Proflex animal build *PICTURES*

[carsonwatt]

So I have about 1 month till I graduate highschool. I want a cool bike to ride in the cavalcade. I have a proflex animal frame and I'm planning on building it up to a complete bike. I have some of the parts, I thought some of you old school enthusiasts might enjoy seeing the progress of my build. I'm open to any suggestions and whatnot, so enjoy

Thanks, Carson

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[Colin]

Put the piccies in "My Albums" (link on Right hand side on home page)

and then post a link to the file you want to see using the buttons above when posting:
(second row, first button I think)
e.g

Or else host them elsewhere on the evilnet and link the same way

Col.

[carsonwatt]

I went to the local bike shops and asked for a quote to get the new headset put on. They all asked between 30 and 40 bucks. I couldnt bring myself to pay somebody else to work on my bikes so I went home and made some crude instruments to instal the new headset with. Excuse the blurry pictures.

- c

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[Willie_B]

You have an LTK (Long Travel Kit) on the rear I see. I had one of those but never got around to installing it. Looks good so far.

[Colin]

Oooooh, an LTK on an x57 style frame, I haven't seen one of those before, just on the x56 frames.

Callum (RDS), was it a different kit ?

That is probably why the NR-4 is a bit soft, I think you had to upgrade the spring to a stronger one, but I think that was included in the kit wasn't it?

Nice set of made up tools! That's the only job I have to trust the LBS to do on my bikes, the headsets, but I'm inspired by your piccies to make up a set for myself!

Keep us informed and get a proper camera! <GRIN>

Col.

[Old Proflexer]

I like it - well done   

[fyrstormer]

One thing the bike shop can do that you can't do is face the ends of the head tube and bottom bracket tube. That requires very precisely-machined tools to ensure the edges are perfectly parallel. If they aren't the headset and bottom bracket bearings will bind and waste energy when they rotate. It's worth paying for the job to be done right the first time, then after that you can use your own tools for future replacements.

Cane Creek makes coil-spring shocks roughly the same size as the NR series. You might be able to get a stiffer spring with the correct diameter from them.

[carsonwatt]

I'm pretty sure the headtube was faced already so I just went for it. Seems to work perfectly. And I might check out those springs, I opened up the shock today and looked inside. It was empty So I put some 7wt fork oil in that I had lying around for some bombers I rebuilt and replaced a broken O-ring and It seems a bit better. A good temporary fix if I do say so myself.

But I added more to the bike.

I have a diamondback seat from a mid 90s peugeot bike and a marin post.
I put new Truvative stylo cranks on but I'm thinking of switching them with some shimano cranks from the same year as the bike, just to be more authentic.
I got some wheels too, Shimano back and quando front
And some shimano shifters

Just need tires and some smaller parts

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[shovelon]

Very awesome indeed.

Terry

[fyrstormer]

The rear shock was EMPTY?? That's not good. You should send the shock to Noleen J6 to be rebuilt when you have the time.

If the top and bottom ends of the headtube still have paint on them, the headtube wasn't faced. It might be parallel nonetheless, but it's a "good vs. great" thing -- you won't notice the difference until you ride a bike that has a properly faced headtube and bottom bracket, and then it will make sense why the procedure is done. Kinda like oiling the chain even though it's not rusty, but a bit more subtle.

EDIT: Wait, which part of the rear shock did you open? The exposed end of the remote canister is supposed to be filled with compressed nitrogen, not oil.

[w2zero]

Back in the day...   I worked in a bike shop and we had two sets of frame tools.  The Park tool set and the Campagnolo set.  This was the early eighties and more than a few of the frames we built up needed to be cold-set and all of them had to go through facing and alignment.  They weren't boxed as well as you would hope.  Lots of paint chips and rear triangles mashed.  Stringing the frames to restore alignment then all the facing tools made for a nightmare at times.  Building wheels is much easier and less frustrating.  It was surprising to find that even the nicer Colnagos and other Italian frames weren't even remotely like faced back then. 

Later on working on Proflexes and the like in the mid nineties, the bits that were previously faced in the shop were in much better alignment and usually didn't need much more than just removing the paint.  Automation and high production rates benefit from closer tolerances to keep up the speed on the line.  Packaging was way better as well and shipping damage became pretty rare.