Here is a simply copy of my method for you – I’m an amateur but this is the result of my research efforts! 🙂
– Strip down to lowers
– Use nitromors to remove as much paint as possible, then 80+ grit sand paper to get the rest off if needed
– Wash with muc off or similar
– Use about 800 grit on any chips or scratches
– I used primer and lacquer from Halfords car range and followed can instructions. The colour was mixed specifically for the new VW colour and I was told it was a better quality paint. The spray cans are all fine for this in my experience, however I had a lot of trouble as it was my first time with getting the coverage even and drying times. Lacquer needs to be sprayed a bit further from the surface but the normal ‘build it up in small layers’ was very true.
– 2 coats primer, 2 colour, 2 lacquer.
– 1200 grit wet sanding between coats (washing with much off and water then properly drying before the next coat)
– drying times were huge – in the end I waited until I could not smell the solvent any more! The extra cold temperatures not doubt affected this.
– I had most trouble with the lacquer as the complex shape meant some areas dried whilst I was still spraying, resulting in a rougher finish. In the end I sprayed the circumference of each leg at the same time in contrast to doing front, then side, then back. Oh and never, ever try to remove dust, hair or anything else whilst it is drying – it takes more work to correct that than it does to wet sand a tiny bit when dry.

Hope that’s useful to somebody!

By wash out I mean the front wheel losing grip in corners and sliding out. Because more weight got positioned forward when I ran an inbred frame with 420mm Pace rigid forks, I had a few incidents where I came off as I was cornering as I was used to with the original geometry. Mountain bikes hae more weight over the back wheel. If you ride a road bike too you’ll be fine, I’ve since started riding road where you have a lot more weight on the front and you just learn to ride slightly differently.

As said above 440mm isn’t the shortest. The rake affect the trial of the forks, which influences handling – see here (from the late guru sheldon brown):

The “rake” or “offset” of a fork is the distance between the wheel axle and the extension of the steering axis. This may be accomplished by bending the fork blades, or by attaching the fork ends to the front of the blades, or by tilting the blades where they attach to the crown.
Rake is one of the three factors that affect the trail of the bicycle, which has a considerable influence on the handling qualities.

A fork which is curved forward at the bottom also adds a small degree of suspension compared with one that is not, by acting as a leaf spring.

and here:

Trail is the distance from the center of the contact point of the front wheel with the riding surface to the intersection of the steering axis (head tube) with the surface. The trail is a function of the head angle, the fork rake, and the tire diameter. Trail has a major effect on the handling of a bicycle. More trail increases the bicycle’s tendency to steer straight ahead. A bicycle with a largish trail dimension will be very stable, and easy to ride “no hands”. A bicycle with a smaller trail dimension will be more manuverable and responsive.

Basically, if you get a 29er fork, they have larger amount of trial to make them more stable with the steeper head angles associated with 29er frames. This may well be what you are looking for, but in conjunction with a longer axel to crown it may be too much as the head angle will not be as steep as it would be with a 26″ specific fork. Please double check this information 😉

The finish seems pretty tough, it didn’t scratch easily when I was building them up. Is that what you mean? :S

It will lower the front end, BB and standover height, and also steepen the head angle therefore you’ll get more road/XC like geometry. It will place more weight forward and in my experience of doing similar with slick tyres, the front will wash out if you don’t adjust your riding and saddle to suit (try moving the saddle back on the rails a tad).

I don’t think the frame will be harmed at all, that’s more likely to be a problem with longer travel forks and the associated increased stress (all IMO), however I’d advise you to look into the rake of the 29er forks as that may have some other effect on handling.

Oxymoron – The decals are from Slik Graphics (not silk as I tried to find!). The guy who runs it now has a dedicated set up for non-custom orders and was very helpful. Delivered the next day! The are standard graphics btw.

PeterPoddy – what would your choice be? I’ve not attached graphics yet as I am not entirely convinced on the colour – this was the inspiration as yellow looked cheap:

Thanks walla 🙂

Tracker1972 – The line is helitape 🙂

Anthony – Yes, primer x 2, colour x 3, lacquer x 2

Trimix – Thank you very much 🙂

lol @ ebygomm! Go-on!

Update: I’ve re-built them at 80mm travel with new seals; they have no play and are buttery smooth 🙂 Thanks for all help received. Pictures here:
Link

I havn’t made it yet – I plan to shape a new faceplate from it and it *should* hugely increase side visibility. Thats the theory anyway 😉

Hi

I’m already on this for my Hope 2LED lights. I emailed Lumicycle to ask what the material is, and have just ordered some of this (from the place in the link, but a different thickness):

http://www.directplasticsonline.co.uk/AcetalSheet/Natural/6mm/

Antony 🙂

I’ll add my 2p. I have fitted winter tyres (Hankook Icept Evo) to my TDI Audi A2. It is the only car in the street that has not got stuck on the nearby hills at some point, and when I tried to use it to tow a focus up the hill, it got about half way – an old (non-diff lock) Defender with mud tyres tried and only pulled it about quater way up! They are seriously impressive, so much so that my partner is fitting them to her car too next year. They are sold out everywhere now…

I’d love a linkage fork – I imagine the maintenance would be more frequent but much easier. The old K2 design parallelogram ones were cool 8)

Should avoid the issues with worn fork stanchions…

Do you have any more info/links for it? I wonder what the claimed advantages may be, or whether it is ‘just because’ 🙂

In my experience XC bikes can take a lot of aggressive riding, but I suspect the difference will be apparent when you get it wrong or are not as smooth as normal…

Thanks Loco and SurfMat, I will do 🙂

I’ve just finished the new paint on the lowers, waiting on decals before lacquer – I think I’m more excited about the painting than I am about having suspencion on my HT again!

