Pump Track Build - 2003 Saracen XESS XTREME

[Lacuna]

People might cringe but I always use my impact gun on tight bolts. Significantly reduces the chance of injury and, so far, I haven't damaged any bolts or the things they are jammed into. I find adding massive leverage to allen keys adds so much more chance of them slipping or rounding off

 

[hawkhill97]

The only impact driver I have isn't powerful enough to have much effect, but I have wondered about borrowing a friend's and giving it a go from time to time.

I have, on the other hand, slipped on an allen key and mashed my hands into a chain ring

 

[hawkhill97]

Slung on some parts to see how it's looking:



Found this in the parts bin - I'm liking the balance of black vs silver parts so far:



Test fitting the Husselfelt stem & bars, I think they look alright, so will probably stay:

 

[hawkhill97]

Next jobs will be to re-grease the wheel hubs and get the cones just right, true up the rims, and re-install the threaded pedal inserts into the cranks with plenty of loctite. I don't have a suitable set of pedals to go on at the moment, so might have to have a trawl through ebay to find something appropriate before doing this.

The headset feels good at the moment, but I guess I might as well stick some grease in that too while I'm at it. There's a weird massive circlip that goes around the steerer tube to hold the fork in the frame when the stem is removed, looks like it might be interesting to deal with (I hate circlips, or as I think they are more aptly named, having lost several after they pinged across the garage - "ping-f*cks").

 

[hawkhill97]

Right, no pics to show for it, but wheels are now trued and freshly greased.

Just ordered a load of bits to finish the build... I managed to find a wider set of the exact same cut-down Tioga bars that came with the bike - so the red Tioga stem can stay

Really looking forward to settling down with a pot of tea and finishing the build when everything's arrived and I get a bit of time.

 

[icicleboy]

Coming along nicely. Do you think gears are necessary for a pump track? Not that you'll be worried about weight. I recall seeing a lot of these flying through the air when they came out. Saracen really hit the mark with the price on these heavy duty bikes

 

[hawkhill97]

Coming along nicely. Do you think gears are necessary for a pump track? Not that you'll be worried about weight. I recall seeing a lot of these flying through the air when they came out. Saracen really hit the mark with the price on these heavy duty bikes

Gearing definitely not necessary on the pump track - but is really really nice to have to ride from my house to the tracks!

On the track itself if anything they're a hindrance. I'm hoping the chain guide is effective at retaining the chain on landing jumps, clattering down stairs etc.

Confession time - I've also always wanted to be and to pull really long wheelies, and having gear options may hopefully also help me get started on this

It's nice to have the option of the rear facing dropouts for SS if the chain won't stay put though.

 

[hawkhill97]

Cleaned and greased the headset tonight, and reinstalled the threaded pedal inserts with a generous dollop of loctite.

I also regreased the pedal bearings and set the cones properly, so they're not rattling all over the place. Might see if I can get a red car touch up paint pen to get them looking smart again.

 

[hawkhill97]

I also prepped a shifter, by removing the shift indicator window and plastic welding the gap shut. It's not the neatest job ever, but should look better than the shifter window (or is this just a pet hate of mine? )

 

[hawkhill97]

These arrived in the post this week, so that's braking duties covered - basic but should be plenty good enough for it's intended use.


Now all I need is a nice chunk of time to enjoy the build!