K2 / Proflex Riders Group
General => Tech Forum => Topic started by: crxstasy on February 25, 2013, 07:28:00 pm
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Heres my 98 k2 proflex 5500 carbon that i just recently finished. Took me a bit but well worth it!! Heres a run down of all the goods...
Body: 98 k2 proflex 5500 carbon frame, race face next sl carbon bars, race face evolve stem, aerus carbon seat post and omni 21g carbon seat clamp, fsa pig headset
Drive: 2012 Sram x9 shifters, derailleurs and cranks. sram pg1091 (xo) chain and pg 1070 10 speed cassete so its a 30 speed now and crank brothers egg beater 3s
Suspension: 2012 Manitou R7 front fork and 2008 Manitou swinger 3 way rear shock
Brakes: 2012 Avid BB-7s, 2012 Avid FR-7 levers and jagwire ripcord brake kit. Also purchased a Hammerhead for the rear disc conversion and painted it to match the bike as well
Wheels & tires: 26" 2013 Easton EA90 XCs with Kenda small block eights (1.9 rear, 2.1 front)
After almost $2000, alotta my time and effort and some yelling and screaming (yes...at the bike. haha) I am very happy with the end result. Hope you like it as much as i do
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Another pic
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another
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I had to make four separate posts because of the picture size.
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Here's one of the hammerhead
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Excellent! Ive bought Easton wheels for my 4500 build as well. What does it ride like?
Chris
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The pictures you see were a build from a brand new, never built carbon frame. No forks, no rear swingarm, no headset....bare frame. Other than the fine tuning of the brakes and derailleurs I did the entire build myself with some help from an equally knowledgeable friend so I am very proud of it even moreso for that reason. I also had an aluminum 4000 that was completely stock and compared to the stock parallax hubs, sun rims and dirt bike tires (haha) including the great looks, the EA90 XCs with the M1 hubs and the small block 8s roll for days!!! Its like riding a different bike. I havent gotten much ride time on them (shoulder surgery this past october and a pretty crappy winter) but what ive done so far is night and day far better and before i purchased them i did a ton of research and got nothing but great feedback on them (aside from spending $2200 on the EC90s which sheds some more weight and are supposedly a little stronger). I spent a little more than a quarter of that on them. I have friends that spent $3-5000 on bikes and mine is comparable or better performing for around $2000 so I cant complain one bit plus when i purchased my 4000 i fell in love with these bikes but needed something that could handle a little heavier riding than the stock components so decided to do this build. Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun with your build. If you need any help or info let me know.
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I purchased a 5500 this last year and live it so much that I bought a 4000 frame to build up, an old 856 for parts and a hardly used (15 miles) 856 with carbon girvin forks with the spring upgrade. I love these bikes and can go anywhere my friends with expensive bikes can go. People ask me all the time a out it. I'm currently building the 4000 to be my "road" bike. I'll try to post photos, but I am currently having trouble with the size. Great looking bike.
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This is the 5500 (found it in a pawn shop) from the previous reply. It has Bomber forks and Magura Proline hydraulic rim brakes.
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And here is the 856 I just got that I mentioned above.
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Awesome crxstasy. Really nice!
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Not sure why my images post upside down until you click on them. Crxstasy, that is one of the best looking 5500's I've seen. Well done.
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Nice job crx.... I'm about half way in my 4500c build atm...I have an easton havoc wheelset I'm waiting on atm, fsa carbon 3x9 crankset and bb, controltech carbon stem, fsa orbit extreme aheadset, fsa carbon seat post, selle italia SL saddle, marzocchi 55 tst2 fork, sram xo 9sp black/red carbon rear derailleur, easton havoc handlebar, rockshox monarch rt3 hv mid tune rear shock... and need to get my brakes n front derailleur, wheels and tubes to just about get it trail worthy...
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Thanks so much for all the positive replies. Didn't know what I would get. These are classic bikes so I didn't know if what I did would be frowned upon on a site like this. I'm a to each his own kinda person so I'm glad I got all the positive replies. Thanks everybody. I am selling the 4000 if anyone is interested. 8)
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No sweat the current upgrades on the classic bikes. My 855 has a bunch of parts that never came on it. Coilover shocks, 9cog rear. Hell, my 64 Fairlane has four wheel disc and I'm building fuel injection for it. They look stock to the less knowledgeable but they perform more to present standards.
