Loud Klein Rascal

Instead of completing my existing projects, I have made the sensible decision to take on another. I made a bit of an impulse buy after falling for this 92 Rascal frameset from the US. It is an amazing condition for its age and I imagine it can compete with much more modern offerings.

I'm now not too sure what to do with it. The MTB world seems rather confusing these days. 1x11? 27.5? Keep it original? I'm leaning towards a single speed build with rigid forks at the moment, although 26" SS wheels and decent 1" forks to suit seem quite hard to find. Guess I want to use it as a do-it-all bike, with quite a lot of gravel tracks and some light uphill stuff thrown in. Open to suggestions!

Chainstays on that :) burly. For it's age that seems very nice condition.

Would go for max volume of rear tyre :) Some exotic V-brakes or XTR's ceramic rims would be nice if they still do those coated Mavics. Would not be adverse to decking out in modern parts.

Great frame in amazing condition!

With rim brakes you are stuck with 26” wheels and I’d say go with trick cantis given the rear hanger. Unless you have an adapter (don’t) then you’ll need a quill stem, maybe a Syncros Cattleprod with integrated hanger. That apart you could go modern but this would look great with M900 (and think there was someone on here selling an M737 mini group at a very attractive price).

Oh, and definitely amberwalls

Looks absolutely shit, will probably ride terribly, don't waste your time building it up...

On the other hand, I can recycle your scrap aluminium? just send it to me and I'll take care of the rest!

What a banger! Good find!

Avid Ultimate V brakes!

Thanks! Amberwalls are the only thing I am certain about! Currently looking at Panaracer Smoke/Dart.

I was expecting the seller to include a Ringle stem that was in the listing but it wasn't sent (think there was a misunderstanding in what was included). Will try and get it as it looked very nice. Any thoughts on rigid forks? And excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by trick cantis?!

Will be in touch when I inevitably crash and destroy the bike after not properly riding off road for around 15 years!

I think I might have a 130mm Syncros stem. I’ll see if I can dig it out if you’re interested?

Please, not with the hanger!!!!

Trick cantis would be something like Ringle or other boutique brands.

Rigid forks? Depending on a-c length, Pace RC30 or RC31 (likely the latter with suspension forks fitted) and the burly fork legs would suit the frame tubes well. I’ve got both spare if you need some although both are threadless steerer. If that works then I’ve also got a NOS Cattlehead stem

Love those chainstays and buttery smooth welds, this'll be sweet.

From here.

Nice find - assuming it's 130mm spaced at the back, it'll be easier to get a decent regular wheelset with a freehub and just use a spacer conversion kit, rather than a SS specific wheelset.

I think I might have a 130mm Syncros stem. I’ll see if I can dig it out if you’re interested?

This would be good, 150mm would be better.

I’ve got a couple of flat 150 Cattleheads!

130 spacing and rim brakes opens up the possibility of using a SS spacer kit on something like a Hope road hub.

Thanks for the advice and stem offers all.

Thankfully, the seller is a nice guy and is sending over the Ringle stem and Controltech post, so that part is taken care of.

Unfortunately the rear spacing is 135 which I guess will limit me a little?

I found some sets of 26” canti forks with 1” steerer online. Sunlite, Dimension or Kona seem to be a few of the options. Guess it’s too much to be asking for a carbon job? I know Pace is an option, but they seem rare and/or a bit scruffy!

Got to be Mag 21’s or Manitou elastomer for that frame.

Or AMP

oh yeah!

Unfortunately the rear spacing is 135 which I guess will limit me a little?

Not really. There're plenty of nice mtb hubs out there. It was just if it'd been 130mm then a road hub would have been a good fit. If you want a singlespeed specific hub then theres Hope and King cassette hubs or ton's for screw on freewheels, Paul, Surly, Spot, just depends what your budget it.

How’s this coming on?

Had a dig around in boxes today looking for something else and came across a stem that would be time appropriate for this.

It wasn’t the Syncros (which I can’t find) but a 150mm 1” Quill ControlTech

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Grind the hanger off. Aluminium is soft and black is easy colour to match :D

Sorry for lack of update, and thanks for the offer, however the original owner kindly sent the Ringle stem and the Controltech post that were on the original listing. Both pretty good condition, very pleased.

In other news, I managed to buy some rigid forks NOS for £11 from eBay. Especially pleased, as they are way fatter than some others I managed to find (prefer the look).

I made a bit of a decision that I don't want to spend a fortune on this build (whilst keeping it reasonably nice). This means a lot of eBay searching. Turns out retro MTB is pricey!

Keeping it a little frugal, I have ordered some new Avid Single Digit 3 V-Brakes with levers for £28. This is less than I paid for a Ringle QR seatpost thingy...

Decided to go for SS using a conversion kit for now (allows me to add gears later if I wish), however I am at a bit of a loss for wheels and cranks.

I need square taper, so looking for old Raceface ones. Annoyed as I missed some nice plain black Tune ones. Any other ideas? Black is a must I think.

As for rims, I have really struggled to find decent condition 26" non-disk rims/wheels. The ceramic ones I have found cost a fortune. I want the rims to be black ideally. I have found these Ritchey Rims/Hubs that seem very cheap. False economy?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rim-Bicycle-Wheel-26-inch-Richey-Comp-Offcentre-Rimbrake-reinforced-eyelets/323492553587
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ritchey-TR3-Comp-MTB-bicycle-freehubs-32-32-8-9-speed-NOS/254389644356?hash=item3b3acdec44:g:jEQAAOSwmwtaKC2b

As for tyres, I am stuck between Panaracer Dart/Smoke and Schwalbe Tabletops. Thoughts anybody?

Some pictures of the very limited progress...