What Model is This?

[Colin]

Correct, You can do a "Straight Thu" continuous gear cable outer run on the x55/x56 swingarm by removing the gold ferrules and throwing them in the bin like my LBS did without asking me, <Sigh>..................but I reverted mine to original as I found that the cable outer migrated rearwards and then actually did result in innaccurate shifting, which I had not had before or since.

On the x57, I think I'm correct in saying that the internal cable route is fixed in place and can't easily be removed?

Certainly that's the case on my 4000/x500/Oz's.

Col.

[Carbon_Angus]

1) I had a 92 Rx-7 and Mazda had the smoking issue worked out by then (and your 91) It was the Rx-2, and 4's that had a big problem. Loved the Rx-7.   Hmmmm I was 25 when I bought it new so go a head and date me...LOL I was really anal about changing oil and did it every 1000 miles...hehe. One thing that was mentioned by ALL women who rode shotgun even from the gals the second owner would tool around with was they LOVED the "vibrating" seat..FWIW credit the revs on that Wankel!

2) regardless of the red paint under your BB...That "Made in USA" sticker near the BB was only on 957's as the 8's were made in Taiwan (I had a red 857 and "Made in Taiwan" sticker. I think the Al was T6 on the 9's and T5 on the 8's...could be wrong. I also think the '8 frames were then sent to USA and built up at Pro~flex HQ which was at the time somewhere on the East Coast before moving to Vashon Island WA where k2 Sports HQ was. The buyout prompted the move.

3) It's a good XC bike and climbs like a mule (good) from the "dig-in" effect from the suspension set up when in small/big. It bobbed a bit but then if you have good pedaling mechanics (circles vs squares) it's okay.

[beeeerock]

The length of shifter cable at the BB is quite short and I'd say, quite tight.  I've played with the adjustments and for the moment, the ghost shifting seems to have gone away.  I'm going to leave things well enough alone until the problem manifests itself again.

I zap-strapped the brake cable to the shift cable down there, as the brake cable with the metal curved tube was catching my pedal... that annoyance is gone now too.

I've been looking more closely at the NR4 shock and see it has dampening on compression and rebound.  Tightening the knob on the side seems to work on the compression motion as I can hear it hiss at the higher setting.  The ring on the shaft at the top end is supposed to dampen the rebound as near as I can tell... according to this link: http://idriders.com/proflex/resources/97noleen_addendum.pdf but I'm not sure that I can detect much of a difference.  I suppose the first thing I need to do is determine what spring I have on the shock to confirm it suits my weight.  It begs the question though... what are we looking for when setting up the shock for dampening?

As well, while playing with it I note that when activating it by leaning on it, I can feel almost a clunk caused by it not operating smoothly as the weight is applied.  That is, I lean on it and there is no motion, until there is enough weight and it 'breaks loose' to begin moving.  It's smooth enough when it moves, but it seems to require that threshold before moving.  Is this normal?  Now that I've found this in the shock, I'm thinking it's the subtle clunk I've felt through the bars and even the seat that I though might be a slightly loose head set bearing.  Do I just live with this or is it a symptom of something else?

[Carbon_Angus]

I don't know about the clunk or whatever in the shock. Sometimes the are "sticky" if not ridden in a while...BTW do not lube or whatever to the shock shaft. Set the sag and giver her a go!

ooops I should read before I post....

Without spring on the shock turn the rebound knob all the way one way. Then compress the shaft and see what the rebound speed is. slow? or fast? Turn it all the way the other way and it should be fast? or slow? No difference or no rebound at all means shock service. Most have it in between if you are doing just XC stuff. fast rebound is great for washboard type surface, slow rebound is better for dips. Hope this helps.

[Spokes]

Quote:
"2) regardless of the red paint under your BB...That "Made in USA" sticker near the BB was only on 957's as the 8's were made in Taiwan (I had a red 857 and "Made in Taiwan" sticker. I think the Al was T6 on the 9's and T5 on the 8's...could be wrong. I also think the '8 frames were then sent to USA and built up at Pro~flex HQ which was at the time somewhere on the East Coast before moving to Vashon Island WA where k2 Sports HQ was. The buyout prompted the move."

