Building Frankenstein's Monster

[CdT85]

So about a year ago I had the idea to start building a long travel hard tail general fun bike.

I sourced a 2005 Scott Aspen frame, some Mavic 819 rims, a 130mm travel Marzocchi Drop-off a Woodman 20mm hub between Bikehub and Gumtree.

 

Then this happened..I got hold of a cracked 2006 Mongoose Teocali Super Frame of the classified.

 

Always wanting a Teocali, I jumped at the opportunity and bought it.

 

The engineer in me was awoken and I got hold of an engineering firm suggested to me, V'd out the cracks and took her in to be welded:

 

 

The firm, ended up heat treating the frame again for me to T6, and did this all for mahalla for me at the end. Thank guys! 

 

So the build could start..Decided to go with a raw frame, so I started to strip the three sections of the frame.

 

While all this was happening, I sourced some more spares of the classifieds, GS Sports had my rims resprayed and rebuilt and had Tyrone make me some decals for the frame and rims.

 

 

At This point, I relized that the Avid Elixir 5 brakes I bought of the classifieds were shot, and with the help of Droo/Revolution Cycles/Flaandria I got them sorted again.

 

Next step was to add more white to the bike so I sourced some white ODI lock on grips from Bibi and reupholstered my seat to match

 

 

sourced a few more parts off gumtree and the classifieds, had some new fork and crank decals made (not a pleasurable experience) and finally got her looking like this

 

 

All in all very happy with the build, she rides like a dream. Been hitting Coetzenburg, Eden and Gspot with her a few times and happy with the end results. just want to tweak the suspension a bit, as the rear shock is leaking air.

 

Now the next section will most probably get me flamed and burnt by the purist..

with the lack of 190x50 rear shock around, I plan to go 200x50 in the rear, and sourced a 180mm Marzocchi Bomber 66 RCV (still having issues with the fork I am sorting out with the seller) I want to reduce down to 150mm travel.

 

Did a dummy fit the weekend and quite like the beefy look of the 38mm sanctions:

Not much difference in length between the 140 Drop-Off vs the 180 bomber..

 

Feel free to drop a comment on my Frankenstein build. Will add more photos as the continuous mods keeps happening.

 

Next planned mods:

Fit a 200x50 Xfusion O2RL (maybe using offset bushings)

Rebuild the Marzocchi 66 and reduce the travel to 150mm

Changing the color scheme (need an excuse to visit BogusOne again)

 

edit

nearly forgot..need to source a 203 disc for the front as well..

 

Happy Monday folks

[BenReaper]

Looks good, I just love it when a planned build goes wrong.......... in the wright way.

 

Sent from my S40 using Tapatalk

[EvanB]

That is very cool, well done

[popcorn_skollie]

The longer rear shock and fork will raise the BB higher than Snoop at the BET awards.

You might also have clearance issues at the back at full compression.

But there might be a solution to this madness. Albeit an old school funny looking one.

To possibly solve both the raised bb and rear wheel travel clearance. 

Put a 24 inch wheel on the back...

 

Igor! The switch!

 

Disclaimer: I am in no way advocating any of this lunacy. I will not beheld responsible for any injury or death as a result of riding this monstrosity. But I'm very interested in what you are doing and would love to help you put it together. I just need you to sign a few papers first. 

[Matchstix]

Leave the marz @ 180

Love those forks

The only way you qould be able to reduce the travel is to place spacers and the internal parts. Rcv is a basic open oilbath system

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

The longer rear shock and fork will raise the BB higher than Snoop at the BET awards.

You might also have clearance issues at the back at full compression.

But there might be a solution to this madness. Albeit an old school funny looking one.

To possibly solve both the raised bb and rear wheel travel clearance. 

Put a 24 inch wheel on the back...

 

Igor! The switch!

 

Disclaimer: I am in no way advocating any of this lunacy. I will not beheld responsible for any injury or death as a result of riding this monstrosity. But I'm very interested in what you are doing and would love to help you put it together. I just need you to sign a few papers first. 

nah, clearance will be fine as it's still a 50mm stroke shock. So if anything it'll have slightly more clearance until he puts on the offset bushings, at which point it'll be stock. But with that Marz at the front, it'll probably bring it back albeit with a higher BB measurement which may make handling a bit funny... 

[Odinson]

Sweet looking ride! If you squint and look quickly that Goose almost looks like a Pole Evolink!

[AlanD]

Really like the raw frame. Very nice build.

[CdT85]

The longer rear shock and fork will raise the BB higher than Snoop at the BET awards.

You might also have clearance issues at the back at full compression.

But there might be a solution to this madness. Albeit an old school funny looking one.

To possibly solve both the raised bb and rear wheel travel clearance. 

Put a 24 inch wheel on the back...

 

Igor! The switch!

