View Article  Out Door 2011
I already should have sold a bunch of stuff this year but I am super lame with such tasks normally, preferring to indulge in other more exciting projects and hobbies and just 'talking the talk' when it comes to ACTUALLY photographing bike parts and selling them

This guy was a REAL super lazy deal. I had stripped my little M1000 Cannondale maybe a year ago and sold off the Manitou III's and probably a few other bits too and Mr Frame was just hanging up in the Man Cave alongside a bunch of other frames that I keep telling myself I will build and ride one day when out of the blue I got an email via the Goatsurfer website asking about the M1000 and would I consider selling. He was a new member of RetroBike from Germany.

I said "yeah maybe, but I have to remove the stuck M900 brake bushes first" and dithered around for a few weeks before taking some pix and sending them him, along with serial numbers and frame measurements. Time passed and negotiations were about complete then I had to leave the country for a while but guess what, I pulled my finger out my ass and shipped the frame this week and today he landed in Germany...his new home, so look out for a project build on RetroBike sometime in the new year.


Now to get rid of some more crap.....




View Article  eBay Stock Dumping...contd
Clearing more 'stock' on eBay...this lot flew off the shelves and into new homes around the planet last week...

Answer Manitou 2's, XT Thumbies and some very rare Pace RC36 Evo Pro Class Limited....gone!!!






View Article  Local Rideout - Rowney Warren
Local RetroBike mini-meet @ Rowney Warren (Chicksands)

Kudos to the Overbury's Pioneer with Rollercams...
























View Article  EWR Project - Phase Thirteen
After several months 'off' building bikes I finally completed one of the last tasks on this project, switching the 'test' stem for the proper Syncros CattleHead and cutting the steerer down on the new AccuTrax forks. In reality it didn't take too long, most time was spent employing the '2p trick' to separate the Syncros stem from the Race Face Air Alloy bars that had been sitting on my CD shelf at home for the last six months .

Measured twice just to make sure, knocked the old Star Nut through and out the bottom then got the Saw Guide out and sliced off just over an inch from the steerer, quick rub down with emery paper and on with the spacers and stem....dialled in perfectly at my magic 590mm dropout to bottom of bars measurement I have on all my bikes . A few more minutes faffing with preload and here we are....a nice pair of Period Correct Answer Alumilite DH bars from 1994 fitted to the NOS Syncros CattleHead stem.








View Article  Salcey Forest Sunday Mini-Meet (July)
Apologies for the lack of bike content here recently, been concentrating on 'other hobbies' that are very much Off Topic for this Blog. Bike builds have all but stalled but am getting out and about now and again on some rides and need to do more riding !!

Last Sunday was a little jaunt over at Salcey Forest where we have a couple of non-technical, scenic loops we do on a Sunday morning sometimes. On the ride was my EWR, a Klein and a Park Pre.

Loop One - Ride details

Loop Two - Ride details







View Article  Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sunday was a RetroBike Mini Meet for three Northants members (me, Gruff and GT-Steve). We did two loops in the Salcey Forest area of Northamptonshire, 1 at 9.47miles and a wind down loop of 4.50 miles.

The first loop became massively entertaining when GT-Steve overcooked it on a loose gravelly downhill section and vaulted into a large rocky pothole. What ensued was an arm/leg flailing 'rodeo' ride where he managed somehow to stay on the bike and assume control. At the bottom of the descent his seatpost was slammed right down in the seat tube and the front canti's were nearly torn off 

Loop One: CLICK ME for trip details

Loop Two: CLICK ME for trip details


The day was quite overcast so these pix were 'dipped' into PhotoShop for some tweaks on Colour Saturation.....this, like Steve's downhill run were a little 'overcooked' so apologies for the
slightly psychedelic 'LSD Glow' to some of the shots


Farm bridge crossing the M1




The M1



Glowing crops...




