Monster, Monsteur, Monstour , 26/29+ and Expedition and Adventure bikes

Last year I built up this thing. Got the frame as part of a complete bike and then put some parts bin stuff on to get it working. It was a hoot, but also a pile of shit. The fork was their most basic headshok from early 2000's with a rubber damper and big spring. No lockout and crazy rebound. The BB was also fused into the frame and I thought the whole thing was gonna snap as I tried to get it out using a massive breaker bar, so it stayed put. There was also a pretty big dent in the down tube which was always in the back of my mind when it got rooty. The wheel bearings were pretty gritty, the back slightly wobbled and the whole thing was an inch too long for me.

So, when the fork finally died a wonky death on a Tuesday hills ride last year, I plotted a winter of gathering bits to make a better one and.....Ta-da!

Picked the frame up for peanuts (it has a slightly scary repair to the NDS chainstay, but I think i'd miss not having any fear of catastrophic failure during a ride) and it was the colour way I really wanted. The fork was sourced separately and was little used, but I finally got the damper out to top up with thicker oil last night (thanks @Howard ) and this morning it was an utter dream. Rock solid lockout and then perfectly squishy at the flick of a switch. I've also been after a bike with Conti's Speed King tyres for a while now and can confirm they are superb.

Its been a pig of a build with everything taking about 5x longer than I thought, and seemingly nothing from a selection of donor bikes and the parts bin actually fitting, but its here now and I love it. @hma might be interested as I've followed your "cheap slate" build with interest. Is that finally finished?