Second chance for an old frame: Custom Inbred build (Photo heavy)

[Berkley]

About two years ago I built up an Inbred frame out of parts I had laying around and I LOVED it...until it got stolen. So then I built up a Ragley Blue Pig which I like, but not as much as the Inbred. So I hashed out a plan to get another one.

Within a day I scoped out this 18" frame on craigslist:





For only 75 bucks. That's right, seventy-five dollars. For another $40 the seller shipped it from Oregon to New York. It's a little beat up, but that's okay because I have big plans for it.

Total investment: $115.

[Berkley]

The frame is gold. I'm not a big fan of gold, but that's okay because I plan on powder coating this bad boy. Upon receiving the frame, I went to work. You can see in the photos that the previous owner cut off the cable guides, but didn't do a very good job at it. I will be running this as a 1x9 set up, so I WILL need cable guides. The first step was to properly grind those down in preparation to weld new ones.





The rack mounts? Gone. This is a mountain bike and I won't be needing them. The front derailleur cable guide will go next.





Before powder coating, I'll have replacement cable guides welded on, as well as ISCG tabs. I ordered these bits from Paragon Machine Works - they should be here Thursday.

[CS2]

I'm liking this a lot so far.

[sambs827]

before you go any farther, get that gawdawful electrical tape off the chainstay.

[Berkley]

before you go any farther, get that gawdawful electrical tape off the chainstay.

Done. Would you believe that there was a plastic chainstay protector underneath it?

Here's some stuff that came in today...

E.13 Guidering, 32T, 35g



MRP Lopes SL chainguide, 125g


This is where it starts to get interesting...zip tie cable guides!




Test fitting...



Tomorrow I should get the ISCG plate and some more cable guides.

[eugenemtbing]

Dang! Wish I had seen that on Craigslist right here in my town!

[Berkley]

Yesterday my ISCG tabs came in along with more cable guides. And then my welder called me and asked if I wanted to finish the frame that night. So I hopped in the car and two hours later we were at work!


Parts:



The first step was to place the ISCG tab. The I.D. was slightly smaller than the O.D. of the BB shell, so Paul mitered it out - however, the BB shell was a little larger than 1.5" so I got to work with the grinder and took a little more material off.

While I was doing that Paul turned his attention to the brake mount. It looked awful and even though some nice fellas in the frame building forum said it was structurally sound he laid a bead over it to clean it up a little.

Brake mount before and after:



While the ISCG tabs now fit over the shell, the backside against the chainstay also needed to be ground down so we could get the required spacing. Then we measured to make sure it was at the right angle and marked it:


Welding the tabs:


I've heard of ISCG tabs that were just tacked on breaking off upon impact. That's not going to be a problem here!


Once the ISCG tabs were mounted, we ground down the rest of the existing cable guides on the top tube. Paul suggested relocating the cables under the top tube for a cleaner look. I was game.


He also moved the seatstay cable guides for smoother routing.


Finally, he was able to fill the rack mounts and v-brake mounts, I still need to grind those smooth.

[Berkley]

Before powdercoating I wanted to build the bike up and put a few miles in to make sure everything works as planned. So that was today's project...

E13 ring and chainguide on:


New SLX brakes mounted up:






27.5lbs ready to ride!


I can already tell the difference between this and the Ragley. For some reason I just like the geometry on this bike better! Seems more nimble, more lively. Definitely not as burly, but I have a fully for those days.

The hoses are WAY long and need to be trimmed. And not all of the randomly colored parts are permanent. I'm saving fit and finish for final assembly after the frame gets coated.

[Mr.P]

As a former owner of an Inbred, I'm diggin this project. Awesome work!

Subscribed.

P

[FirstinLastout]

Damn that bike's lookin' great as it is, it'll be smokin' once finished!
Great build!

[Berkley]

So after I got the bike assembled I had to do some product testing to make sure everything was in order before coating. First ride was a mellow mix of rail trail and semi-frozen singletrack.



