NotSoBigBen

On to where I am today ... things still to do That shock just there till the correct one comes to hold the frame together ... hopefully by the end of the week Need a longer seatpost, will get one in the coming days That white stem spacer I'll paint white ... Those white wheels from the 'dale I never liked anyway, today I'll clean them up and rattle can them black then fit the tyres again Will go service the fork at the shop today and maybe shorten the front brake hose From a bunch of spares to a bike [emoji41]

So time to put all I had together and look at what would be needed to actually turn it into a bike, what did I have in my boxes that might work ... other options? Definitely not enough to build a complete bike that's for sure (even my garage and bike part boxes eventually get depleted [emoji12] ) BUT I have a complete Cannondale Flash HT bike I haven't ridden in a while because of a problem with the headset bottom bearing. Fork would not be useful but I had the straight steerer fork from the Rush and an adapter to use it in a tapered frame. 2 problems came up as per the other thread I started, shock I had was too long, have sourced one here on the hub, on its way via Postnet. It needs a special long skewer, searched high and low nothing nada, my welder guy to the rescue. Made one out of 2 old skewers [emoji41] Got some new bearings, new BB and also a few bits that would just look nice, a black seat rather than the white one from the 'dale, a stem as again the 'dale one wouldn't work Starting to look like something!

While he was doing that I went to my son's mate to discuss some vinyl decals, wanted something more modern and perhaps do the Superfly in a similar font to what they use on the new Supercalibers ... Got the frame back, he had flatted the front triangle so that I could do the decals before a layer of clear coat would be applied. Right so the frame was now done!

Nah what the hell time do something 'custom' so frame off to my mate 'Big Thys' the spray painter ... he was busy with a Merc Coupe and the color caught my eye and would be easy since he'd just do it pretty quick. Not much prep needed on the frame since it was already stripped of paint down to the raw alu.

So to the interesting part ... during a casual chat about this bike with a mate and hubber, the nerd, he mentioned he had all the frame bits from a Superfly I was welcome to if I wanted to use them as spares, incomplete but definitely worth it! The idea was to keep it and in the case that the weld failed I can use it .... collected it and fortunately it was the exact same size even! But before I could even find a spot to keep it safe and out of the way he called to say hey I found a few bits that go with it you can come collect. Collected and after a bit of puzzle building saw that it was 99% all there. So ..... keep it all for spares or?

Wasn't really sure if I should document this build but with all the other stuff going on thought it a welcome distraction Started with simply getting hold of a complete Trek Superfly AL100 frame that had a small crack on the top tube near the seatpost. Being the tinkerer I am decided to get it welded and strip my Cannondale Rush (also a repaired alu frame) to build this. My son has wanted that Rush frame for a while anyway so passed it on to him. Most important NOT N+1, my wife would kill me, well not really not she'd probably be annoyed though! Some pictures of this initial part of the process which turned out not to be the real interesting part at all [emoji41] Happened to have that fork lying around that has been built from 3 different damaged one's so decided to use it, anyway the Rush's fork is straight steerer and this was tapered.

Some feedback, managed to source a shock, on its way via Postnet. Having my welder mate fashion a 200mm skewer out of 2 normal ones. Another problem has cropped up though, needs a 36.4 seatpost clamp, been to all my local suppliers nothing [emoji849] - called most of the nearby shops nada ...

I stand corrected, you can learn something new everyday, thanks!

I've never used a NW blade in all my years of owning SS's anf never had a chain fall off. I even use rear sprockets off old cassettes to get the ratio I need and loads of spacers from the same to space out on a normal freehub. Even more useful to get a 'magic gear' on a non SS frame although I've given up on that malarkey [emoji12] I guess single speed can be as simple or as complicated as you feel like making it ...

As long as bike manufacturers can sell hangers at 500 plus ZA rondts I can't see them going for any standard... I mean there's that one that even sells a different hanger depending on whether you are running SRAM or Shimano for crying out loud [emoji848]

Bidon's are only for rides over 3 hours, fokus my kind!

I use short stems on both my 'monstercross' bikes, converted MTB frames, as per a suggestion by @Jewbacca here on the hub I run 26" rigid forks on the 29" frames though. Definitely improves the geometry!

An afternoon interlude up to the 'pool' at Rietvlei Zoo Farm, hard work getting up but the down after is a blast!

Cold, windy and wet ... My wife says sometimes she thinks there are only rocks in my head [emoji12]

No worries, thanks for looking!

Thanks a stack!

I have read that one can also buy the 200mm skewers used for some trainers and it'll work ...

Rietvlei Zoo Farm in winter ... Haven't done an afternoon ride for a long time but offered to show someone the trails.

Go to Cyclelab or supervise the technicians [emoji12]

Thanks, will start a quest to find the correct shock at a reasonable price!

So as usual I'm busy with a build project (more on that in a dedicated thread [emoji12]) and have 2 questions Frame - Trek Superfly 100 AL 1) the standard rear shock is a Fox RP2 185x45 ... What effect would using a DT Swiss 190x50 have? As always I have the shock so using it would be great as it would mean less spend. Use as a training bike, some intermediate technical but mostly long endurance type riding if that helps 2) it uses a standard looking rear QR but it's longer than normal as per the attached picture. STD is 165mm in length with 23mm thread, the Trek one is 198mm in length with 30mm thread. Could one make one up in some way? I'm thinking remove the normal QR part from an existing skewer (should that be possible?) get the correct length and diameter piece of 'rod' and thread it and insert ... Of course now if someone has one laying around [emoji41] Would highly appreciate some advice.

I just can't... [emoji12]

No he just kept on riding... [emoji12]

Thanks man, will see how it goes over the next few days. Praying they just badly bruised...

High speed off after hitting a 'sleeper rock' with a pedal in a dodgy jeep track near home. As an aside one of the negatives of using an MTB frame, with an already low BB, as a MonsterCross gravel bike is that pedal strikes are quite common sadly.