I’d spent the morning servicing the kids bikes in preparation for the Easter break & ticking off lots of little jobs when I remembered I had a set of (repro) Smoke & Darts that I wanted to try. I’m glad I did as I think they sit well, ready for a family ride on Saturday.
As they say… they’re never finished…I needed to replace the BB, as the drive side flange had snapped off, not sure how, I think maybe a chain that had dropped off the granny ring might have caught it..
Anyway, I got a tidy UN71 (‘94) from @MatBH5 for a great price, it just needed a quick wash and brush up and we were back in business.
Whilst waiting for it to arrive I thought I’d do a few more housekeeping jobs; a new slightly thicker headset spacer as the previous was too thin and I couldn’t properly lock the headset & a wider Tioga Prestige bar. This one is 600 wide replacing the 560mm incumbent. Doesn’t seem like much of a difference but boy does it feel better… Might not look so “old school race spec” but it makes for a much better ride..
Back in the summer I had a great day out with @yakboy & @The History Man at Dalby Forrest, great fun but I felt my Antaeus was feeling rougher than I remembered and realised the the MX100 Marzocci's weren't really doing much... very squelchy with little or no re-bound, very soft.
So after a while I decided that I'd get them sent off to Marcus AKA @kraeMit AKA Dr Marzocchi for a full service, replacement of seals etc and hopefully a new set of stanchions if he had them.
In the mean time I set the Antaeus up with a set of RockShox FSX I'd serviced and re-built a year or two ago for @Our Jimmy 's Marin. These work great but did mean the wheel base was a little shorter and I discovered this isn't great when @yakboy took me down a local steep run the other day. Everything worked ok, but I just didn't feel as comfortable or as confidant as I normally would have with the MX100's.
Fortunately they arrived back from Germany today and look and feel fantastic! built up this evening and will be fitted back on Anty tomorrow
I've been hording this Mister Cruds Crud Bung for years! Now in it's forever home.
Oh, and yes whilst the legs were away I gave the crown some much needed TLC with a fine grade wet & dry rub down, a layer of black acid etch then a top coat of clear matt lacquer.