Just finished my first ever bike build after discovering the world of mountain bikes last summer. As I'm too tight-fisted/masochistic to splash out on a full-suspension bike I decided to transfer the bits off my old Giant XTC onto a new frame and scratch the steel-hardtail itch at the same time.
Only bit of help I needed from the local bike shop was pressing in the headset, and they faced the headtube and faced and chased the bottom-bracket at the same time.
So far so good, been out for a shakedown run and nothing is creaking or falling off. Definitely heavier than the Giant, but seems agile as hell and a bit more of a forgiving ride (but that could easily just be the slimmer seat tube, or a lack of air in the rear tyre).
I'll see how I get on with the 100mm Recon Gold coil fork. From what I can tell the Summer Season was originally intended to give a slacker head angle [i]without[/i] having to use a mega-travel fork, so it'll be interesting to see what, if any, improvements to downhill stability it gives.
Nice (if misplaced!) sense of acheivement at having accomplished this. Plus I've acquired some new tools as well a much better understanding how everything fits together and works.
[url= http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/6106875984_801045f237.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrew74/6106875984/ ]Summer Season[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/andrew74/ ]andrew.1974[/url], on Flickr
Nice build but then I am on my 4th On-One!
Oh - Autumn lawn feed...
Needs scarifying as well (gets all thatch out )
Thanks fellas. And that also saves me writing a separate long-winded post on lawncareworld.com on what steps I can take to improve the state of my grass 🙂