No sorry it's a 857.
The sticker you are referring to is the standard metal plaque sticker that all '57's had when new. My 857, 757 and 957 all have the same 'sticker'. My 857, which is in near new condition, also has a small paper white sticker saying 'made in Tiawan' which is underneath the bottom bracket. I've heard people say the grade of aluminium was different but the '97 sales brochure says they are the same pro-gram aluminium. Interestingly it also shows a frame set in polished finish with 857 decals on it..

But..

Your bikes frame no starts H7H....
My 857 starts H7E.... Which would suggest yours is a later release than mine. I've also checked the frame numbers on my other '8' model frames..
856 - H5E....
856 way big - H6I.....
Can't reach my 757 frame to check that.

But here's the thing. My 957's frame number starts KU6G..... Totally different number setup. So red paint and H prefix say 857 to me.
The NR4 shock was a upgrade that could be bought from new for the 857 or added later on maybe.
Anyone else have a 957 they can check my number theory out on?

Chris

[Spokes]

But I must add, which ever it is, they both ride exactly the same and are a superb cross country bike. Light, fast and rewarding. And different from anything else you will see on the trail. Enjoy it.

Chris

[Colin]

Yes, both my 857's have the "Made in the USA" sticker, one on the seat tube and one on the down tube.

Serial numbers are H7A.... and H7B.....

The other items in my "PRO~FLEX" museum (as the Mrs calls it!) are:

962   H1A
856   H5D   (not certain if this  is a x55 or a x56)
857   H7A
857   H7B
XP-X  H8D
4000 H8J

if the serial numbers are of any use then the second digit seems to progress roughly in line with year of production?

and maybe 3rd digit is Month? anyone got one higher than "L"? 

so that's why I'm speculating H7H is a late 857

but that doesn't always seem to define model, maybe just year of production?
(see similarity of XP-X and 4000se ser no's!)

and then of course, it all goes to pot on the Carbon frame bikes! LOL!

Col.

[Spokes]

Oh yes the carbon frames go from stamped to hand engraved to scratched in to nothing!
As long as its carbon that's all that counts with those !

Chris

[beeeerock]

I don't know about the clunk or whatever in the shock. Sometimes the are "sticky" if not ridden in a while...BTW do not lube or whatever to the shock shaft. Set the sag and giver her a go!

ooops I should read before I post....

Without spring on the shock turn the rebound knob all the way one way. Then compress the shaft and see what the rebound speed is. slow? or fast? Turn it all the way the other way and it should be fast? or slow? No difference or no rebound at all means shock service. Most have it in between if you are doing just XC stuff. fast rebound is great for washboard type surface, slow rebound is better for dips. Hope this helps.

I'll back off the spring tensioning 'nut' and observe what the two adjustments do... and IF they 'do'... ;-)

As for the stickiness... the shock feels perfectly smooth once in motion and there doesn't appear to be any leakage or buildup of gunge at the limits of the shaft.  There just seems to be an inordinate amount of pressure required to break from static friction to kinetic friction if you know what I mean.  The result feels like a bit of a knock in something connected to the frame somewhere, which I had attributed to a marginally loose bearing - but couldn't find anything with slop.  The shock is my best guess right now.

Perhaps I'll find something to narrow it down further when the spring is completely loose.

[Spokes]

 I have a Nr2 that does exactly the same. It could be that the seal has gone a bit hard or the oil in the shock gets a bit sticky when the nitrogen has gone. A re gas with nitrogen may cure it or its probably a rebuild with new seals. Worth trying a re gas first as these are old shocks that have been sitting round for a few years.

Chris

[beeeerock]

I have a Nr2 that does exactly the same. It could be that the seal has gone a bit hard or the oil in the shock gets a bit sticky when the nitrogen has gone. A re gas with nitrogen may cure it or its probably a rebuild with new seals. Worth trying a re gas first as these are old shocks that have been sitting round for a few years.