The second ride was a 3 day weekend at Ray's beating the pulp out of everything. Unfortunately the only video of me riding it is on the pump track (which will have to suffice!)

And in summary all the mechanical aspects were perfect so when I got back I disassembled everything and dropped off the frame at K&S powdercoating on Wednesday.

[Berkley]

Having dropped the frame off on Wednesday morning I called the K&S guys on Thursday afternoon to clarify some of the details, and to my pleasant shock was informed that the frame was already done! I immediately drove over and picked it up, then headed to the bike shop to unwrap it and examine everything.


About the color
The color is called Granny Smith Green. It's a two stage coating: a base coat followed by a clear. The base coat is what's called a dormant color - it goes on really dark and looks downright horrible. The clear coat makes everything come alive, brightens it up and brings out the metallic sparkle. It's not particularly unique as K&S had it in stock. It IS however, EXACTLY what I wanted.

About the Powdercoater
I only got quotes from two different coaters. The first was K&S powdercoating in Poughkeepsie, NY. They're less than ten minutes from the bike shop, have done bikes before and received great reviews from other customers I talked to. The president Tim quoted me $225 for this color (a two stage job) and took the time to show me their portfolio and talk about what I was looking for. I also emailed John at Precision Powdercoating in Connecticut after seeing the bike portfolio on his website. He emailed me back immediately (on a Sunday night) and quoted me $160. I decided to go local since shipping and transport would even out the price difference. There WAS a third outfit I visited, but wasn't impressed with their operation and didn't even ask for a price quote.

I'm happy with the decision I made. The frame was 99% perfect. They taped off EVERYTHING - BB shell, head tube, seat tube, ISCG tabs, even bottle cage braze-ons and derailleur hanger threads. Nevertheless I did the usual prep work anyway.

The BB needed facing




So first I chased the threads


Then I faced the shell


I also faced the head tube. No reaming required here.






With the prep work done, the frame was ready to go! But since the paint is so immaculate, here are some more gratuitous frame shots...

[Berkley]

Assembly. Pretty self explanatory...











I added new RaceFace Atlas bars, which even at 785mm wide are still 30g lighter than the Bontrager bar I had on there (690mm, 370g). I also added new SLX rotors, trimmed the brake hoses to fit and added a chainstay protector. Weight is 27.64lbs with XT pedals.

I would love to say that the bike is finished, but it's not. I have a 60mm stem on there, mostly because it's black. In reality I'll probably order a black 40mm stem since that's what I'm used to (I have a white one) and it just feels 'right.' I'd like lighter tires to differentiate this from my fully - most likely Nobby Nics in a 2.25, tubeless. And the red decals on the Revelation clash with my green frame - perhaps I'll get some green ones made up!

[Furka]

What a good job

[Slash5]

Amazing job and post. Love the color.
What size is the fork? Looks long.

Maybe you can answer a question that has come up here before - are the upper rack mounts brazed on or welded?

[rustybkr]

Looks really good

[Berkley]

Amazing job and post. Love the color.
What size is the fork? Looks long.

Maybe you can answer a question that has come up here before - are the upper rack mounts brazed on or welded?

140mm fork - I may drop it to 130. The rack mounts are brazed on.

[sambs827]

get that thing up to oney next week if the snow's gone. no class next week, and i'll be in town bummin around. still got the Epic to shred as well.

[cpfitness]

nice job with this and thanks for the info on the powder coating. I live in nyc and have been thking of getting some powdercoating done on a couple of frames. looks like they did great work

[eugenemtbing]

I am saving up $ for a Fatty and thinking of selling one of my 26er frames, if anyone is interested in a build-up like the one shown in this thread. 20" white Inbred with swap-out dropouts, in great shape. CK headset currently on it. PM if interested.

[Kisherceg]

the fork travel is way too long for my taste, but otherwise it is really nice work! you definitely need this, though:
On-One Headtube Badge Yorkshire Rose For Steel Frame

[Divino]

nice job on the powder coating and installation of an icg. bike looks sexy !