I’ve been after a 29 plus hardtail for a while, after riding a Stooge for the last year or so. I wanted something more suited to longer rides (#bikepacking), I considered a Swift, Solaris, Krampus, Vassago, custom SingleBe and scoured ebay and this forum for a Rooster. I finally got one off a wanted ad here, the frame had peeling clearcoat and would need some tlc.

First job was to remove the EBB before getting it off to the powder coaters. Should be easy, the one in my Stooge moves just using your fingers… It seems neither of the 2 previous owners put a drop of frame-saver or even a smear of grease near the frame.

I soaked it in Plus Gas and after 30 minutes got it to move a bit.

I eventually got the EBB out, it seems ok after being cleaned up with Scotchbrite.


I wrapped a rag around a socket extension and gave it a good pull-through, the rust kept on coming.

One of the features the frame lacks is more than 1 set of water bottle bosses, so I added 2 more sets. (Trying to buy stuff from Ceeway is harder than getting rust out of a frame BTW!)

I spent the next few nights soaking the BB shell and seat tube in Kurust, and cleaning it with a brush. TBH it was a waste of time, I put a boroscope in the toptube and that had quite a lot of light surface rust, and the bottom of the seat tube looked like it had deeper rust, it was time to get more serious.

I stuck it in citric acid for a few hours at a time, took most of the day and eventually got the worst of it out. 3 hours of soaking in a “stiff” solution got the BB shell nice and shiny, it has some scaring but will be ok.

So the moral of the story is look after your steel bike.

The frame’s at the powder coaters now, I should have it back on Friday… I might even spray some frame saver in there.

So what colour’s it going to be?

Gulf racing blue, trying to get some stickers done in the corresponding orange.

Cool, I’d been thinking of that colour scheme on one of my bikes, with the logo silhouetted where the number would be in the circle.

Nice, post more pictures up once it’s had it’s respray!

Please keep us posted. Looks a great project to be updated on

Love the Roosters – sounds like its going to be a cracker

Thanks, I can’t promise it will look as sharp as a Production Privee, and I might not bother with the stickers straight away. Main thing is get it build and ridden.

Putting all the parts from my Stooge on it, Chronicle’s front and rear and some Loop bars that I got with the frame which will be a new one for me.

good thread, i always had trouble with my niner for the amount of rust it accumulated. i believe sam does treat the frames from new with frame saver, but wont last for ever!

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with it.

Finally got the frame back, they did a good job with the powder, almost too good. All the threads needed chasing and the headtube and seat tube needed sanding. The worst bit was the pocket where the derailler hanger sits needed some Dremel attention on the powder to get it to sit flush.

Because of the Jones bars I need to fit longer brake hoses so that’s going to take a bit of extra time.

Nice

Agreed, nice work.

I looked sternly at my Rooster the other day an a whole load of lacquer just fell off 🙁

May look at new paint in spring. May also look to take advantage of some additional bottle cage mounts. I’ve no idea where I got idea from though ……. 😆

Look forward to updates.

As a side our local powder coaters are very good at getting the paint where it should be but I still leave in some sacrificial bolts in any threads just back out about half way to save a job later 8)

I’d recommend the extra bosses, I spoke to Sam who said it’s fine as long as they’re not rivnuts. I was even thinking of stealth dropper routing but decided not to as all the cables are on the toptube. Will fit a Lev if I do go that route.

I think these guys used silicon plugs which didn’t work in the tiny holes.

Pretty much done, pleased with the way it’s turned out, still need to stick the badge on and think about some orange decals for it.

As it stands:
Loop 710 bars/Syntace stem
XT brakes
Nextie i35 front/i30 rear on Pro2 hubs
X9 crank with Works wonky ring (Middleburn with 30t Wolftooth if I stick gears on.)
Chronicles front and rear.

The rear tyre is new and is Exo, the front is one of the older ones and I’m not sure if it’s Exo or not, it feels much thinner but weighs 20g more, did they ever make a non Exo version?

Will only get to ride next weekend but it feels good in the short spin up the road. Funny bars will take some getting used to but they feel comfy.

Looks ace, need more blue though, headset spacers and grips?

And as for the garden, get those leaves swept up!

Thanks, headset came with the frame and in this case I think less is more!

I’m waiting for the leaves to decompose.

Very nice.

Get a dirt wizard on the front & that’ll be perfect for current conditions

Classy!

Second hand large Rooster, powder coated, singlespeed, Jones bars you say? Snap! but no where near as nice as yours. Here is a pics from todays 60km muddy bimble over to the North Downs

300km on it since Christmas. Love it. Also had to have it resprayed, but for various reasons went for non descript black. Funnily enough I did consider Gulf racing blue as well as adding the additional water bottle mounts. I do regret not having the bottle mounts fitted now though. Yours does look lovely though. A much more bling build 😀

Ah, but you have anything cage mounts so you’re ok.
Funnily enough I thought of spraying mine black too, but I already have 2 black bikes, yours looks good, what gearing are you running?

Yeah one of intended uses is as a run around with a 2nd pair wheels with big slicks, so chose black to make it as plain as possible. Running 32/20 which is perfect for my tired old legs in the Chilterns and Swinley. Also have 34/18 on it for the 8 – 10 mile flat commute to the trails where I would die of bordom spinning away on 32/20. Will probably change that to 36/16 when a bit fitter.

Will probably change that to 36/16 when a bit fitter.

On 29+? Do you have tree trunks for legs or is that a typo?

Haha no! Will be using 32/20 off road. I have two rear and two front cogs fitted with the same total number of teeth and swap the chain over depending what ratio i need. Because the total number teeth are the same i dont need to adjust the ebb.

Im talking about the alternate cogs which are currently 34/18 so might change to 36/16. TINAS, you know where i live, about a mile from the Thames, so you know its a flat spin to Swinley from mine.

I have run this double front/double rear for years. Its always a struggle to explain 😀

Ahhh, that makes sense, like Surly’s dinglespeed.

You know where i live

I’m shit with names/faces so I’m afraid I’ve no idea at all (apart from I know the Thames path is flat)!

Thats it! Its 10 flat miles to Swinley, and i would die of bordom spinning away on 32/20.