[Closed] Help identifying frames

I think the cube is a 2010 LTD. bought them both as spares or repair and have a bunch of bits on order to get them running with a view to sell one of them. Question is, which to keep? And what are they worth? I need to see whether the forks are interchangeable but the bits are as follows

Cube Ltd frame set

NRS frameset (needs new BB and bearings really). Dropout on order.

SLX brakes

Mph brakes

Xt rear mech

Lx rear mech

SLX front mech

Lx front mech

Raceface prodigy crank

Shimano entry level crank

Deore shifters x2 sets

Mavic 117 rims on Deore hubs x 4

Raceface dues riser bars

Easton flat bars

Easton ea50 stem

Unknown stem

rock Shox Tora with lockout forks

Manitou axel forks (smaller Stanton’s that the Tora, possibly 32 vs 34? I’ll google it later).

New saddles coming

What would you put on each frame and what would you sell, for how much? What would they both be worth do you reckon? Gotta be 200 quid each?

Rick

26 inch wheels?

Yeah, both are 26ers

My stepdad used to have an xtc team when they were new (2001?) and loved it. The nrs brings back memories. But I wonder, do I chuck all the lx/mph bits on the nrs and sell it as like that and keep the other bits and use the hardtail? A lot of work to change bearings and BB etc if I’m going to sell it, and it’ll be another £50 in bits which I’ll likely not get back? Or is the nrs still a classic worth having?

No one really wants 26 inch bikes these days so I’d be careful how much money you put into them. Facebook marketplace seems to top out at about £20 for any kind of mountain bike in my area 😀😀

I was wondering about demand for 26” these days, but not having ridden anything else I thought I’d play safe. And I got them both for under 200 quid so I can put a few quid into them and still see some money back (I hope).

The giant had a seized seatpost and the previous owner had tried everything including a torch (hence the lack of paint around the seat clamp). I’ve got it out now so suspect I’ll sell the giant with the LX/mph bits and keep the cube/xt/SLX/rock Shox bits and have a free bike (if I can get £250ish for the giant). 250 sound reasonable?

What’s the cube worth with lx/mph bits? Not a lot I guess. Maybe ride it and if I stick with mtb get a better frame down the line? Just need something to get out on really.

Haven't seen an NRS for a very, very long time. My guess is that frame dates from circa 2003-4 just before the (then) new Maestro platform debuted in 2005 (I think!) with the Reign.

That fork is a Manitou Axel, which is extremely heavy, flexy as hell and by today's standards extremely rudimentary. You'd do well to find a Fox Float or Rockshox Reba (or similar), you'd save yourself a pound and a half in weight.

I have no idea what model of rear shock that is, my guess is that this is an entry level NRS so it is likely to be an own-brand. Again, you'd do well to replace with something like a Monarch RL (which can be found for less than £150).

My experience with Race Face cranks of that vintage isn't great either. I can't tell if they're HT2 compatible or ISIS.

It’s definitely not worth throwing much cash at either bike tbh if it’s a try and sell them.

I think I’d change the bearings in the giant myself if the shock seemed ok and then move the Tora o we to that and whichever bits from drivetrains are most serviceable.

Make a bitsa so the Cube works and see if you can get £100 for it but be willing to take a bit of a hit.

Just ride the Giant and if you get into it then at some point upgrade to something a lot newer and either 27.5 or 29er wheels and more modern suspension.

I bought an old Kona U’hu for £150 about 4 years back to see if I could get back into mtb after about 10 years or more away and got hooked straight away.

That Kona was quite an expensive bike back in the late 90’s so was actually reasonably light for an fs and had serviceable bomber forks on it. Not a great rear suspension system mind.

I swapped the bomber z2’s for bomber z1’s on a cost neutral basis and put new tyres / brake pads on it and just rode it. Sold it on for about £150 after a year or so but it was in very good condition and with Easton tubing it was becoming s bit of a classic.

I don’t think you’ll get £250 for the Giant if you sell it.

I have no idea what model of rear shock that is, my guess is that this is an entry level NRS so it is likely to be an own-brand. Again, you’d do well to replace with something like a Monarch RL (which can be found for less than £150).

The NRS was designed to run with zero sag, so a conventional shock won't work properly. The higher end models had a RockShox Sid rear shock that had a separate negative chamber. I think you were supposed to run it without any pressure in the negative chamber. I had a lower spec model that had the NRS branded shock, but no idea who actually made the shock. I ran mine with just a fraction of sag. The Anthem was a big improvement. No point spending money on an NRS unless you feel nostalgic for it and want to show young people how horrible XC bikes used to be.

