom bracket. The bike rode OK with whatever was on it before...and it had a longer stroke shock and a steep head angle. It feels really comfortable sitting on it static. I imagine it'll be pretty cool once it's all together and ridden. I may try and pursue something more funky with the shock, like a drilled hole. If I can lower it even further, I'll have a nice low BB, and I have plenty of clearance between the shock and seat tube/saddle.

I forgot to mention my cheat. When I picked up the bike for $300, it came with a DBR strike frame and a broken 888. I traded the 888 for an older boxxer, then swapped over a bunch of the parts I didn't want from the ADR to that bike and sold it off, tremendously offsetting the cost of this project. Some of crabjeo's parts also made it onto that bike. It ended up also being short shocked, and I had to buy a drop crown for it, but it ended up having awesome numbers, 13.1" BB, 63* HA, albeit with long stays, and it rode super nice. I thought about keeping it, but wanted to trek through with the ADR instead.

[4130biker]

I'm not terribly afraid of the high bottom bracket. The bike rode OK with whatever was on it before...and it had a longer stroke shock and a steep head angle. It feels really comfortable sitting on it static. I imagine it'll be pretty cool once it's all together and ridden. I may try and pursue something more funky with the shock, like a drilled hole. If I can lower it even further, I'll have a nice low BB, and I have plenty of clearance between the shock and seat tube/saddle.

I forgot to mention my cheat. When I picked up the bike for $300, it came with a DBR strike frame and a broken 888. I traded the 888 for an older boxxer, then swapped over a bunch of the parts I didn't want from the ADR to that bike and sold it off, tremendously offsetting the cost of this project. Some of crabjeo's parts also made it onto that bike. It ended up also being short shocked, and I had to buy a drop crown for it, but it ended up having awesome numbers, 13.1" BB, 63* HA, albeit with long stays, and it rode super nice. I thought about keeping it, but wanted to trek through with the ADR instead.

At first I thought this bike was the Kaos, and was thinking "Jeez, this used to look good in those other pictures." Then I read them "words" up at the top of the post.

[Sandwich]

haha, the DBR wasn't a bad bike. It had a huge headtube, so a drop stem would be nice, and some wider bars, but it sure rode OK.

The Kaos is getting closer...I still don't have my bushings, and am comtemplating purchasing a used CCDB to replace the avalanche, as the avalanche needs a revalve @ $125. If i can find an older CCDB, I should be able to tune it to my frame for less money.

[SLOPE]

I love recycling old ****.

Job well done!!

[daisycutter]

That front wheel is a mavic 321/729 rim correct?

[Sandwich]

The one on the dbr was a 321/parallax hub, or something. Super nice rim. Back was an atomlab. On the ADR are velocity cliffhangers.