Cannondale Beast of the East 1996 Martyn Ashton inspired with a clueless twist

[zeroFOXgiven]

Hi, I’m Felix and am so glad I found this community.
I also found so many unbelievably great build threads on here that got me motivated and all hyped up.

This is not going to be one of them.

But please hang out, grab a beer and watch me fail.

I’m new to this. All of it. It‘s my first build since the Nineties and I don‘t know what the hell I’m doing but I have been wanting to do this since I saw Dirty Tricks on a “borrowed” VHS…(yeah I still have it)

When i stumbled upon the frame a few months back, i had to get it right away and then started my research and it lead me here.
Thank you all for the warm welcome i received and all that I’ve read up on great builds from some of the grandmasters in here. Your stories, pictures and advice are like Hansel and Gretels breadcrumbs for me. Guidance and nourishment.



So this is how I found her. A freak accident, I have been looking around the used bike markets on and off for a while since my beloved F800 I had for over a decade was stolen in the totally unjustified hope to find it turn up again. Guess what, it won’t. But while I was being sad and frustrated with the search for a new bike and the fact I won’t get my old bike back, the memory of my absolute dream-bike came to mind and I typed Besat of the East (sic!) into the search bar and this came up. With the same typo and actually the (almost) exact frame i was thinking about.

I had to get it right away.
Contacted the seller, paid an advance, had to wait a month to be able to make the trip and then finally I got it and brought it home - buckled up in the back seat.
Kept looking at it in the rear view mirror swooning. All the scratches, the chain suck, the tire rub, the BB that someone has obviously tried to get out by chewing on every single nook of it like a hungry hyena on crack. Just about then, in the midst of all the excitement and anticipation, suddenly coming down from my endorphin high it dawned on me:

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

After reading the first post again, I feel the imperative to go on with less „blah-blah“ and more “ta-daa!” So here goes:
Didn’t want to completely repaint the frame, since the original paint is beautiful and, well, original.
Didn’t want to to hide all the scars and bruises because - like my own - they tell a story and show the personal history.
So… we matched the yellow from the decals and highlighted them…




And some BlahBlah for context:
I am a big fan of the Japanese art of kintsugi. In short: Repairing pottery with a gold colored glue, not only showing- but actually celebrating break-marks. Not throwing old stuff away and buying new stuff but repairing it, honoring it’s history and giving it a new life. Feels like a big part of the vibe i’m picking up flowing through all the veins of this whole retrobike-community….

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

Found some parts, been searching for a decent P-Bone for so long, finally I found one on a Killer-V F&F. Seller didn’t want to split so it will hang in my office for a bit but might find it’s way to my first for-sale-thread in here…

So there i was: The fork-donor, the tri-color saddle from Tricks and Stunts, the 2color from the later pictures of Martyn’s Beast, a Mr.Crud ChainDevice, the weave grips and some weird cranks and BB. (Figured i won’t be able to do another build in the foreseeable future and was lucky to find this at a reasonable price, so might aswell go to town on it…)

Nevermind the INTENSE bars photobombing, they’re a present from a friend and will go on another build. Oh wait, didn’t I say…ah damn.

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

Since the fork was tangerine it had to be matched to the frame so i took it to Radek. He’s such an artist and an all in all awesome bloke. I am glad he took on my somewhat profane project. He even airbrushed the P-Bone insignia on afterwards. He also encouraged me in my bonkers decision to highlight the scratches in the bike, he even did that with the little scratches on the fork after color-matching it to the frame.
He does great stuff and is a great person, so credit is due:
IG @rpd_custom_projects
www.rpdcustomprojects.com
Talking about credit:
Thanks
@Fam Allen for your input and guidance, you‘re a hero and since I can‘t even get close to the level of your builds I am grateful to be able to benefit from your experience,
@Ride_Revive for the great BotE talks, you rock!
@Dread for the Flite
@Krsnadread for the RacelineD‘s
Thank you, fellas! Now back to work.

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

I guess if it won‘t fit, it get’s the file…
Somebody stop me if I’m being too drastic or I’m doing a hack job (nah, The latter is true in any case, my “workshop” is a corner of my office) but I reckoned, if I’m just shaving off the anodizing, I won’t completely mess up the whole structural integrity of the future drivetrain….

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

Yeah, the mantra of this thread is „watch me fail“ so after looking too long for a decent Syncros post, I got a brand spanking new one from @synlos and it arrived promptly and is perfect for me.
So I immediately attached the saddle and drove it all the way in.

So i mauled the Logo-sticker into the seat tube filling it and the post with sticky gunk. Guess that’s how you learn. Shoulda taken pictures. Now where’s that bottlebrush?

 

[zeroFOXgiven]

To keep me motivated with a bit of a preview I fitted a bit of a mockup. Starting to look like an actual bike. I just wanna ride it!


seatpost and spacer are temporary.

And oh am i conflicted about the brakes.
Tried my old set of Tomac HS33 and I am not hating the red as much as i maybe should. What to do? I have a nice set of Raceline D’s but am actually considering the idea of using the red HS33 with the raceline-colored horseshoes….
Or painting the horseshoes the same yellow as the decals and scratches as well. But that seems a bit much, even for my dubious taste…
Talk me out of it someone, I beg you!

 

[pv_joker]

Loving the bike and the philosophy

 

[Iacabu]

Looks great, I love the kintsugi.

FWIW I prefer the Racelines