Thanks for the replies gents. Appreciate it. And useful too; I’ll not put anymore cash into either. I’ve got enough to make them run so will have a blast around on both next week once the pets arrive and see which tickles my fancy more.

It’s not really about selling to make money, I just don’t want to spend £900 on a new toy which sits in the garage for 3 years until I sell if for a fraction of what it cost. I’m £200 into them, sell one for £100 or so and if I ride, great. If not, it’s only 100 rather than 900.

The catalyst for this was my mum giving my missus a virtually brand new (2 rides old) 2008 giant anthem women’s with XTR group set and fox shocks so I’m jealous (stepdad used to own a bike shop). Hence I/we want to get out but I can’t justify the cost for a 5 minute wonder.

Really do appreciate the guidance. Any more views on which is least bad out of the two?

Any more views on which is least bad out of the two?

Much easier to rebuild a knackered hardtail than a knackered suspension bike.

Little update. Turns out they needed more work than originally anticipated!

I’ve swapped some parts over onto the giant but encountered a bunch of issues along the way.

Swapped the forks but the headset was rusted solid. Removed the bearing cages and the bottom one is broken and missing some balls so new cages coming on Friday (£2.49 for a pair, 5/32 1” 1/8)

Seatpost was seized. Destroyed the old one getting it out but got it out without damaging the frame. Hot water, penetrating oil and a 32mm ring spanner as a lever. New raceface post arrived today £10 on eBay. Had to cut off the old seatpost clamp as bolt was rounded off so new QR clamp ordered £3.99

Chainstay bearings are shot and there’s play in the rear triangle. 2x New 6000RS bearings ordered; £4.58 for SKf ones. Can’t find my crank puller though so that’ll have to wait.

SLX brakes bled. They’re ok for now.

SLX front mech fitted. Left the xt mech in the cube so it has some value whilst I try to sell it.

Discs fitted to rims. £2.49 for new disc bolts.

Dropout was snapped. New dropout fitted, £6.49

New chain. £10

Can’t find my brake bleed kit so new syringes and tube ordered £3.49 and need some dot 4 for the cube and the missus so got 500ml for £3.75

New inners and outers for £3.97 with nipples and outer ferrules. Bargain!

Bought a selle Italia x1 saddle for the cube too for £6 but it’s arrived and torn and shite. The dangers of eBay!

All in I’m £54 into it and if I get a decent price for the cube I’ll do bottom bracket for £30, but can’t find my BB tools either so probably another 15 quid in basic tools.

Bought the pair for £120 so if I can get £150 for the cube the NRS will have cost £50!

Cube it’s pretty much ready to go. Just needs the brakes bleeding (for some reason the left level is connected to the front brake so need to swap the hoses around when I bleed them. Who does that, and why?!?!)

Happy to share links for parts of people want cheap bits. Mainly eBay items.

Rick

Getting frustrated now. Sold the cube for 140 so made back some money but the giant is a pain in the ass to get running. I thought I was nearly there but the SLX front mech is dual pull low mount (top swing) and fouls on the frame weld between the BB and seatpost tube. Need a new front mech.

It was sold spares and repairs and everything was rusted and seized.

I’ve replaced the headset bearings (the old ones were the worst I’ve seen and the bottom had 4 missing!), forks, crown race, replaced the chainstay bearings for SKF 6000RS (awful job without correct tools), then found I had to drill out and replaced the chainstay pivot bolt which was seized and couldn’t get just a pivot bolt so had to make one (another nightmare - ended up with a M8 bolt with shank on it and had 2 spacers made to make the 8mm bolt a 10mm fit for the bearings and the drilled and tapped an internal thread the other side), fitted a used pair of SLX brakes, swapped the wheels, swapped rear mech so is running an xt mech now, new chain, new inners and outers with ferrules and nipples, swapped the shifters, grips, bars, stem, seatpost was seized so that had to be scrapped once removed and replaced with a raceface post, seatpost clamp bolt had to be destroyed to get the seatpost out so new clamp, dropout was snapped so new dropout, front wheel had no disc bolts so new bolts. Think that’s it. Chain tool went missing so had to get another one of those too.

Now I’ve just jumped on it and realised the brakes need a bleed - they seemed ok without any load on them but stick a person in the bike and they don’t stop. Defo bubbles in there too as they do nothing when you turn the bike over and need “pumping” to get any pressure back.

