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vpCogworks
@doug1e
I have a new project simmering away. I rescued what looks to be a '94 Marin Bear Valley SE. All original and looking very sorry for itself as it had been living outside. Full part strip down and polished the paint which worked wonders. New decals applied and currently sitting on the deore XT wheels from my Ammaco, may put my hand to building something more interesting further down the line. I have been slowing buying 'great condition' XTR parts on the cheap with the caveat that they they always come with some undisclosed fault such as snapped b screw mount, chewed spline, bent springs, cracked plastic, missing lockring etc which I've been rectifying.
The plan is to do drop bar conversion and run 3x9 speed xtr as 2x10 with 105 5700 shifters. My Kona is good for almost everything, being used as my winter commuter, road bike and gravel /bikepacking. It's limiting factor is the max 35mm knobbly tyre clearance, so thought I'd see if I can build something on the cheap that would be as capable offroad but with some more squish in the tyres. I currently can't really justify a couple of grand to get what would ultimately some more millimeters worth of clearance over the Kona.
First problems encountered, bought a nice new M-part elite 1 1/8th threaded headset and fitted it only to find the steerer is a couple of mm too short, listed stack height of the m-part is pretty small compaired to others available but the original ritchey logic is somehow lower, swapped them back out, cleaned and repacked the rusty ritchey as best as I could but ball bearings are rough.
Being a 1 1/8th threaded, quill stem choice is limited and dont really like risers with drop bars, so currently entertaining a steerer shim with 1" stem, feels pretty solid so far. Next problem is finding 26mm bars that are wide enough for my bar bag. Back burner project might be getting a custom quill stem made in 1 1/8th with long steerer, 31.8mm bar clamp -15 deg. rise. Alternative is 0 degree Velo orange stem...
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