my first SS, about to go out to Woburn for a bit of a shake down, but this was built yesterday, with the help of Trustyrusty, and fuelled by Amstel, Stella 4%, cheese and onion sandwidges, pub food and sun

double front chainring as bolts were a little too large

Running 32/16 if anyone is interested, going to be raced at SSUK next weekend, (not by me though prior commitments and that)
Thanks to Phatstanley for helping me out where a bike shop wouldn’t

Oh and the garden is in keeping with my cottage and i like the grass that bit longer

Nice build!

I really like that…What frame is it? Obviously a spesh but an old steel version of stumpjumper?

Chain looks quite tight so do you really need that on-one tensioner?

Nice!

(two chainrings of the same size though? is this a trend I don’t know about ?)

(two chainrings of the same size though? is this a trend I don’t know about ?)

I’m guessing he didn’t have shorter chainring bolts, or indeed it is a craze that both you and I aren’t aware of.

its a 1997/8 spesh rockhopper, (will probably be resprayed if i get on with the ride of it)

Chain is a bit tight but it will slacken off today, hence the ride today to check things out,

holy two chainrings is the way forward, (that and the bolts are too long and two identical chain rings just tidys it up a bit)

chain is a bit tight? How come when you are using a tensioner?

holy two chainrings is the way forward

Aha yes, very good. Carry on about your business.

Just back from test ride and am grinning like you wouldn’t believe, man i love my SS, hard bloody work going up hill mind, but never had one of those what gear should i be in moments, needs a few tweaks (front brake could do with bleeding, need to order some Mary bars, and i saw some nice pink and white lock ons yesterday), but all in very very happy with it, now what colour for the respray?

oh and cy-nical made a slight error when putting chain on, so its snug on the tensioner, will probably put another link back in if i feel it struggles too much

lovely bike! I am also building one, have most of the bits apart from the frame which will be arriving mid june (decade virtue).

also after some tyres (racing ralphs or nobby nics if anybody has any).

Good luck JxL, tis very rewarding and great fun, experimenting with tyres to be honest have a Bonty Big Earl (2.5) up front with 30psi, and a Conti Edge (1.9) on the rear with 40psi, and it worked very well on a dry and sandy Woburn today.

Woburns great for singlespeeds…see you out there.

oldgit gotta agree, twas huge fun esp. the rollercoaster which was taken gingerly at first then hooned down with aplomb, just weighed it out of curiosity and with a healthy coating of trail dust comes in at a respectable(in my opinion) 22lb, which is nice when compared to my 2005 full sus Marin.

P.S how come your stem is so high? it might make climbing a little difficult…

JxL im testing out combos at the moment and the stem is now slightly lower, am going to go for Mary Bars next, so stem bar height will change, as i rode Trustyrusty’s 29er Karate Monkey as he runs them and they are great

I read somewhere there is a limit as to how high the stem should be from the headset, something in the back of my head says 2cm but I could be wrong. Remember reading it on forks instructions (you probably put more strain on the steerer tube if its higher).