Mellow Yellow




Whoops...Rodeo damage




The damaged Alpinestars




Gruff's Kona


View Article  Vintage Pins...
As well as hoarding vintage Mountain Bikes I also hoard Mountain Bike memorabilia/collectibles so I was quick to pounce on these neat Rocky Mountain pins featuring the original 'Whistler' logo from back in the day.

I scored these from a fellow RetroBiker in Canada, neat huh?


View Article  Mystery Bike
This is a genuine request for help in identifying this bike. It's steel, most likely the 531 as stated on the decals (it is 'pingy' steel and appears to be butted) and it is almost certainly British. What's not sure is the framebuilder....is it a vintage Overbury's, a very old Saracen or is it something a little more esoteric and bespoke?

It belongs to a fellow RetroBiker and is a very fine build indeed, check out the circa 1980 M700 Shimano Deer Head, the amazing Nitto stem and the H-U-G-E amount of space behind the seat tube

If you can positively ID this bike then contact me via Goatsurfer.com or via RetroBike


























View Article  Sunday Ride @ Salcey Forest
Due to previously reported 'issues' bike riding hasn't featured on my agenda for some time but now things have changed I intend to get out and 'do a bit' again.

I figured the best way for this was to start gentle so I hooked up with fellow RetroBiker GT-Steve for a few laps of Salcey Forest ) which was probably the last time I rode a bike back at the start of March).

It was the start of a VERY hot day for the UK so we started the ride at 10am and did 17.674 miles of hot dusty trails. GT-Steve tore a valve off his front tube about 5 minutes out but after he switched tubes we had no more 'mechanicals'

I did a lap of the woods on his Alpinestars Cro-Mega and I must say it rides brilliantly, much better than what I was riding on this day...




View Article  EWR Project - Phase Twelve
OK so the NOS Accutrax forks went back in ok, first time this bike has had the correct sized forks in it since I bought it!!

The steerer is still uncut so short term I have switched the stem and bars so I can use normal stem spacers until I am 100% happy with the length, then I will cut it down. I couldn't use my current stem as it's a Syncros Cattlehead with one of those pesky angled tops on it, preventing me from using stem spacers above the stem

I'm thinking about modifying a stem spacer but that involves diagonally and accurately cutting a stem spacer to work with the angled top of the Cattlehead stem and I only really need to do this if I'm not 100% happy with the bar height.


So for now we have this ugly silver Specialized stem paired up with some VERY cool and scarce Answer Alumilite DH bars (still with the original gold shim ). I actually really love these bars and might stick with them, the only thing I'm not sold on is their colour as the rest of the bike has a black and yellow thing going on...


Here's another neat trick to use with Oury Grips on a hot day...roll them off 'condom/prophylactic' style and roll them back on the new bars.....yep, you guessed it......'condom/prophylactic' style


Rolling rubber...





Rolling it back on...





Continuing with the 'body parts' theme, what comes off the bike just looks sick....in fact do I need to spell it out or shall I just say "Pass the Butt Plugs"






So here we are with the temporary stem and bars and a mile of steerer tube...just while I convince myself the bar height is 500% correct...then the hacksaw comes out





So, for the first time ever maybe () I have two bikes in working order (just need to get the other five done now....)




View Article  EWR Project - Phase Eleven
So, where were we.......?

Ok, yeah, about a month ago I had just got my NOS Accutrax back from the paintshop and then all hell broke loose at home, so I'm picking up where I left off...

My friendly neighbourhood decal man had mailed me a bunch of repro decals a while back so task one was to get the new forks 'decalled up'. I opted for black screen print onto a single clear sheet this time instead of pre-spaced lettering on a clear sheet as they are more robust, especially on the outside edge of a fork, plus I got two sets so I have a spare to use later when 'trail damage' trashes the first set.


Fatty & Skinny - 1" and 1 1/8" Accutrax




New decals




Spot the difference...




Decals now on, the next task was fitting the Chris King crown race to the forks, this was done using my custom made 'Crown Race Setting Tool'




Perfect fit, ready for the EWR frame now...


