Hello to all - another newbie here!

[RetroKiwiGuy]

Just want to say hello to all.

I am new to this forum, and what a forum!  Just awesome.  Great info and articles on what is a very unique bike indeed, especially here in New Zealand.  I see there are a few New Zealand owners on here also which is great.

So what has brought me here is I have just acquired a 98 K2 Proflex 5000 frame which I got off Ebay.  I love building up mtbs especially retro mtbs and when I came across this frame, with the carbon swing arm, I fell in lust!  Main frame is brand spanking new in yellow, never used or has had very little use, but the carbon swing arm looks to be used but in good condition.

I have big plans for this 5000 which are currently underway.  New powder coat job as I don't like the yellow.  Sealed bearing upgrade thanks to Simon's excellent instructions.  Front fork will be a PACE RC37 triple crown set to 100mm travel, rear shock will be a Cane Creek Double Barrel attached to a frame adaptor to provide close to the 210mm i2i length.  Hammerhead disc brake adaptor to allow for Hope Disc brakes all round.  I have already been in contact with Mike Billett, from Racing Green Motorsports, and he still has few floating around.  One will be on its way to me shortly.  I would like to post pictures of the different stages of my build.  I have never done anything like this before so it should be interesting.

Anyhow I look forward to further posts and getting to know some of the members on here.

To get the ball rolling I have a question.  What was the original stroke of the NR-4 Smart Shock that provided for the 4" of rear wheel travel?  Correct me if I am wrong but I understand theses shocks originally came fitted to the 98 5000.  I know the original i2i length was 210mm.

Great forum!  Lets keep it up!!

[racesrc]

is that the frame set i saw on ebay o few times? square down tube? i think they were selling it for a couple hundred.

DAVID

[racesrc]

i will have an nr4 in my hands on monday, that is coming from an ebay auction. i can measure and let you know if someone hasn't by then. if thats the frame on ebay that i saw i thought that was a nice looking yellow.

DAVID

[Willie_B]

Welcome aboard. The scary thing about K2/Proflex bikes is that we can't seem to have just one. You will quickly realize how unique they are when out riding and want to add to the collection. My mini came from New Zealand to the land of giant SUV's.

[RetroKiwiGuy]

Yes this frame was recently advertised on Ebay for about $200.   I was able to whittle the final price down considerably.  It has the square down tube and was yellow.  It came with a non standard Fox Vanilla Shock, 6.5" x 1.5" and non standard Rear SwingArm bolt and bearings. The Fox shock has been sold as it was too small and did not provide rebound or compression damping.  The main pivot will be converted to sealed bearings.

I had my eye on a 4500 carbon bike which recently sold for $650 US on Ebay.  Did anyone see that one?  If I was made of money I would have seriously considered it.  Awesome looking bike!

When my frame turned up on my doorstep I was quick to make up different shaft lengths to mimic the i2i length of a shock and adjusted the travel length of my front fork (140mm to 100mm) to compare head tube angles and bottom bracket heights.  This frame is obviously designed around xc and seems happiest with 100mm travel front fork and a rear i2i of 210mm, 100mm travel.  This combo makes the head tube angle about 70 degrees and a bottom bracket height which is about right for xc.  Initially I had thoughts of slapping a longer travel fork on front and increasing the rear shock length and stroke but the bottom bracket height/stand over height clearance seemed to high for me.  I know there are a lot of posts on this very subject which makes for interesting reading.  Everyone is different, and everyone rides their bikes differently, etc.  I am my happiest when I am riding single track fast!  Even though I am no light weight this bike should be a blast to ride when finished.

To Racesrc I look forward to hearing back from you about the original stroke of the NR-4 Smart shock.  I appreciate that!

And to Willie_B, with every mini sold in NZ you are usually given you a copy of the NZ cult movie "Goodbye Porkpie'?  I hope you got one before you departed back to the land of Giant Every Thing!  Nice ride by the way, the bike's not bad either.  Lol

[Colin]

I've previously measured the stroke lengths of the various NR-x rear shocks I have and here are my findings!

Also, I believe that the ratio between shock stroke and rear wheel travel is 1:2.63 on these frames:

                                        STROKE           TRAVEL
NR-2   209mm-160mm=49mm (1.93”)        5"
NR-4   209mm-177mm=32mm (1.28”)        3.4"
NR-5   209mm-175mm=34mm (1.34")        3.5"

so, it looks like an NR-2 gives you the most travel and indeed these do seem to have been fitted to the last of the "two tube" and "carbon" frame bikes to give the maximum travel.

I have measured the min/max shock lengths possible for a "two tube" frame and it is:
130mm – 240mm (hit points) safe is 135 – 235mm
which is pretty enormous and probably not practical, but gives us our limits!

Col.

[Thunderchild]

Yes this frame was recently advertised on Ebay for about $200.   I was able to whittle the final price down considerably.  It has the square down tube and was yellow.  It came with a non standard Fox Vanilla Shock, 6.5" x 1.5" and non standard Rear SwingArm bolt and bearings. The Fox shock has been sold as it was too small and did not provide rebound or compression damping.  The main pivot will be converted to sealed bearings.

I was watching that bike and would like a peak into the bearings.  Can you post a few pictures of the bearings when you take it a part or even with just the outer covers off.  Looks like they were modified. 
Thanks
Thunderchild

[RetroKiwiGuy]

No probs.  I will put some pics up soon.

Bike is currently dismantled so I will take a picture of the modified parts in all their glory.  I am not sure how far the modified parts are from original.  It seemed to work fine.  On removal the only issue I could see is the external bearings caps do not have any rubber o-rings to prevent moisture and dust ingress.  I can only assume the main frame and rear swing arm were brought together from separate purchases and they had to engineer up this current modified bearing setup to get it together.  Once pics are up someone will likely be able to post a comparison.  I will not be refitting these parts once my frame is back from the powder coaters as I will go to sealed bearings.

Cheers

[RetroKiwiGuy]

I have just created a folder dedicated to my bike build progress on Photobucket.  I will store all the photos here and post updates of where I am at with my build.  It will be a slow build as money is not growing on my money tree at the moment.  Hopefully that will change soon.

Anyhow please visit URL http://photobucket.com/98K2PF5000 and enter in the password retrokiwiguy.

I just have pictures of the frame in pieces, including the modified bearings.  Not much at the moment but I will start filling it up with pictures of the various components that will bring the bike together.

Cheers
Retrokiwiguy

PS:-  I will start my bike build project posts under "Reader's Bikes", unless someone can point me to a better area to do this.