Trek Fuel EX (updated with some tasty bits) replaces my 1998 Orange EVO2

[G60Dub]

Well my old trusty EVO 2 has been sitting in the loft for many a year and we moved house 6 months ago where it's been sitting unlived in the garage so finally decided to get it rideworthy again. This ancient steed has seen plenty action in its' time around the Seven Stanes and other places in Scotland.

The existing PACE EVO 2 Pro Class were definitely BEC so those were retired to the garage wall and temporary set of Recons replaced them before fitting a set of A5 120mm Reba custom modded with an RCT3 damper and SID B 2021 sealhead mod (gutted negative air spring).

So new cables, new fork, and new XT rear cassette were all that was required to get her rideable. New chain and front XT rings went on in 2014 for riding the Belach Na Ba but discovered back then that my XTR rear cassette was toast. I did buy 2 spares shortly after but they sat along with the bike in the loft un inspected for all that time and I discovered last month that both were toast hence picked up a new more durable XT for a small weight penalty. Edit: Turns out the XTR cassettes were fine and it was just chain wear but now running XT 9speed steel cassette for longevity. ☺

Original spec was:
1998 Orange EVO2 (in custom Mango) bought from SWC in Inverkeithing.
PACE 1998 EVO2 Pro-Class replaced with Rockshok Reba A5 120mm (modded with custom shimmed RCT3 damper and SIDB 2021 sealhead; gutted negative air spring)
Christ King EC34 headset

Hope Ti GLide Rear and Fatso Ti front (36H)
Sun Rhino Lite XL rims
DT Swiss double butted spokes
Blue ODI Spline Drive Nipples
WTB Kevlar 2.1 Velociraptors

Gusset seatpost as if memory serves I've bent more seatposts than I care to remember.
Cook Brothers QR seat clamp
Selle Italia (Circa 2015)

Yeti grips
Azonic double walled bars
Race Face DH stem
Avid Speed Dial 9? levers

XT Chainset (FC-M790)
XT Reat cassette (CS-M770)
XTR V-Brakes (99),
Shifters & rear Mech RD-M952 (circa 2004)
XT Front Mech (FD-M73
DMR V8 pedals

After one ride I then decided V-Brakes are best left firmly in the past so naively thinking this was all that was required (retrospective facepalm!) I pieced together a new 26er wheelset & modern brakes:
Sun Rhyno Lite XL rims (i23 so almost reasonable by todays standard - I'm , or was, a pretty smooth rider so still plenty cushion for me) .
Wheel Fanatyk blue spline drive nipples.
DT comp spokes.
Hope Pro 4 front & rear hubs
Conti Black Chill 2.3 Mountain Kings
Stans rim tape
Hope Tech3/E4 front/180mm and Hope Tech3/X2/160mm rear brakes.

It's been a while since I last built a set of wheels (2 decades at least) so it took me a fair bit longer than it used to but I got there in the end with a nicely even tensioned set of strong wheels. I was glad the the rims decided that they wanted to play ball with being tubless.

So thats where the Orange EVO 2 story finally ends I'm afraid - See next post .

 

[G60Dub]

Well due to a bad high speed off at Laggan Wolftrax I've decided to retire the frame. Given I'm a Veteran rider (almost Grand Veteran now) the short top tube and twitchy 70.5° head angle were no longer what I'd call fun and are just too demanding for the latter hours of trail riding when concentration and strength start to lapse. Poor thing has done me well but can't be passed on as likely metal fatigued to within an inch of her life plus I suspect the head tube is slightly out of round from so many heavy landings as the King cups literally dropped out of the frame when the fork was removed.

So I've just bought another house so I'm not presently in the position where I can drop 6K+ on a new bike so bought an interim 2010 Trek Fuel EVO frame to replace the O2 and then promptly stripped it for a good check over, machine polished it and fitted helicopter tape everywhere, bought new Enduro bearings for it and then furiously set about literally replacing everything bar the cranks and King headset:



As above the new wheelset and the brakes made it over from the EVO2 over to the Trek EX.