View Article  EWR Project - Phase Ten
The Paradoxes of Motion (Zeno's paradoxes)

"In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.”

—Aristotle, Physics VI:9


So, we ALL know i'm slow, but life is throwing shit at me currently so slow has slowed down to 'More than slow' so bear with me and try not to fall asleep

EWR Project....remember that in the depths of your mind?...well, here's another small step for mankind. My NOS 1 1/8" Accutrax are now back from the paintshop and the fresh decals have been ordered. I'm currently trying to figure out how to cut down a stem spacer diagonally so I can play with bar heights using a Syncros Cattlehead stem....then we are in business

In the meantime....here's some freshly painted Accutrax that have been out of harms way while the clearcoat hardened.






View Article  It's Tool Time...(Contd)
There's a bunch of 'heavy' stuff going on at Goat Central, hence the lack of Blog posts but here's a quick update on the continuing 'Tool Time' post from a few weeks back .

The second task on that list (M100 'Dale - Remove 1 1/4" Chris King NoLogo (bike being sold)) is now complete and I have this beautiful 3DV King No-Logo headset back in the spares box. Harsh economic times says sell this badboy but my heart says I should keep it stashed as locating another one of these would cost $$$ if I ever have another 3DV project


View Article  Resurrection Joe...
'I said hep cats, sinners, brats
Suck on this for sunshine
This is the resurrection
Yea, of the good times
I said hep cats, sinners, brats
Sunshine
This is the resurrection
Yea, yea, yea, of the good times...'

No time to play recently but some hastily grabbed time allowed my first love to be rebuilt from the pile of parts that has been thrown in my shed for the last 8 months. It's a shame to have such a nice bike all broke up so now its back up and running, alive an kicking....maybe one day I will get to take it out for a ride....


No more words....just lots of pictures.....enjoy
































View Article  EWR-less.....temporarily :-(
For the first time in six months I have been separated from my EWR

It has gone to the paintshop for a few weeks while the new Answer Accutrax get colour matched to the frame. It's a task that needs doing but I'm gonna miss that legendary ride and will have to bring this old friend back from the dead as a stand in.

Sadly it does not currently look as nice as it does in the picture below, its been partially stripped and flung in the back of my shed since September 2009 when I started a wild love affair with my yellow EWR, turning my back on my first love......my Pace RC200

Never fear, it will be back but for starters this is how it DID look earlier last year:


View Article  Fork Gathering...
'Stock Checking' tonight revealed a glut of forks stashed at Goat Central so why not dig them out for a little group shot....its nice seeing just over a decade of fork design layed out before your eyes too....Answer Accu Trax from 1988 and RC36 Pro Class Ltd Edition from 1999






View Article  It's Tool Time...
"Does everybody know what time it is?"
It's Tool Time but sadly I have no "Tool Time girl" to assist me with my duties....

Ok, so there's a mega 'Headset switchfest' due to take place here at Goat Central, here's the moves, try and keep up

EWR - Switch Chris King Devolution for Chris King Classic (now I have the correct forks..)
M100 'Dale - Remove 1 1/4" Chris King NoLogo (bike being sold)
Funk Pro Comp - Switch non period-correct Chris King Classic for Chris King NoLogo
M700 'Dale - Remove remains of WTB Greaseguard headset (bike being sold).

I like to use the correct tools instead of Caveman Techniques when I can so the following weapons will be deployed...Star Nut Tool, Headset removal tool, Headset Press.


Last nights job was the EWR, the current Accutrax have been sold to another collector and I need to convert back to 1 1/8" headset so I can use my new Accutrax


"More power!"



Brakes off



Magura mounts off



Bars and stem off



Just the pesky crown race to remove



No more riding my EWR for a while

View Article  Incoming....
I know I am not supposed to buying, I am supposed to be selling but............sometimes things come along that you just HAVE to have and some of these are just that, the rest are 'just in case' purchases (well, a man can't have too many items of M650 DX laying around can he?......).

