Upgrading The Beast.

NewRiderMan

Well, as time goes on and I ride my bike, the tinkerer in me continues to thump on the inside of my skull saying "Hey dude, I bet this thing would really fly if you were to lighten the frame a bit. Strip the pain off and put on a light coat of Red. Might lose as much as a pound."

Or, "Hey, that front wheel doesn't look like it is running true.... Might need to look at that."

Well, today, my old ride dumped me HARD, right in the middle of the trail I ride, and right on top of a big ol' root. Simply stated, this bike is not "set-up" to do much more than tackle only the smoothest and well maintained roadways. Not for bushwhacking. Alas, I was born a bushwhacker, and a bushwhacker I'll always be.

My "trail" is not all that bad, it has one rough section on its 1.5 mile length, and I can usually just power over it. This section in question has some exposed roots on a sloped hill.

So, the tinkerer in me started thinking. "There must, repeat MUST be a tinker to prevent that!!!" So, I took a trip to town (in my truck..) and had a lookyloo at the upgrade offerings. I'm riding a barebones rig, so I plan to completely do it up.

Today, I gave the beast 5 coats of red spray (cheap paint, but it works). And, when fundage is available, I'll be putting new front and rear rolling assemblies on it. tougher rims, better tubes, and some sweet knobby rubber to go on there as well...

It may seem like a lot of effort, and yes I DO know that a new Mtn Bike is as little as $75 for a better rig that what I have, and it would be trail ready. But, alas I am in love with this bike, and to just replace it will be denying my tinkering side so much enjoyment.

I'm also considering putting a backup front brake on there operated by hand. Just in case the old rearward jam fails, I could just put the squeeze on the lever and I could come to a [somewhat] safe stop. I have a couple bikes to scavenge out for parts, and I'm betting somewhere in the pile, I could find a used front cal in there without major issue. The reason is simple safety, I'd hate to be tooling along my little trail and need my brake when it decides to break...

At this point, I've done very little more than sand off some paint, and spray on some more! I didn't bother to remove the wheel and tire assemblies, as I'm planning to replace them, in other words, ignore the slightly red areas of the tires...

This is five coats of Fire Red, with Metallic Silver on the handlebars;




Not bad, although I have seen better paint jobs, after I put some clear on there, it should look ok for beating around in the woods.

I'll do my best to keep the forum updated with the progress of the upgrades as I get around to them.