Merlin Titanium

[Narhay]

OH MAN!!!!!
that merlin with that fork!!!! :shock:
i'd trade my left one for that!!!!
merlin...ti...e-stay...funky fork.....WOW!!!
only one thing better in the world than that.
a horny toad. :roll:
roy

Yes, yes. I know my rock shox are the bee's knees. I don't want your left one but a large pile of money would do.

This is how the bike sits as of today. Might have a lead on a period wheelset locally but we will see how that pans out.

The freehub on the rear wheel catches a bit and doesn't spin freely. I'd like to take it apart and clean it but I'm not sure which tools I would need. Anyone disassembled a FH M732 rear hub freehub before?

 

[Narhay]

Purchased some xt cantilever brakes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1993-De ... 7675.l2557

I have to sort out the front fork now for the cantilevers but the build is slowly progressing. Shifters and brake levers should arrive soon. I am not sure about the stem but it is what it is for now.

 

[Narhay]

I bought a 1990 Gary Fisher CR-7 Evolution yesterday as a complete bike. The frame is scratched up and some surface rust on it but the bike was dangling with all sorts of 7 speed M730/M732 Deore XT parts which should clean up nicely. I scavenged the wheels with RM-17 rims and M730/M732 hubs for this build as well as some specialized chainrings in better condition than the ones I have. Wonder if it would be worth it to have the frame it blasted and recoated. Some steel wool and elbow grease are in order tonight.

Wondering if I should sell the kit (front and rear XT derailleurs, XT thumb shifters, XT cranks, XT platform pedals, XT cantilever brakes, Dia compe Advantage 5 (or S) brake levers) as a group on ebay or individually. I imagine individually it would net more but the extra work, unsold pieces hanging around, etc...

 

[Narhay]

A bit of an update on the Merlin. All that remains is for me to find a stem that I like and to sort out how to mount the cantilevers on my front shocks. I imagine there is some sort of U that can hold the cable and I can screw in some cantilever bosses into those slots on the fork. The bar, shifters, brake levers and cantilever brakes are just waiting for the stem to be sorted. I have a raceface prodigy stem I had sitting in a drawer but the colour just doesn't go with the bike and I am quite averse to spending $100 + on a titanium stem just because the colour would match. Ideally I'd find a good quality stem for $50 or less that would match the rest of the bike.

I scavenged what I could from the gary fisher I purchased and sourced a Titanium Flite locally. The wheels are Araya RM-17 with M730/732 Deore XT hubs. I spent an evening polishing them out and they turned out pretty nicely. The tires are Panaracer Fire XC Pro, 26 x 2.1.

 

[Narhay]

The saddle hasn't been mounted properly yet and looking at the zoomed in hubs...I might have another go at polishing those out a bit more,

 

[Nader]

you're back on track ...only somehow I don't like the stem.

 

[Narhay]

I also dislike the stem. It is holding me back from mounting the rest of the parts. Also, I might have to resort to V-brakes due to the front fork and not cantilever friendly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/J-L-Titanium-MT ... 3f0de7757c

This would be ideal but I don't have $125 for a stem.


These would be ok but I don't know how well they would match. I could also go for a plain black:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FSA-SLK-Carbon- ... 56473ed7b6

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DEDA-ZERO-100-S ... 19dac87035

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRO-PLT-Bike-St ... 416ff67fa8

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nitto-UI-85GX-R ... 20d0ace302

 

[RockiMtn]

replace the fork and stem. if you can't do canti, you can't do v-brakes either without brake posts on the fork.

get a black stem and black fork, or if ti stem if you can find/afford one.

 

[Narhay]

It has two areas where I could screw in brake posts/cantilever bosses. I am wondering how to hang the cable if I were to go with cantilevers as I already have the levers and stem...some sort of adapter bridge to hold the cable I imagine as it is stationed on the lower end of the forks.

 

[RockiMtn]

you can get a cable hanger that sits between the headset and the stem. acts like a spacer as well. only problem is that you'd need one that extends out far enough so that the cable does not contact the fork brace bridge.

http://problemsolversbike.com/products/cross_hangers

http://www.paulcomp.com/funkymonkeyfront.html