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Welcome all...
This is my SM800 Beast of the East thread; it’s not going to be a bish bash bosh job, unfortunately this one is going to take a while before we see the end result, so bear with me.
This might sound a bit ‘odd’ but this is definitely a spiritual journey for me that began nearly 20 years ago (May 1991 to be exact) when I was lucky enough to get a black with orange flecks SM800. May 1991 marked the beginning of my relationship with various Dales’. I have owned in excess of ten over the years and currently possess five. Some have been a bit of a shower but some have been totally awe-inspiring (to me anyway). I appreciate they are not to everybody’s taste, but stick with the thread anyway as it features the same drive and passion in biking we all know.
I was 13 years old and in my third year of MTBing; my first mountain bike was a grey Peugeot: it was waaay too big for me and weighed best part of a metric ton but it was enough to kickstart me into the world of geared bikes and rocky trails. Then I had a Muddy Fox Courier Mega (’89 model in yellow) which I dearly loved to bits, with its Araya rims and 400LX groupset and paw-print graphics on the crossbar and saddle.. this bike was the one that helped confirm that mountain biking was a true passion, a way of life. It really was a case of long hot summers, pissing around with my mates, Space Invader crisps and Panda Pops, Local Motion tube protectors, events like the Mycycles Malvern Hill Classic at Eastnor and pining after Klein Attitudes. I had the Muddy Fox for two years then sold it to a pal using the funds to go towards my first Cannondale.
This was it..
It was bought from Evans in Croydon (I was living in Bristol at the time and the drive to pick it up seemed to take forever) and it cost a whopping £825. I remember it like it was yesterday.. the whole day. I remember going in to the shop, I remember the salesguy’s name (Carl), I remember driving into Central London after collecting it and taking it for a spin around Hyde Park before going home.. I remember my Dad letting me keep it in my bedroom and me sitting on the end of my bed gorping at it for hours. We’ve all been there; I guess it’s why we’re all here right? That passion and appreciation for quality two wheeled machines and that nostalgic element that takes us back to times nice.
[Spanking!!]
Unfortunately my ownership lasted only two years... I then experienced an awful but common at the time tragedy (most of us have at some point), the tragedy of having your bike lifted by some cretinous sub-human filth. I was so so gutted. This was my dream bike; this was my Ferrari; this was the bike I had spend hours and hours riding over moor and playing field, from one mate’s house to another, Ashton Court in Bristol, Dartmoor in Devon, the Forest of Dean.. this bike wasn’t an object of metal and rubber, it was alive!! Ok the insurance company paid out and a new bike was obtained but the new bike wasn’t the old one, it was never quite the same :cry:
So... to the now.....
Well after searching for ages and ages I finally found this poor wreck of a SM800 that had clearly been neglected for a very like time. The components are pretty much all shot and the wheels are none-matching and at least 15-20% of the frame has bad aluminium corrosion and flaky paint. Used as a London town hack by a small and perfectly formed Mediterranean girl (honestly she was lovely) I managed to get her to part with it for a few quid and a “I’ve been after one of the these for ages” sob story. I didn’t care that the bike was two gear-changes away from a skip I had to have it.
So got it home a few months back; completely stripped it to its bare ass, poured about a gallon of water from its tubes and assessed the situation.
Assessment revealed the situation to be rather terrible! Thankfully there are no cracks, dings or dents but nevertheless it’s going to need the full works – pretty much new everything from top to bottom bracket (see what I did there), from grip to rim to QR skewers to.. well.. the lot. Getting the frame up to standard is going to be a fine task. I would rather keep as much of the original paint as possible so I’m going to concentrate on righting the wrong bits: smooth them off with a Dremel, treat, primer and repaint (luckily gloss black shouldn’t be too difficult to match but the orange blobs may prove more challenging).
[showing how bad the paint and corrosion is]
[anyone had this where a crank or arm mysteriously welds itself to the bottom bracket spindal? After hours of swearing and vein-popping anger :x in the end I had to take it to a local garage and in exchange for a fiver allow them to go at it with a grinder.... new BB now required]
So that’s the story so far! Like I say it’s going to be a long-haul project and that’s mainly due to there not being enough hours in the day, other projects and also due to how long I anticipate it’s going to take to source components. Thanks for taking time to read gang; comments and ideas welcome.
