great thread--now to get out the camera...
Excellent thread. I have been meaning to break out the camera & take some pix's of mine. My wife kids me about the time I spend on my bike -- kind of reminds of a custom tag I saw on a nicing looking Subura WRX -- "OTHRWOM'N".
Anyway, I started with a used hard-tail just over 2 years ago to see if I would like to MTB. Well, I proceeded to upgrade most every component over the following 1.5 years, primarily buying used parts off of ebay. In March 2005, I finally picked up a '02 NRS frame that came with a Cane Creek Cloud 9 shock and the 4.5" rocker arms ;-) Of course the frame was disc only, so I had to upgrade my wheelset too...
Here's the build that I have ended up with:
- '02 NRS 20.5" frame (red frame with some black) w/ Cane Creek Cloud 9 & 4.5" rockers
- K2 - Noleen Mega-Air Shock (100 mm)
- CrossMax XL (primary) / Shimano WH-M959 (secondary) wheelsets
- XT 760 cassette (11-34) / XTR 953 cassette
- SRAM 9.0 Half-pipe shifters
- X.9 Rear Der, XTR 960 Frt Der, SRAM PC-99 chain
- RaceFace Next LP cranks (carbon w/ red that matches the frame ;-) w/ UN-73 BB
- RaceFace rings (46-34-24)
- PD-M737 pedals
- Maxm MX-6 carbon 1.5" riser handle bars
- Avid Mechanical disk brakes (165mm rotors) w/ Avid SD-7 levers
- WTB Rocket Laser Ti seat and carbon seat post (no name from icycleusa.com)
About the only things that I have not replaced are the stem and the headset cap (it still says Trek ;-) It is fun to ride and is most appreciated on some of the rooted & rutted single track. Anyway, I need to get some pix's of it and wish I already had them. I did manage to do an endo onto the pavement a couple of weeks ago, and cracked the plastic gear indicators on the shifters -- I was lucky that was all I cracked--ouch
I have not been able to weigh it but I am curious to know its weight. As I mentioned, only a few of the parts were purchased new at retail prices (cassette, chain, shifters, rear der). Most of the items came from individuals or ediscount.com. Including the 2nd wheelset, I have about $1350 in the bike (plus a few extra $$'s for cables, etc.). For most of the items, I figured out what I wanted by reading the mtbr forums & reviews, watched the prices on ebay, and then waited for a good deal. I got the WH-M959 wheelset (not to be mixed up with the really sweet WH-M965) w/ M953 cassette for an incredible deal off ebay--you can tell that chain had come off the cassette on the rear wheel but its not bad enough to merit replacing any of the spokes--they make a great 'back-up' setup ;-) They are not the lightest wheels (1900g-2000g) but the XTR hubs work well. I keep trail tires on the Crossmax XL's and less agressive / road tires on the WH-M959's.
When I upgraded the hardtail to a 9-spd, I had a local shop do it. When I got the NRS frame, I borrowed a friend's bike tool set and built out the bike myself. Lots of fun.
Anyway, sorry about writing the book -- you just got me started. Pix's to follow...