Hello again,

Here are some pictures to update this – I’m going with Mojo’s advice of trying it, if not then I’ll try replacing bushings…

I’m also changing it’s colour 😀

I’d like to add that LBSs are staffed by people, all of whom act differently… When I work in the shop part time, I think I am very helpful. I know that there are others in the same shop who are not. And though I am pretty knowledgeable, I don’t know everything about every product in cycling – sometimes I am wrong. That is all.

I think I’ll post a picture up of the bushing – it doesnt look or feel worn but I expect there is some wear since the anodising is missing from the stanchion. Mojo have just said to give it a go with new seals at lower travel, and then wait and see. They also said that I could replace the bushes (£25) myself (they only do it as part of the service) if there is a lot of play. I’ll post a picture of the bushes up when I get home later 🙂

Yeah thanks I intend to try and see. I’m going to look into getting the bushed replaced too, buyt ideally I want to preven further wear

Do it.

Correct number of bikes = n+1

Find another hobby – I had 10 months off with a broken leg, so got a PS2 with Grand Turismo, built a new hardtail and watched Dave 😯

I polished my cranks! And I’m painting some forks the old SID electric blue colour (2001) to match at the moment… work in progress:

I love getting pics of my GT out, but need better ones…

If they are sealed cartridge bearings I would take it. If there is play in any bushings that it may have, don’t take it. I speak with some experience and I would use that advice with my own bike 🙂

Shimano 2-bolt SPDs on road, hack and 2 x MTBs. Don’t feel any need for road specific with stiff carbon XC MTB shoes.

Specialized Nimbus – durable, £15, easy to change. Seim-slick are for dry dirt IMO, they wear thin quickly on road and puncture much easier. I’ve tried both BTW 🙂

P.S. If you need more tread, have a look at Specialized hemispheres too – my brother uses them as he does tarmac and off road (gravel, nothing extreme) to commute, seem good so far!

The 105 version of this – plus lights nad mudguards. But it is 30 miles one-way, 2-3 times per week.

Freehub internals are the same on road vs mtb for most if not all
manufacturers

Aye, true, but the quicker pickup and light weight are very mtb/road orientated. IIRC the hope, mavic and shimano are identical pickup, so I agree. When I design my own super road and mountain specific hubs I’ll make them specific 🙂

I reckon that road hubs are often quieter because the speed of engagement is less crucial and therefore they need less pawl/springs inside, which also reduces weight. And it obviously depends entirely on the particular hub design!

But you rang them hoping for a discount

Yes, because I may have deserved one. The argument about increasing the premium was an added bonus… my point was that they were trying to charge extra for no justifiable reason, not that I won an argument.

djglover – Member
I can honestly say that this thread has restored my faith in the human race. Its amazing what can be achieved with a little perseverance. Congratulations to all involved. A fantastic day for car insurance customers the world over.

Yes, I know, not the biggest achievement ever, I posted it as I think it is interesting to those who are fitting winter tyres 😉

neilsonwheels – Member
Winter tyres…? Why.?

There are already threads on why winter tyres, lets not go there in this thread…

Just out of curiosity, which bit did you win?

The argument that I should not have to pay more just because I am making my car safer.

Please give me that number! I miss the UK centre with Virgin. Speaking and understanding English are very different!

I suspect that there will be a big difference in the amount of sqiurm with proper tubeless tyres (thicker sidewalls), and therefore people can run lower pressures…

Is this not pointless – you’d have to assume that everybody is running tyres / the same overall volume and sidewall strength, on rims of the same width and that riders are all the same weight!

I’ll add mine – 45-50psi on DT5.1 with panaracer fire XC, down to 40 with larger volume tyres (Specialized Enduro 2.2 or Maxxis Crossmark). Any lower and I tend to hit the rim and/or hate the squirming! This may change when I go tubeless…

In proper winter I’m going for full lenght – had 3/4 last winter, and got frustrated with the gap, plus a lot of full length are thicker and/or windproof, so much warmer. If you ain’t going ot when it’s really really cold, you’ll be happy with 3/4s. IMO 🙂

I’d say you’d be better off on a cheap commuter that can take proper mudguards – even a SS for such a short commute. Edinburgh bike’s Revolution couriers for example, I imagine you could pick them or something similar up for cheap on eBay or the classifieds

Thanks guys. I’ll take a look at all of those in the coming couple of weeks

I’ve just dropped them off with a local firm I managed to find using google… I’m allergic to paying somebody all that labour when I can do 90% myself!

molgrips – fair enough, but I’d say winter tyres are a poor choice for 85% of the year depending on area, but all-season tyres would be at least be decent all year round. Summer tyres in certain places / at certain times just don’t work – if I can’t get up a 1 in 5 hill near my house then they are useless.

If everybody fitted cold weather tyres between say, November and March there would be less accidents, and long term costs shouldn’t be much/any different

loddrik – Member
Couldn’t afford to buy a second set of Tyres for winter but I wouldn’t if I could anyway.

Careful driving negates the need anyway…

I disagree – I’m a careful driver but when stopping distances and grip are significantly reduced (when using summer tyres below 7 degrees C), your driving ability is irrelevant IMO. I see a need to fit cold weather tyres – so I have bought some to be fitted soon.

I don’t understand why the majority are using summer tyres all year round, why not get proper all weather tyres which sit between the two? Surely it is the equivalent of MTBing in mud using semi-slicks?

JAG – Yup, I can see a point there, though IMO it should be up to us to decide on our competence (Darwinism 😆 )

ahwiles – the calipers are leaking from the pistons, contaminating pads for fun half way into a ride and thus not stopping the bike or my girlfriend!

I think I’ll hunt for the correct spare after replacing the brakes, if I can fix them I will!