Tribute to my very first Mountainbike, a Wheeler 313

[Thias]

So here is the semi-finished product. I had a little ride on it today. Between the rain showers.
I am really pleased with the function of the fork. It moves smoothly. The dampening actually works. The only thing I forgot about is a "bumpstop" for the rebound. I makes a hard klank when reaching full extension. I'll have to add a rubber ring to dampen that.
The frame fits me nicely. The top tube is on the short side, but that's not a bad thing. Steering is ab bit slow, even with the lengthened steerer.
I want to swap the tyres to Smoke/Dart asap. Just need to order them...

Enough talk. More pics.







Parts list:

Frame: Wheeler 414
Fork: Answer Manitou 2 (modified)
Stem and handlebar: Klein LVE
Grips: ODI
Headset: XT 730
Seatpost: Wheeler
Seatpost quickrelease: Wheeler
Seat: Flite TI
Brakes: Magura Raceline
Shifters: XT 730 Thumbies
Front derailleur: DX
Rear derailleur: XT 730
Hubs: XT 730
BB: XT 730
Cranks: XT 730 with M900 rings
Rims: Matrix
Tires: Richey Z-Max WC
Skewers: M900
Pedals: Yes.
Chain: Absolutely.

 

[rrrroberts]

Great work and a good back story. Currently getting my vote for BOTM...

 

[Graham_hkr]

Yeah, top work, not all just about taking bits off for a clean & putting them back on again, love this thread & the bike is awesome!

 

[27motorhead]

Love this build and back story. The original photo is great, especially with the teacher building a concrete barricade?!* That wouldn't be allowed today!

Love the extended handlebars, the joys of having a lathe enables you to be able to do such things. Is that a Wabeco lathe by the way? I recognise the toolpost. I have one from our modelshop in work after we moved buildings, but sadly it and the milling machine (also Wabeco) are in still in bits some 7 years since bringing them home due to lack of time & space!

Great build and homage to your original bike

 

[Thias]

Well, it's the other way round. We built that wall at night, so the teachers can't get in...

The lathe is a "Optimum Maschinen Germany" - a Chinese mini lathe that was branded by the german importer. I got that one a few years back for a whopping 100€. It was broken, I had to swap the mains switch... I love that lathe. Its quite good for what I usually do. Although I had to do some modification here and there. One of them is that ginormous toolholder called Multifix. You can't see it on the pix here. But it is way too big for that tiny lathe. Works well tho

Here is a better look:


I look at this and think to myself: "Maybe I need a bigger lathe..."
But those machines are too damn heavy.

 

[27motorhead]

Well, it's the other way round. We built that wall at night, so the teachers can't get in...

That's my dyslexia, getting things the wrong way around. I'm so stupid sometimes!

That toolpost looks HUGE compared to your lathe! No matter what size, they are so handy for fabricating and machining bits. I had to empty the workshop by myself so had zero help which meant disassembling everything into something I could carry hence everything being in bits.

 

[Thias]

The wheeler got to see the world a little more. It got a fresh set of tires and went to a classic bike meet near Lübeck.



Unofficial neon contest.


I took 3 more bikes with me to show them. The Specialized fsr, the rat Klein and the Scott Unitrack dh.


We also visited the biggest bike hoarder, I have ever met. He has such a unbelievable collection. Well over 250 bikes. And almost all of them are top notch. I saw 3 Specialized Ultimates. One of them "epic". I'll post a few pics in my rat Klein build tread later.

 

[enc]

Fantastic job. gotta love a bit of home engineering.