Drivetrain is still the extra retro but now 1x9: 11-34 XT rear, 2005 XT Hollowtech II cranks, Hybrid XT rear mech with a modern 28T Raceface NW chainring and KMC gold ultralight chain. The gearing could in theory be a bit wider but I can still manage up most sane climbs faily well.

The rear mech is worth a note:
I wanted the benefit of a clutched rear mech so ended up being quite crafty as I saw no point in getting a new chainset until I get around to putting together a 29er. So... I bought a scabby XT 9 speed shadow and equally scabby shadow+ 10speed XT rear mech from ebay and promptly drilled and pressed out the links pins and then re-assembled the good parts to give me a clutched shadow+ mech on 9sp.

Bars and stem are Nukeproof Horizon and I swapped the 120mm A5 Reba for a set of A5 140mm Revelation RCT3 15mmTA which I picked up really cheap on an auction site as they were missing the LSC adjuster and the stanchions were also badly damaged. I set about repairing the stanchions and in the iterim sourced a LSC adjuster, rebuild kit, Motorex oil and a 2021 SID B 32mm sealhead. For the most part all that needed replaced post stanchion repair rebuild were the main seals, the sealhead oring (as it needs a larger Ø to seal) and the RCT3 and mid valve glyderings. I duly modified them with a SID B 2020 sealhead (negative air spirng mod); it's a reasonable performer but not what I'd call great but then I'm still fiddling with it.

I then sold a bundle of spares and the original RP23 rear Fox Float and used the proceeds to buy a Rockrider McLeod rear shock (actually a re labeled 2021 standard Manitou McLeod) from Decathlon (for much cheapness) and then realised whilst the back end was now amazeballs it was far too progressive so I duly fitted a King Can and got a custom decal for it fron Slikgraphics in Sweden. The back end is now like utter butter and has loads of mid stroke support while still managing to literally suck up every bit of chunder and chunk (that 120mm can) in it's path.

I then finished with new contact points trying at each stage to drop weight: RF Atlas Pedals, KS-LEV dropper, SDG saddle & Deathgrips and as the Revelation Maxle was in pretty poor condition it seemed rude not to finish up with a lighter Wolftooth TA for the forks.

The bike now weights in at an even 28lb which is pretty darn reasonable.

The finishing steps are to slacken the geo somewhat. The classic EC34 teal/blue Chris King headset will finally be going and will be replaced with a custom -1.5° angleset from Italy and I also have some offset rear shock mount bushes on standyby - I worked through a bunch of trig and should be able to get the HA down to 67.3° with the angleset which should be decent enough and can fine tune a bit more in with the offset shock bushes (assuming I have enough BB height and corrective adjustment on seat position)

It might not be as long or anywhere near as slack as a modern bike and I'm under no illusions that's not anything else other than an outdated 26er but even in its' present form it's entirely docile compared to the Evo 2 and makes for a more sane ride. I'm still pretty rusty and still lacking a lot of my old confidence given I've been riding guarded with a hernia but it's not the first time (nor likely the last) I've caught out the younger inxeperienced lads napping on their carbon 29ers! LOL

On a more positive note I've finally had my hernia repair op (hence the post update) and we a have a friends 50th coming up so there are 6 of us going to Bike Park Wales early summer (1 Grand Veteran, 2 Veterans, 1 Master and 2 seniors) and I'm absolutely desperate to get back out on the trails for practice as I've been entirely guarded and hanging back every trail ride pre hernia repair which has made for some comedy crash moments where there should have been none - I've been called Captain Slow on more than one occasion so I'm looking forward to handing out some well deserved slap down. I'm about 2 weeks away from easy road cycling and 4-6 weeks away from being able to consider full trail speed so happy days are hopefully finally ahead.

 

[brocklanders023]

Nice Orange with some very tasty parts! Great to hear it's been used as intended too.

 

[G60Dub]

Bumped for rollup to present updates to post 2