Craig
This is my SM800 Beast of the East thread; it’s not going to be a bish bash bosh job, unfortunately this one is going to take a while before we see the end result, so bear with me.
This might sound a bit ‘odd’ but this is definitely a spiritual journey for me that began nearly 20 years ago (May 1991 to be exact) when I was lucky enough to get a black with orange flecks SM800. May 1991 marked the beginning of my relationship with various Dales’. I have owned in excess of ten over the years and currently possess five. Some have been a bit of a shower but some have been totally awe-inspiring (to me anyway). I appreciate they are not to everybody’s taste, but stick with the thread anyway as it features the same drive and passion in biking we all know.
I was 13 years old and in my third year of MTBing; my first mountain bike was a grey Peugeot: it was waaay too big for me and weighed best part of a metric ton but it was enough to kickstart me into the world of geared bikes and rocky trails. Then I had a Muddy Fox Courier Mega (’89 model in yellow) which I dearly loved to bits, with its Araya rims and 400LX groupset and paw-print graphics on the crossbar and saddle.. this bike was the one that helped confirm that mountain biking was a true passion, a way of life. It really was a case of long hot summers, pissing around with my mates, Space Invader crisps and Panda Pops, Local Motion tube protectors, events like the Mycycles Malvern Hill Classic at Eastnor and pining after Klein Attitudes. I had the Muddy Fox for two years then sold it to a pal using the funds to go towards my first Cannondale.
This was it..
It was bought from Evans in Croydon (I was living in Bristol at the time and the drive to pick it up seemed to take forever) and it cost a whopping £825. I remember it like it was yesterday.. the whole day. I remember going in to the shop, I remember the salesguy’s name (Carl), I remember driving into Central London after collecting it and taking it for a spin around Hyde Park before going home.. I remember my Dad letting me keep it in my bedroom and me sitting on the end of my bed gorping at it for hours. We’ve all been there; I guess it’s why we’re all here right? That passion and appreciation for quality two wheeled machines and that nostalgic element that takes us back to times nice.
[Spanking!!]
Unfortunately my ownership lasted only two years... I then experienced an awful but common at the time tragedy (most of us have at some point), the tragedy of having your bike lifted by some cretinous sub-human filth. I was so so gutted. This was my dream bike; this was my Ferrari; this was the bike I had spend hours and hours riding over moor and playing field, from one mate’s house to another, Ashton Court in Bristol, Dartmoor in Devon, the Forest of Dean.. this bike wasn’t an object of metal and rubber, it was alive!! Ok the insurance company paid out and a new bike was obtained but the new bike wasn’t the old one, it was never quite the same :cry:
So... to the now.....
Well after searching for ages and ages I finally found this poor wreck of a SM800 that had clearly been neglected for a very like time. The components are pretty much all shot and the wheels are none-matching and at least 15-20% of the frame has bad aluminium corrosion and flaky paint. Used as a London town hack by a small and perfectly formed Mediterranean girl (honestly she was lovely) I managed to get her to part with it for a few quid and a “I’ve been after one of the these for ages” sob story. I didn’t care that the bike was two gear-changes away from a skip I had to have it.
So got it home a few months back; completely stripped it to its bare ass, poured about a gallon of water from its tubes and assessed the situation.
Assessment revealed the situation to be rather terrible! Thankfully there are no cracks, dings or dents but nevertheless it’s going to need the full works – pretty much new everything from top to bottom bracket (see what I did there), from grip to rim to QR skewers to.. well.. the lot. Getting the frame up to standard is going to be a fine task. I would rather keep as much of the original paint as possible so I’m going to concentrate on righting the wrong bits: smooth them off with a Dremel, treat, primer and repaint (luckily gloss black shouldn’t be too difficult to match but the orange blobs may prove more challenging).
[showing how bad the paint and corrosion is]
[anyone had this where a crank or arm mysteriously welds itself to the bottom bracket spindal? After hours of swearing and vein-popping anger :x in the end I had to take it to a local garage and in exchange for a fiver allow them to go at it with a grinder.... new BB now required]
So that’s the story so far! Like I say it’s going to be a long-haul project and that’s mainly due to there not being enough hours in the day, other projects and also due to how long I anticipate it’s going to take to source components. Thanks for taking time to read gang; comments and ideas welcome.
Craig