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Nice!! Yea nothing of mine goes untouched. I'm not one to leave well enough alone. Ever!!!There's no mistaking that my stuff is my stuff. My bikes, my cars, my motorcycles. Gotta make it your own...whatever it may be.
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Nice job crx.... I'm about half way in my 4500c build atm...I have an easton havoc wheelset I'm waiting on atm, fsa carbon 3x9 crankset and bb, controltech carbon stem, fsa orbit extreme aheadset, fsa carbon seat post, selle italia SL saddle, marzocchi 55 tst2 fork, sram xo 9sp black/red carbon rear derailleur, easton havoc handlebar, rockshox monarch rt3 hv mid tune rear shock... and need to get my brakes n front derailleur, wheels and tubes to just about get it trail worthy...
I ended up saving the 9sp gear for my 5000 frame and have new SRAM XO 10sp parts (and disc brakes)coming instead... I forgot to mention that I also have a set of Easton Vice wheels (15mm thru-axle front, 9mm qr rear) set aside for my 5000 build so I'll need another Hammerhead adapter for that frame as well...
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Heres my 98 k2 proflex 5500 carbon that i just recently finished. Took me a bit but well worth it!! Heres a run down of all the goods...
After almost $2000, alotta my time and effort and some yelling and screaming (yes...at the bike. haha) I am very happy with the end result. Hope you like it as much as i do
Nice ride, and well worth the effort and expense in my opinion. I have been comming across this bike a lot on the internet in my search for info on my new to me '98 k2 proflex 3000 and your 5500 is sweeeeeeet.
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Thanks singletrac. Im building a 4000 also. Tryin to find swingarm pivot bushings n cant find em ANYWHERE!!! Complete teardown and Got the frame powdercoated white. looks sweet. May sell it, may build a street rider out of it...not sure yet
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nice...as i mentioned in your other thread, I hope ya get the parts you need for that swingarm.... the 854 I custom built back in 94-95 is still in awesome shape, riding it on and off road, but the marzocchi xc300 fork is getting tired. I'm looking for an affordable vector 1 or 2, which I wanted to originally buy, but was out of my price range at the time of the build... my 5000 frame is all scratched and scuffed too, and been debating what I want to do for new paint for it... there's a crapton of autobody shops around here that do custom paint, but without a doubt, want a powdercoat done, and thinking of a 2 tone job (red/black) if I can find someone reasonable to do the job...
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an update to that, my easton havoc wheelset arrived today, I am pleased w/ em..real nice. my 2012 black/carbon sram xo 10sp rear deraileur (also have some red/black billet bearing jockey wheels to install) , avid juicy cr brakes w/ 160 rotors (buying 203 and 180 rotors w/ brackets to upgrade) also arrived within the last couple of days...waiting on my red/black sram xo 3x10 shifters, xo 3x10 front deraileur (yay finally).... all I need left to finish the build, is a set of tires and presta tubes (I prefer), crankset w/ bb, 10sp cassette and chain, shift cable housings and get everything installed ;)
...then it's on to starting my 5000 build, which currently, I only have an Easton Vice wheelset, an FSA aheadset and red/black Sram 9sp rear derailleur for it and an Sram 3x9 x.9 front derailleur also on the way...
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nice...as i mentioned in your other thread, I hope ya get the parts you need for that swingarm.... the 854 I custom built back in 94-95 is still in awesome shape, riding it on and off road, but the marzocchi xc300 fork is getting tired. I'm looking for an affordable vector 1 or 2, which I wanted to originally buy, but was out of my price range at the time of the build... my 5000 frame is all scratched and scuffed too, and been debating what I want to do for new paint for it... there's a crapton of autobody shops around here that do custom paint, but without a doubt, want a powdercoat done, and thinking of a 2 tone job (red/black) if I can find someone reasonable to do the job...