It’s close now. Just ordered shimano fluid and trying to source a mech on the cheap. Fingers crossed I’ll get it together on Saturday and then just set up the shock. Hope that still works...

Grand total for the build currently £62.97. Nice cheap entry back to riding.

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Did well to get some money for the Cube! From what I can see the Giant has a front LX vBrake lever!
So I'm guessing you've got Shimano brakes front and rear now? Old Giants I've seen had Giant brakes, which were .dot fluid.
Anyway, good luck with the project 🙂

I admire the determination op.

Frustrating as it can be, getting a bit of a wreck functioning well is actually really satisfying in the end!

Enjoy the first ride once the brakes are done.👍

Its got SLX m666 brakes now. The dot 4 fluid was for the mph brakes I transferred onto the cube. I’ll use it to bleed the mrs’ brakes whilst I’m at it as she has Hayes 9s.

Got some shimano mineral on the way for this one. Hoping the shimano fluid, new pads I literally just ordered, and the front mech I just won on eBay turn up Saturday.

New mech is XT M781 dual pull conventional swing. £13 delivered. 2nd hand but good nick.

Pads were £12 a set. Figured I’d try the Noah and Theo ones as they’re cheap but seem to have some reasonable reviews.

Forgot I put panaracer 2.1 and 2.25 tyres on it now too.

Total now £88 or so but worth it all day long I reckon. Xt m771/m781 mechs, SLX m666 brakes etc etc.

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@OP - really nice job on that NRS, you clearly know what you're doing and it's safe to say that I'm impressed.

@hols2 - blimey, you learn something new every day! I didn't know that the NRS ran a very unique shock setup like that.

Yeah, good job. Amazing to see those old Toras still functioning (just noticed, you swapped them off the Cube 🙂 ), doesn't look like the stanchions have any rust - if you find they're duff I reckon someone would donate you some forks - 26", straight streerer, QR forks must be sitting around in people's garages (I know I have some scuffed up Fox Vanillas)! Put a wanted ad up, or ask on this thread.

Good job, the bike looks great. Have fun on it.

I was going to say that with a bit of WD40 etc you can often loosen off a front mech if you have the old one, but if you're sorted now good stuff.

Cheers guys.

Anyone want to buy an SLX m660 mech? Dual pull, bottom swing (low mount). £7 plus a 2nd class stamp? Nothing wrong with it, it’s just the clamp goes on a weld on this so better suited to a hardtail (a cube LTD perhaps?).

Hardest part was getting the bearings in and out without a workshop or tools. And trying to invent a suitable pivot bolt.

This was my homemade bearing press: a socket, the standoff from a child’s stair gate, the old outer race from the removed bearing and a flat multitool with some nuts either side to tighten it up.

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And this is my homemade pivot bolt and spacers.

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It’s finally finished.

With the new front mech and brake pads I was up to £88 so I decided to make it the best I could for £100. Found a Tioga MC Groove all mountain saddle which I got for £1.70 plus £3 p+p (bit of padding required as I’ve not ridden for a decade), and some charge sponge grips in white with orange lock-ons both sides and nice end cap cover for £6.95. Found some white flat pedals and a white stem in the garage and I reckon it looks pretty cool.

Total price for this build sits at £99.35 and for that money I reckon I’ve made a bike which will be far more capable than me for at least a year. If I ride it I’ll buy a shiny new one. If I don’t it was less than £100 quid so no great loss.

Better than a £100 Apollo any day!

Full spec as follows:

Giant NRS frame and shock set up for 3.5” travel and almost 0 sag (left a little for comfort).

XT M771 rear mech
XT M781 front mech
New inners and outers
SLX M660 hydro brakes freshly bled
Noah and Theo semi metallic pads
180mm front 160mm rear shimano discs
Deore shifters 3x9
Raceface prodigy cranks and BB
KMC chain
SKF chainstay pivot bearings
Raceface seatpost
New seatpost QR clamp
Tioga MC groove saddle
Truvative AKA 80mm stem
Raceface Dues rise bars
Charge Sponge grips
New headset bearings
Cane creek semi integrated headset
Rock Shox Tora forks 100mm travel
Deore hubs on Mavic 117 disc rims
Panaracer Cinder 2.1 front tyre
Panaracer Cinder 2.25 rear tyre

Looks like this

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Now to get out and ride!