Another 856 Rides Again!

[will]

There are few things more satisfying than bringing a fine machine back to life. Right now it's at 90% with only a few items left to do...
And this one's a beauty:

The Alex rims look foxy in black with the blackwall tires.
Definitely need to strip & polish the seatstays Maybe I'll just strip the whole thing to bare aluminum like Simon.
Also adding black riser bars & Avid levers.
The Manitou shock is proving to be quite nice - not too bobby.
Really happy with the rear disc adapter. Rock solid.
Check it out: http://idriders.com/cgi-bin/album_k2.pl?photo=Will/856_Rear_Disco.JPG

[K2perv]

beautiful!  nice brake mount.
that WOULD look good all aluminium (like simon).  i already did it to my 5000 frame (it is in my gallery) buy haven't built it back up yet because i've gone crazy on this forum.  now i'm going to build up an oz.  somebody stop me.

anyhow, great work!

[Simon]

Looking good Will  ,
welded on disc adaptors work great,I'm very pleased with mine,I also had a couple done on a carbon s/arm dropout for ProflexGB,worked out really well,
have you sorted those issues on your sealed bearing conversion
mine's still going strong looks like it will be as successfull as the one's I've done on the Oz framesets,
Ahh polished look,hard work but worth it,don't forget to clear coat lacquer after though if you do go that route.
Simon.  

[jinder]

Nice bike man!  Love IT

[proflex252]

COOOOOL! I love that bike!

What's the weight?

[will]

Thanks guys,

No chance to try it out this weekend. We had monster rains all weekend (Texas in July!!??) so the 'legal' trails were closed.

I think she's coming in at ~ 28 pounds (Exactly 2 stone, mates!).

Those Hollowtech cranks & Alex rims are really sweet, BTW. I can actually feel the added stiffness with the external BB. The super narrow rims haven't pinch flatted after a few 36" (1m) straight drops onto concrete. Nice!

Compared to the smaller frame, this feels & rides much more like a XC bike than a trail bike. I'm more of a 'trail guy' and hate to race, so that's not great.

Anyhow, it was a free bike & I've only put in $300 so far. That's a pretty good deal in my book. It also put off any new bike buying plans for a year, so my wife is even happier.

[sammydog]

That looks really nice.

Quick question though, have you had anyproblem with the shock hitting the seat tube gussett when it bottoms?

[Matno]

Quick question though, have you had anyproblem with the shock hitting the seat tube gussett when it bottoms?

I'm not sure how this frame compares to the EVO in terms of shock movement, but on the EVO type frames, the shock actually moves AWAY from the seat tube when compressed.  However, on the 856, the shock forms the "long" side of a triangle on the back, so it probably moves up a little bit instead of down. Just looking at it, I'd say there's enough clearance, but I wouldn't extend the seatpost below the seat tube at all...

[will]

Hey guys,

There's plenty-o-room under the seat tube since there's so little travel out back. Actually, there's a stop in the seat tube to prevent the post from protruding below the opening.

Got in my first hard ride on this bike today. She rides like a dream! (Well for a 10 year old bike, she really kicks butt...)

There was discussion here (6 weeks ago?) about the difference moving from a "big" to a "way big".
I can tell ya' the extra two inches was great in the woods. While I got the cockpit set up with nearly identical dimensions to the old "big" frame, the longer wheelbase was a huge improvement. (My 12 year old daughter says, "Snap Daddy, that's Fo Shizzle!)

I experienced way more stability downhilling and it felt like a locomotive going uphill. I was still able to negotiate the nastiest switchbacks without the front wheel lift I used to fight. Another neat improvement was handling those double roots - when your front and rear wheels hit bumps at the same time. Much better.
Oh yeah, here's another neat thing. I hit a patch of deep sand on a downhill turn and slid the front wheel. On the smaller frame I would have been clawing the air and trying to get out of my pedals. The big bike just rode it out and straightened up. My, how civilized! [smiley=nod.gif]

Down side? Well it's not quite as fun to launch off the ramps the Boy Scouts put in on our trails. The longer frame feels like a tandem in the air. That's okay, I'm too @$# old to be doing that anyway! [smiley=disbelief.gif]

Well, I just cashed in a bazillion miles for tickets to Jolly old England for a pre-Christmas holiday. Hope I can buy pint of ale for Daniel, Sprucey, and Simon [smiley=beer.gif] [smiley=beer.gif] [smiley=beer.gif]

Cheers m8's

Will

[sammydog]

Sorry, what I meant was, as the shock compresses, does the shock body hit the gussett (where the upper shock bolts into).

The reason I ask is that I tried something similar and kept having the shock hit the frame in that area.

[will]

Sammydog,
Nah, the shock will bottom out before it hits the frame.

Guys,
Did I mention the "Dig In" on this bike? Simon talks about it now & then, and I gotta tell y'all it's incredible.
Here's the neat thing... After I went with sealed bearings on the main pivot the response of the rear suspension seems to have improved a lot. When the rear wheel rolls over a root while climbing it just plain digs in. Unbelievable. This bike rides as well as any current single pivot out there. (I won't buy a four bar rig - too many moving parts.) Can it really be ten years old? Amazing.