Arrow DSS project

[Roasted]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Had this frame for a few years and now really itching to build it. Still going to take me a few months to get it sorted.

First off I need to get it resprayed, I'm thinking in white. I have all the decals for it to keep it looking standard.

Next I need to get the wheels built, I have some hope Bulb hubs and Arrow rims. Annoyingly the hubs are gold, not my favourite colour but I can't be too fussy as I'm on a budget.

I have got some Avid disc brakes that'll do the job, hope the rear fits in the tight space.

Got a few other bits like stem, woodman head set and head lock. Not sure if I'll use these bits as they might not suit the build.

To finish it off I need tyres, seat post, saddle, forks, bars, grips, cables and cranks.

So if you have any Marzocchi Z1/dj1/4x forks with 20mm axle, Middleburn RS7 cranks ISIS, Hope Mono Mini front & rear, 24" tyres or any other bits that I might consider then let me know.

After this I need to build my Sintesi Snake. But that will be a lot later.

 

[slope]

Paint the frame black and do the whole John Player special thing!

 

[Roasted]

If its good enogh for lotus then it's good enough for me!

That could work but the decals might not work, they are the same colour combo as whats already on the frame.

 

[kanerdog1x1]

Re:

These are awesome, iv not seen one for years. It's basically the precursor to the Cove Stiffee. Some were also badged up as Yess frames, Yess were the company that made all of the steel and aluminium frames for Cove.

 

[captainwow]

Fantastic! I very nearly bought one back in the day, but went for a custom Revell 24" instead. I'll be watching this with interest.

 

[Roasted]

Got a few parts for it now including some Hope Mono Mini, middleburn cranks plus some other bits still need to get the BB and forks then I can start getting things put together.

Question about the hope brakes.

I bought a full set from a member on here but when they arrived the rear mount had a crack in it, a bit annoyed as they were sold as being barely used. Not a complete loss as I needed to change the caliper to a no. 5 but it would've been nice to have a spare. Anyway, to change the caliper over I guess I just undo the banjo bolt, replace the crush washers, bolt up and bleed. I would like to do as much as I can without involving a bike shop. See pics below.

 

[Roasted]

Time to actually build this bike!

The wife has told me I need to sell some stuff so I'm making an effort to build some of the frames I have in the hope that she let's me keep them.

As you can see, the colour scheme I've gone with is black and red. The gold hubs won't fit in with the colour scheme so been on the look out for some red 36h Hope hubs but they're really rare, if I can't find any then the gold will have to stay.

Over the last 6 years I've picked up some Marzocchi 4x forks and Middleburn RX7 ISIS cranks. There's just a few more parts left to get and need to get the wheels built and forks serviced.

 

[Roasted]

Putting bikes together is hard!

First issue was with the BB, the axle on the Gusset was too short so bought a 118mm Neco off Ebay. That one seemed to have a misaligned axle and bearings that felt like they were full of sand. Then I got an FSA Platinum from CRC, when that turned up it was branded as an RPM, not FSA. Quality doesn't feel that great and uses M12 bolts rather than M15, it didn't come with bolts so will need to buy some of those now.

Then the brakes. The hose lengths for the Hope Monos were way too short for both the front and back. Plan was to get a hose kit for the back and reuse the rear hose for the front. That all went fine until I went to shorten the old rear to use on the front when the banjo bolt sheared off, great. Seems like better value to get a new hose kit than just the banjo so now that's on order.

Next issue, still on brakes. The forks I have are post mount so needed to get an adapter to fit IS calipers, no problem, or so I thought, there aren't many adapter options for this. Found a Hope PM to IS adapter, fitted it and caliper is too far away from the 180mm disc. Look closely and the adapter is +20mm together with my no 3 caliper will mean I need a 200mm disc. This is going to be a 24" bike so a 200mm disc on the front and 160mm on the back will look very stupid. What I need is another no 5 caliper. I have found a guy locally who is selling a full set of Monos which includes a no 5 so will be getting those tomorrow. This means I'll have a complete set to use on another project.

Once all of that is sorted I'll still need to get the wheels built and the forks serviced. I have seen a post on here recently about servicing Marzocchi forks and looks like older forks will be quite difficult. There is a company in Germany that specialise in these forks but I was hoping it would be a bit easier to get them fixed.

Hopefully not long now till I can ride it.

 

[coomber]

Is it an ISIS bb? If so then those cheap NECO ones off ebay I found weren't great. Do a job but mine never felt plush even new

 

[Roasted]

Is it an ISIS bb? If so then those cheap NECO ones off ebay I found weren't great. Do a job but mine never felt plush even new

Yep, an ISIS one. The RPM one from CRC doesn't feel great either but it'll have to do. Hopefully I can use the Gusset one on one of my other projects as that felt really smooth.