missioner

Get a high tensile bolt and nut that fit into the rivnut. Thread the nut halfway down the bolt, then screw the bolt into the rivnut till the nut buts up against it. Now the important part, hold the bolt with a spanner and tighten the nut against the rivnut. Use force enough to over come the friction but try not to break the bolt off inside the rivnut. If that doesn't work go buy the rivnut insertion tool and some suitable replacement rivnuts, drill out the old ones and replace them with me ones. If buying the tool is not an option phone a few LBS's till you find one that has the tool and can do the repairs.

Personally I'd leave the suspension in the frame and set it up harder for better pedaling efficiency, same idea on whichever fork you use. Keeping with the 2006 theme try find a RS Reba team or a Fox Float in 100mm. Sure there is a weight penalty, but the comfort would be worth it. 700c (29") wheels will work with 35 or 38mm tyres, the frame is disc specific so look around for an old set of Stan's Crest 29er wheels. The rims are 19mm wide so they won't flatten the trekking tyres out too much and I'm sure they are reasonably easy to find used. A side note when looking for a fork for the Spez, they have long head tubes for the frame size so rather be armed with some measurements when making the purchase. Keen to see a dually as a cross bike, keep us posted on your progress. I used to work for a Spez dealer around the time those Epic's were new, so if you need any advice related to that frame you are welcome to drop me a DM.

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I misunderstood. I'm sorry. The piece after the pinch bolt, that's wrong. It was wrong then and always will be wrong. Nothing goes past the lower pivot. I personally have no idea as to why some guys leave so much cable, but it's nothing but a headache. One ride in long grass and that cable is folded back and frayed apart. Not cool.

I agree. I worked in a bike shop for a while as a wrench, some bikes had enormous loops on the rear derailleur. If I ever had to change cables I would trim down the casing to more acceptable lengths. The bike in the picture has "roadie routing" under the BB. To keep the rear mech working the loop has to be a certain size for the damn cable to work. I personally preferred top tube cable routing on bikes as they don't get as dirty.

It was the way it was done back in the day. Apparently it was to reduce friction inside the sleeving. During 950 series XTR they developed the "Rapid Rise" rear mech, I still have one, with the travelator wheel on the back. It had the straightest and shortest cable of the time. It open up the thinking that we now think of as normal. As for the "Rapid Rise" the travelator used to get snagged on brush and grass. So it generally landed quickly in a bin.

Trickle down technology is SOP across most manufacturers in the industry, even frame builders do it. Not as quickly as component manufacturers, but it's very common practice for last year's race frame to be rebranded and sold as the new top tier amateur frame. Following that logic you can ride this year's pro race bike in about 3 years from now, at a third of the money, albeit with some compromises. SRAM does do trickle down but to a much lesser degree than Shimano, because each level is actually made differently as they have different applications. For example X0 will be predominantly aluminium, GX steel and composite plastics and then XX1/2 uses much more carbon fibre and titanium. The designs do trickle down to the lower levels each year but the materials won't. They don't actually intend for XX(?) to be used for anything but racing. There are some other things that also don't trickle down, the feel of the shifters and the derailleur spring tensions. This is very true for Shimano. Dura-Ace and XTR both have very loud mechanical sounding shifters (at least the cable ones do) vs the lower gruppo's, and they are engineered that way. One of the top techs at Coolheat explained this to me years ago, and it simply because of Pro riders. MTB components are not made much smoother as you go down the ladder, they just get more durable( heavy)and relaible. Road components do the same to some degree but they get adjusted for smoother shifting and greater comfort, basically the years worth of Pro feedback to the engineers then translates to both the new DA and also to Ultegra resulting in improvements for both groupsets the following year. TL;DR yes there is trickle down from top tier groupsets to lower ones, but even old top tier is still top tier on purpose. 2017 XTR/DA is not equal to 2020 SLX/105, they are still different I'm major ways.

Love those Maverick shocks. I didn't know those guys still existed. Still to this day one of the plushest dualies ever made.

Karkloof classic and DH on Facebook. Look out for vids of Hilton Turvey. That dude is unfrikkenbelivable on a bike. Last I saw of him he was riding a 29" Spez Stumpy 150 and jumping 10m road gaps with it. You can ride downhill with minimal pedaling for more than 10km out in Karkloof. It's amazing. If you get a chance to go on holiday with the intention of riding a bike, then that's where I'd go.

Add a front derailleur or a chain guide to the bike. Believe me you will need it. I also run a 1x9 setup on my bike and the chain doesn't like to stay on in the larger gears. Another suggestion is to use the SRAM 991X chain for the rear set, it is the strongest thing short of using BMX chains on the bike. Look it up if you like, it beats all comers for strength and durability. Otherwise it looks really good. Impressive work.

This is a good plan. Finding chainrings for some of those old left hand crank sets can be difficult at the best of times. Using an older 9 or 10x2 set at the rear means anything you need is on a shelf waiting for you and not super expensive half way across the planet. Also it gives some options on how to solve any chain line issues.

All 11spd should work. Even a shimano. SRAM and Shimano use the same indexing almost exactly.

700c x 35 will fit inside a 26" frame no problem, so frame choice is only limited by availability. Don't change the frame size, its not just about the length of the seat post as the top tube length also differs on frame size. Drop bars have the effect of lengthening the handle bar, same as changing from flats to risers. Any adjustments to your cockpit can be made to seat position and stem length to get the setup comfy. Don't be fooled by shop boys trying to sell components, loads of parts are compatible and will work well together. I try to stick to one brand though for best results. 10spd stuff should be plentiful on the used market and as entry level stuff is all 10 SPD also you can easily still get new parts to fill any gaps in your build.

Those travelators used to come from Cape Cycle Systems, who are also the SRAM importers. Call them and see if they still keep them. They wont sell to you directly, but can direct you to a dealer that can help you. They were popular on Tandem Racers with XTR 'V' brakes. An STI without them is spongy and lacks modulation. Also tricky things to set up properly, especially the rear brake.

Yeah also not feeling any love for the frame design