 

Disclaimer: I am in no way advocating any of this lunacy. I will not beheld responsible for any injury or death as a result of riding this monstrosity. But I'm very interested in what you are doing and would love to help you put it together. I just need you to sign a few papers first. 

 

 

nah, clearance will be fine as it's still a 50mm stroke shock. So if anything it'll have slightly more clearance until he puts on the offset bushings, at which point it'll be stock. But with that Marz at the front, it'll probably bring it back albeit with a higher BB measurement which may make handling a bit funny... 

 

As Myles said, using a 50 stroke shock, still sitting at 145mm travel rear.

Plan to have offset bushings machined to play around with the angles, but so far I raised the bb 6mm, not a train smash in my opinion. rode her around the block with the 180 a bit (there is quite a steep hill) and she feels better actually..but far from done faffing..

[CdT85]

Leave the marz @ 180

Love those forks

The only way you qould be able to reduce the travel is to place spacers and the internal parts. Rcv is a basic open oilbath system

 

I plan to have bushes made up to try different travels ranging from 150 to the full 180.

 

Also in the process to source a spare spring from David, so that I can cut it to the right lengt to not kill the fork with to much preload. And then I still have the original if I want to go the full 180 again.

If i did my math right, the 150 travel front, with the 200x 50 shock rear will return her to stock geometry with a 6mm higher bb

[CdT85]

Sweet looking ride! If you squint and look quickly that Goose almost looks like a Pole Evolink!

 

Quite right on there...but to be humble and honest...first time I hear of a pole evolink, but love the look of it! 

[CdT85]

So Popcorn Skollie and Droo hooked me up with a upper crown assembly and a seal kit respectively to rebuild the Marzocchi 66.

 

All the parts nicely laid out ready to start the rebuild, just had a wee setback continuing the build in the form of a busted oil seal...never leave your 6 month old pitbull puppy unattended...luckily Droo has another set in stock for me I will pick up the weekend

 

Still to manufacture the bushings to reduce the travel. Received the nylon I intend to use for it today, just need to have it machined.

And the new rear shock arrived at Postnet yesterday, will collect on Saturday.

 

Now the biggest setback..finding proper rubber. I had a set of Intense DH tyres on, but it sucks going uphill with them. Replaced them with cheap interim Kenda Honey Badgers (light, but not so lekker grip, only thing my lbs had) until I can find decent tyres. My preferred setup used to be Maxxis Minion DHF 2.4 up front with a Maxxis High Roller 2.35 rear. But with the lack of 26" Maxxis tyres available I am kinda stuck.

Contemplating a Magic Mary 2.3 up front with a Nobby Nick rear 2.25. Or can anyone suggest any other setup? Tried getting hold of Onza Ibex 2.25's as well, but they were out of stock. I am used to Maxxis, so very biased towards that and I have little to no knowledge about other brands

 

I hit Bennet's Red the past weekend with my current setup, but my kenda's does not inspire confidence

 

Looking forward to your feedback on tyre choices?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Magic Mary / Rock Razor. 

 

Done. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Looking gooooood, BTW. 

[CdT85]

Magic Mary / Rock Razor. 

 

Done. 

 

Where can I find this magical pair? Evobikes only have Magic Mary listed 

[Odinson]

So Popcorn Skollie and Droo hooked me up with a upper crown assembly and a seal kit respectively to rebuild the Marzocchi 66.

Image00001.jpg

 

All the parts nicely laid out ready to start the rebuild, just had a wee setback continuing the build in the form of a busted oil seal...never leave your 6 month old pitbull puppy unattended...luckily Droo has another set in stock for me I will pick up the weekend

Image00002.jpg

 

Still to manufacture the bushings to reduce the travel. Received the nylon I intend to use for it today, just need to have it machined.

And the new rear shock arrived at Postnet yesterday, will collect on Saturday.

 

Now the biggest setback..finding proper rubber. I had a set of Intense DH tyres on, but it sucks going uphill with them. Replaced them with cheap interim Kenda Honey Badgers (light, but not so lekker grip, only thing my lbs had) until I can find decent tyres. My preferred setup used to be Maxxis Minion DHF 2.4 up front with a Maxxis High Roller 2.35 rear. But with the lack of 26" Maxxis tyres available I am kinda stuck.

Contemplating a Magic Mary 2.3 up front with a Nobby Nick rear 2.25. Or can anyone suggest any other setup? Tried getting hold of Onza Ibex 2.25's as well, but they were out of stock. I am used to Maxxis, so very biased towards that and I have little to no knowledge about other brands

 

I hit Bennet's Red the past weekend with my current setup, but my kenda's does not inspire confidence

Image00001.jpg

 

Looking forward to your feedback on tyre choices?

 

Nice! Seems like a lekker project!

 

Maybe look at importing some rubber. There is still a lot of Maxxis rubber to choose from on the interwebs.