I have found that It winds up costing as much and sometimes less for the powder coat than paint plus its gonna take whatever u can give it...just abt. All the work into stripping and rebuilding to have chips and scratches after a few rides would just piss me off. Go wit the powdercoat
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I've learned over the years that if its metal, powder coat it!! 8)
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Nice job crx.... I'm about half way in my 4500c build atm...I have an easton havoc wheelset I'm waiting on atm, fsa carbon 3x9 crankset and bb, controltech carbon stem, fsa orbit extreme aheadset, fsa carbon seat post, selle italia SL saddle, marzocchi 55 tst2 fork, sram xo 9sp black/red carbon rear derailleur, easton havoc handlebar, rockshox monarch rt3 hv mid tune rear shock... and need to get my brakes n front derailleur, wheels and tubes to just about get it trail worthy...
just an update, almost everything so far is installed... fsa carbon bar ends, xo 10spd gripshifters, avid cr brake levers and 185mm front disc, 165mm rear disc, both xo 10spd derailleurs, rockshox monarch rt3 rear shock which I used a pair of needle bearing mounting kits (red spacers) from Real World Cycling...great communication to get the right hardware needed (http://enduroforkseals.com/ (http://enduroforkseals.com/)), and looks great compared to the old bushings n such lol... all I have left I'm waiting on is the sram gxp bottom bracket, a set of panaracer xc fire 2.1 tires (red sidewalls) for my easton havoc wheels and xo 3x10 44-32-22 175mm cranks, paint my hammerhead disc brake adapter and I can finish up the build ;)
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Sweet Shaitan. Sounds like u got urself a sweet ride. Can't wait to c some pics
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Excellent! Ive bought Easton wheels for my 4500 build as well. What does it ride like?
Chris
An update from ur question. Rolled the small block 8s for a bit and was getting some front end wash while cornering. I read an article in mt bike action that said u can roll a slant six on the front and the small block 8 on the rear and significantly upgrade traction without sacrificing speed and roll resistance. Just got my slant 6 yesterday so I'll keep u updated.
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Are you still talking about bikes? It sounds like you're talking about car engines now.
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small block 8.... my sbf smokes both rear tires as expected from my build. Those are odd names for tires.
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Kenda 2.35 small block eight and kenda 2.35 slant six. Both with dtc(dual tread compound) look em up if u don't know. They're badass
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yep, looked them up a while back. They appear similar to some really old tires back when compounds were pretty much all crap. We've come a long way from Smoke & Dart.
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Oh. Well yes, you can combine any tires you want. For a long time I had two different front-specific tires on my bike, with the rear-mounted tire turned around backwards, because it worked better than the rear-specific tires from both sets.
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yep, looked them up a while back. They appear similar to some really old tires back when compounds were pretty much all crap. We've come a long way from Smoke & Dart.
Well no matter what, I say to each his own and secondly I'm sure the terrain is much different here on Long Island than over there in Washington. Thirdly, I'm no tire expert so was just looking for some feedback, suggestions etc and answering a question abt how my original tire setup ran.
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Don't bother taking offense, I was referring to a long time ago when about all you got was some different knob shapes and single compound tires that were either hard or soft. They're names occasionally didn't make a lot of sense but some of them worked okay and it was a monthly competition for our wallets.
The present designs might look a bit like some of the old ones but they will out perform them hugely due to superior design tweaks and engineered compounds that work with those designs. Some of us in the shop never bought tires since there were guys and girls reading magazines who had to have the latest style on their ride monthly.
Continue on with your build and let us know how stuff works. It's always interesting to follow individual iterations on the same basic machines.
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None taken. As you can see I'm kinda new to mt biking as a whole, not just these bikes. Only have been riding mt bikes for abt 2yrs (used to race bmx). As I said suggestions, feedback and just knowledge in general is always appreciated esp from those who have alotta yrs of experimenting and tweaking.
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My first mtb was a Sekai and the fork was a bontrager. That fork was brutally stiff beyond belief. No suspension on that bike unless you let air out of the tires. I rode it from Seattle to Portland one weekend to find out just how badly a butt could hurt. Wasn't the intent, it just worked out that way. Before that, I rode a Bianchi Grizzly on quite a few test rides on tank trails at Ft Lewis WA while a buddy and I ran the bike shop there. Even then my butt wanted a full susser. The first one I rode was a pre 95 Proflex a friend had as a loaner when his Fisher was snapped in two. We kept marvelling at how much faster it was through the rough stuff on one of our favorite poaching trails.
That was what prompted me to buy an 855 new, which I have upgraded and still ride.