I’ve given a home to a knackered old Dog on its last legs-

[Retro Spud]

Re: Re:

So, Potato Man, a carbon Trek now is it?

I know...imitation is the greatest form of flattery, admittedly my Carbon Trek is not quite in the same league as your weight weenie build but I had to get one, and with some much "wear and tear" aka Patina it was a blank canvas in need of some love that I couldn't resist.

One day I'm going to make myself a wooded bike stand like yours - although the wife would go nutz if I picked up uber sharp wood working chisels as I created enough mess and carnage for one life time with the circular saw :facepalm:

I read your thread with interest because :
- I've got the same interest about those cool old carbon Trek (I've got a 8700 in nice condition and a 8900 Which need restoration)
- I did the same job on my first 8700 frameset : stripping gel coat and trying to respray the neon color with splatters

I used the same technic with a cutter blade for stripping the Gel coat. It was easy and the carbon wave was clean. For the lugs and rear triangle, all was fine until making the neon orange. But for splatter, I tried several solution but I never made the good splatters. So, I could find a nice 8700 frames and give up the first frame. And for the 8900, I think I will remove the Gel Coat but will make nothing on the yellow part.
Hope that you got solution

Your 8700 has been a fantastic reference point and a constant source of inspiration - your picture makes you feel as if you could reach into the screen and touch ...it's so clear

 

[tintin40]

that's a good looking mtb. Classy parts on it

 

[GTR]

Re:

Must have taken that picture really quickly before it fell over

 

[Retro Spud]

My initial thoughs regarding the semi seized legs was somebody had put Manitou 2 legs into Manitou 1 lowers however as I discovered the diameters are the same so even if they had it wasn’t the cause of the stiction

The Nylon slider were carefully removed and cleaned (which made no difference) so with nothing left to lose I gently polished the outer circumference of one using the very tiny lines in the mouldings as a guide to how much I was removing after three of four test fits and removing a bit more I finally got close to a fit I was happy with -perhaps still a bit tight but better than too much off (I accept that doing what I did by eye means in reality when magnified the bushing is more like a 50p piece than a perfect circle now) but it proved a point

Now for problem II … whoever tackled the problem before me must have chucked them back together in hurry as neither legs have the lower sliders on them, so whilst they go up and down nicely the front to back play in the legs whilst minor on the bench would create a massive amount of chatter / judder under braking


Thanks to the benefit of RB brain power it turns out Mani 1,2,3 have the same size legs diameters (Manitou III’s having different length legs) so an otherwise set of mint M3’s have been sacrifices for a greater good – and stripped of its Nylon bushings
The only thing I’m not happy with before drawing a line under this episode is how to retain the lower bushing on the leg when its in an area covered in Elastomer grease – since it slides on, it can easily slide off








and all that Yellow ^^ on the floor came off the frame



a bit of solvol and you can turn back the clock although it looks like someone beat the living day lights out of one side

 

[xxnick1975]

Great resto Nick, enjoying the journey, or should I say, trek....

 

[jimo746]

Re:

This has been a great read so far, glad the fork issue has been overcome, looking forward to further progress!

 

[yeti_bomb]

Very very exciting project! Look forward to updates!

 

[Retro Spud]

Trek 8900 8800 Magura HS33 HS22 Neon Yellow restoration

Thanks Guys ^^

Slow but steady progress being made, forks still not 100% but sooo much better than they were and getting close to being sorted

This came up on ebay for a great price and post free - except there isn't such a thing as truly free postage the cost is added to the item itself (obviously) however the total was still very attractive so I went for it ....so whats the catch ?

since all the cost was in the purchase price and not split with postage it pushed me into import tax zone and then followed the added £8 royal mail fee to collect the import duty :x which was more than the HMRC duty they were collecting

Anyway - one period correct Trek headtube badge





One of the reasons for wanting a Neon theme was I purchased along while back a full set of Neon Maguras, but the build at the time went in a different direction (none Neon) so decided to sell them however after being lowballed by another member for £50 because one was scuffed I got the serious hump and kept them - anyway all I can say is, I'm glad I did.

Here they are broken down ready for a good clean.... they are super zingy but the kitchen lights have bleached the colour in the pic, never realised how hard it is to capture bright colours with auto exposure on and fighting harsh down lighters whilst holding sheets of A4 paper above my head to act as a crude light screen/filter




Having looked at the historical time line for Magura's and having used HS22's on my Porsche build, and HS22's being more suited to the early 90's I thought I'd swap the HS33's for 22's but where do you find them for less than the annual GDP of a third world country ?

Via an eBay search I found these, advertised separately one was missing a lever and also the hydraulic piston/plunger - but so cheap it had to be snapped up (it had been stripped for a paint job at some point in the distant past)





After a bit of practise/testing with various shades of so called "Neon" on a selection of bolts undercoated white I ended up with this which is suitably zingy after three coats




Purposely went with "not quite right" decals to avoid upsetting anyone's sensibilities about re-finishing (mine have got the black outlines and tiny Magura logo) and thanks to the left overs from the Porsche build I have a spare lever and piston




being German engineering I’m not sure what I was expecting to find inside - probably quality over engineering however I was surprised by their simplicity, one plastic piston, single rubber O ring acting as the seal and a surprisingly strong return spring.




I'm pretty please with them - whilst HS33's are easier on the eye and less agricultural looking, 22's are more antique in appearance and hark back to a golden era now long gone and consigned to the pages of faded catalogue scans along with their earlier stable mates Hyro-Stops


so these rejects (Brake levers) are going into storage and then I need to strip and clean/polish the crap out of the dirty brakes and brake arches, I've purchased two "hard bristle” tooth brushes especially for the job, just hope the results give me a nice smile :facepalm:

 

[The History Man]

Re:

Stick to bikes. David Bloody Bailey.

 

[Retro Spud]

Re:

After scouring the planet for a pair of 32 hole Black XT hubs and bumping my wanted post - I realised at the weekend my Grey rims (that go so well with M1's) which I've been saving for ages are in fact odd 32/36 holes :facepalm:

it was only when the rims were side by side that I notices the holes didn't align !



So all this time I've unwittingly had these hubs in the right drilling (32 front/ 36 rear) to do the job :roll: and the ones Regan recently found for me from the States at expense of a Kidney and my first born child aren't needed (but I have plans for them elsewhere now)

fresh from the US of A





whilst I was waiting for a break I read a post from Gruff who had converted a 7speed hub to 8sp so thought I'd have a go - which turned out to be surprisingly easy * and the 36h rear I'm using is now an 8speed with the axle spacers re-aligned to compensate for the longer freehub body

* I've kept all the parts just encase it doesn't work !



To give the greatest contrast to the Zeon Yellow I'm going Black XT on this one