First things first, we have a NOS M650 DX Rear Mech in the most handy Long Cage version...just a 'spare' you know....





Secondly we have a used M650 DX Rear Mech, again in Long Cage flavour and great for spare parts or fitting to a beater.





Thirdly and getting cooler by the minute we have a set of Syncros Revolution cranks in Compact Drive......about bloody time too as I have spent embarrassingly large amounts of time trying to track one of these badboys down for my EWR and this will be among the final pieces of the jigsaw required to complete that project. They are missing a few items which is a bummer cos I'll have to rob them from some of other sets of Revolutions but maybe I can live with that......just





Ok, now these ARE special. Firstly they are Answer Accutrax in 1 1/8" flavour, something I have been hunting for since this time last year and only found these in California back in November. It took a while to piece the deal together but they have now arrived in the UK and I can set to work getting them ready for my EWR.

Maybe the cooler part of this story is these are technically NOS and.....wait for it.....hand made by Chris Herting only last year
.

The story goes that he found a bunch of Accu Trax legs laying around in some dusty storage facility and word got out, he figured there might not be much demand but rumour has it the demand was HUGE and he set about making them up in 'custom' variations. This set have passed thru a couple of collectors hands before arriving at Goat Central but believe me, you can still smell the 'new metal' smell and they are spotless.

Naturally I will be sending these to my trusty painter soon to get them matched to my yellow EWR before getting them decalled up and fitted on the bike.....these are so cool and I am so pleased I finally got a pair





View Article  The tide has turned...
There's been way too much 'Goods Inwards' over the last 2 years and My Cup Runneth Over as they said in the Hebrew Bible so, three months later than planned the first items have left the Goat Shed

This week this lovely Syncros Cattleprod quill stem left my 'stores' where it has sat untouched since I bought it back in 2007....'just in case' (). The neat thing is this....the guy I bought it from three years ago was looking for one last week on RetroBike so I sold it back to him .

There's a big bunch of top drawer parts soon to be leaving the Goat Shed in the next few weeks, including bike frames, 2010 is the year of the cull







View Article  Frank, it's a Revolution...
Todays post is just for my 'virtual Buddy' Frank who lives in Canada and is a lover of vintage Canadian bike components, as is yours truly!!

I owe him some information and am famously slow at performing tasks like this so I figured, surprise Frank and also do a little piece on these, my most favourite of vintage MTB cranks. The Revolution Crank first showed it's face in the 1991 Pro-Series Component Group (as far as I can remember) and it stayed around for several years with Syncros eventually making Road and Compact Drive versions. Material wise the early Revs were made from tubular Columbus Nivacrom and weighed 400g, which at the time was pretty damn light. Later on they were constructed from Tru Temper OX4 and tipped the scales at 410g.

The cranks were cold forged at 125 ton pressure which was supposed to make the metal even harder and stronger.

Syncros Cranks are either loved or hated, after all they are rather bland and boring looking when compared to something bright and garish like Kooka trash or Grafton etc, but they do the business and are very strong. They don't look good on every bike but are a good match for any early Rocky Mountain, Brodie, Offroad Toad etc and they also look kind a neat on my EWR

For some unknown reason the value of these has gone sky high in the last year or so and its not uncommon for these to change hands on eBay for insane money, in fact a NOS set sold in Germany with the elusive Crank 'o' Matic crank bolts for nearly £400 just after Christmas 2009.

I am lucky to have three pairs of these, well in fact when I started typing this post I only had two pairs but I've just received news on closing a deal for a third pair so I now have two pairs in Standard Drive (110bcd) and one pair in Compact Drive (94bcd)

So, Frank....to get back to you, here are some pix for you, take note of the inner chainring bolt pix. The bolt is 14mm long by the way, let me know via RetroBike if you need any more info