<potentially stupid question> Is this something a local bike shop should be able to do (re-gas), or am I sending it away somewhere?  I could hear the 'why would you want to repair something that old' in the voice of the guy I called to ask... and he couldn't do the gas.  A second opinion on the procedure (if required) probably makes sense... ;-) </potentially stupid question>

Do you feel the 'clunk' or 'knock' through the seat and handle bars when you ride yours, or does yours simply exhibit the stickiness when you manually work the shock by leaning on the bike?

[Spokes]

I took the shock off and used another as I'm lucky to have a spares bin. The shock would stay 'locked' until you either pushed down really hard on it or you hit a large bump. Basically making the bike suspensionless over all smaller bumps. The freeing off of the shock would feel like a 'jolt' and then it was smooth, but there wasn't a metallic clunk at all. Check the shock bushes aren't worn as they would get a hard time if the shock wasn't working properly.

The re-gas can be done by any motorcycle or car suspension specialist. It's not expensive and is simply injecting fresh nitrogen into the shock.

Chris

[Carbon_Angus]

Colin, I'll "concede"...  the red paint and serial numbers are really dead giveaways. The frames though I think were made of different aluminum the 9 being the T6000 and the 857 frames of T5000 and the 8's did have a made in USA sticker on them. Mine was higher up above the swingarm. I had to dig up an old picture as I don't have the 8 anymore. Yet I could have sworn I remember a "made in Taiwan" sticker on the bottom of the headtube. I'm just trying to sift my brain from what I remember back in the late 80's about the 8's and 9's.

I do remember some of the serial number "identities" with the Oz though.

Back to servicing the shock - - it is easy if you know what you are doing. I've heard stories of the shaft or body being shot off like a rocket. Recharging an NR-* is way over my head, yet they are easy if you know how to do it.

[beeeerock]

Thanks guys, while the idea of converting the shock into a rocket launcher does sound like more fun than a potato cannon, I don't have a spare to indulge myself in this adventure... 

I should note that the resistance before the travel occurs isn't much... just more than my engineer's OCD brain can accept as being right!    It's not really a metallic clunk as much as it is a feeling that there's knock in there that doesn't belong.  Think 'worn ball joints' and how that feels through your steering wheel.  I can't find any worn parts to blame, so I'm still leaning towards that rear shock telegraphing through the frame. I tried finding bumps to run the back wheel over last night while out on my ride (picking a smooth path for the front) and *thought* the knock could be blamed on the back end of the bike.  But not 100% sure... the trail was too bumpy to find perfectly smooth lines for the front end and still be able to swerve enough to run the back over a rock or root.

I think I'll do what I should have done right at the start - take the bike to a good shop and have their tech examine it for anything that doesn't seem right.  Asking you guys to diagnose remotely by description isn't really fair!

Sounds like I must have an 857 with the upgraded rear shock.  No question it's an unusual specimen and I've seen a few people out riding giving it a second glance.  Running in stealth mode with no paint or decals makes it a bit of a curiosity! 

I've put about 40km of single track trails on it since pulling it out of storage in August.  I'm getting used to how the front end sometimes tries to pitch me over the bars like a horse pulling up at a jump and like that I run out of grunt on the steep technical climbs before the back end begins to slip.  The climbing ability is what has impressed me most so far!

After so many years off the saddle, it's nice to see that it really is like riding a bike... 

[fyrstormer]

Essentially it's a "9-Style" bike, also known as the '97 "World Cup" frame.
but as for the specific model. it could be a 956, 857. 957, or a 3000.

"World Cup" frames have the main rear suspension pivot behind the bottom bracket. That's what my 756 has. The ones with the pivot in front of the bottom bracket have a different name, but the name escapes me at the moment. If I had my dad's 857 handy I could just look at it, but alas...

EDIT: Ah. They're "Expert Series" frames.