A BIKE IS REBORN

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME

2010-12-07T13:38:00.006Z

Gone but not forgotten! Not posted on here for ages but lots has happened since I finished the bike & took it out for the first few rides. A stupid crash whilst riding home from work made short work of my front wheel & forks, both of which were damaged beyond repair! The wheel was replaced like for like & I went for the RockShox Recon U-turn forks, which were the forks I was originally going to buy for the rebuild. The air valve on the Monarch rear shock also became faulty & needed repair but I have since replaced this with a RockShox MC3.3 bought from good old CRC for £129 as part of their huge sale. Other than these problems (most of which were of my own doing) the bike has been really good. The odd tweak here & there to fix creaks & weird noises, tune up the gears, adjust suspension settings etc. But other than that I'd say my first build didn't go to badly. I've learnt a shed load & I've got a lot more confidence working with the bike now. All good ..... until the next problem!!

MAIDEN VOYAGE

2010-06-06T13:20:00.003+01:00

Been out for the first few rides, over the last week or so, since getting the clipless shoes. I'm getting used to those now although I'm not sure how they will effect confidence over technical sections. There's not much locally to test riding skills or the bike but at least I can get a feel for it again. I've been riding some of the areas I've been regularly blasting around on the Trance. The Isis feels more nimble than the Trance & the suspension is more active & subtle. Being clipped in also makes a massive difference on the climbs. The Isis always climbed well but now it makes much easier work of ascents. Again technical climbs might be another story until I get full confidence with those clipless pedals. I've been making tweaks to the suspension after each ride & the brakes still need bedding in so I really need to get out where there is more challenging riding before I get a good opportunity to do this. Early days yet though but so far the rebuild is feeling very nice ;-)

CLEATS & TWEAKS

2010-05-29T14:09:00.004+01:00

This week I got the last piece of the puzzle that was stopping me going riding properly - A pair of SPD compatible shoes. I went for the SixSixOne Filter shoes, which are a flat, skate style shoe that can be worn on or off the bike with the cleats fitted. I've just set these up & been for a spin. It was the first time I've ever ridden with clipless pedals & shoes but it was good & easier to clip in/out than I expected. No embarrassing falls whilst still atttached to the bike to report (yet!). Riding the bike properly also highlighted a few things that needed tweaking. First thing was to adjust the cleats so my feat where in the right position & angle on the pedals. I also adjusted the position of the gear & brake levers, tweaked the cable tension for smoother shifting, added some more air to the shock & adjusted the rebound rate. Things are running pretty smooth & sweat at the moment but the real test comes when I go for a proper off road burn up :-) This will also give me a chance to bed the disc brakes in. More reports & ride shots hopefully coming soon.

FLICKR SET

2010-05-28T00:15:00.014+01:00

I've taken a shed load of shots of the rebuild since it was finished/almost finished. I want to remember the bike, as it was, new & clean, before I ride it for the first time & get it covered in s**t & mud!! Bound to happen, even in the middle of a UK Summer! I've started a Flickr page to host all the pics. Here's the first set;

GEAR LUST

2010-05-23T10:00:00.012+01:00

Now that everything is in place here is a list of the complete spec;

forks: Rock Shox Reba Race Dual Air 100mm
shock: Rock Shox Monarch 2.1 51mm
wheels: Mavic XC717 rims with XT hubs
brakes: Avid Elixir R with 160mm rotors
crankset: Shimano Deore M590
bottom bracket: Hollowtech II SM-BB51
front derailuer: Shimano SLX M660
rear mech: Shimano SLX Shadow M662
cassette: SRAM PG970 11-32
chain: SRAM PC951 9spd
shifters: Shimano SLX M660
headset: Cane Creek S-8
stem: Truvativ AKA
bars: Easton EA50 riser bars
grips: Lizard Skins Peaty
seatpost: FSA SL-240 Carbon Pro
saddle: Charge Spoon
pedals: Shimano M520 SPD
tyres: Maxxis Ignitor 2.1"

ROUND THE BLOCK

2010-05-22T20:26:00.009+01:00

Been out on the bike for the first time although only around the block as it's a bit difficult to ride a bike with SPD pedals if you don't (yet) have SPD shoes! Ordered a pair of SixSixOne Filter SPD shoes today so I should be riding properly very soon. The bike seemed very quiet & smooth on the short journey, which was a relief. The riding position feels different enough from the Trance X5 that it's going to take a little getting used to. It's suprising how tiny differences in geometry & parts make such a difference to the feel of the bike. The gear changes are nice & smooth so I think I've got that sorted now. The discs are rubbing on the pads very slightly so I'll need to tweak the calipers a little. I've also read about properly bedding in the pads on the Elixirs so that's something I'll need to do ASAP. I was also contemplating shortening the hoses as they are a little long. I bought an Avid bleed kit in the week to do this but I'm in two minds now. The discs certainly don't need bleeding at the moment but they almost certainly will if I start cutting down the hoses! They are not excessively long so I might just leave it for now ....... until I upgrade to a Goodridge hose kit in the future :-)

BRAKE 4 LOVE

2010-05-19T21:20:00.003+01:00

The final part of the jigsaw is in place. The brakes have been bought & fitted. I managed to get a F/R set of Avid Elixir R brakes with 160mm rotors for £135! I was looking at a 180mm rotor set upfront but the brakes were around £80 to buy individually & I would also need to buy an adapter for the larger rotor. The brakes come pre-bled & they feel nice & solid so I don't think they will need a bleed. Having said that I've just ordered an Avid bleed kit becasue I want to shorten the hoses a little, which will mean a bleed once this is done. I also need to set the calipers up properly. Following advice online I've tried to do this but I'm still getting some rubbing between the rotors & pads. By all accounts it's a bit of a pain in the arse to get right so if anyone has any advice on this I'd be grateful.

GEARED UP

2010-05-08T19:16:00.005+01:00

Got my shifters last week. I stuck with Shimano SLX to match the other drive train components I'd bought (apart from the Deore crankset & BB). I also bought a nice braided gear cable set. The shifters actually come with a gear cable set but I didn't realise this when I ordered them. The braided cable does look very good on the bike though & the set only cost just under £10. I fitted the shifters & cables today & then tried to set the gears up. Must admit I've never really tried to set-up gears before. I usually just get someone else to do it (usually my local LBS). I had a bit of trouble working out what was what but I got it sorted in the end. Just a bit of final tweaking to get things running really sweet. As ever YouTube was a great source of info as was the Bike Radar Workshop & Tech forum.

TRANSMISSION

2010-05-01T15:58:00.003+01:00

Bought & fitted the rest of the drivetrain this week. I went for a Shimano SLX rear mech & front derailluer with a SRAM 9sp chain & cassette. Around £95 for the lot, with the usual discounts that Chain Reaction Cycles seem to constantly offer on everything! I'll be buying the SLX shifters & a gear cable set ASAP. Then I can finish getting the transmission set-up. After that it just leaves the brakes to buy & fit, some final tweaking & then it's time to go for a test ride :-)

WE CAN WORK(STAND) IT OUT!

2010-04-28T22:21:00.004+01:00

Finally got myself a workstand. I've been putting this one off for a bit but the thought of trying to install the rest of the drivetrain & set-up the transmision with the bike on the floor was enough to convince me it was time to buy one. I got this Bike Tools workstand for the very reasonable price of £66 from good old Merlin Cycles. On some other sites it cost nearly double that so the Merlin price seems like a real bargain. It folds away very easily for storage & is also very light. Perfect for home use then. It has plenty of QR adjustment points for getting the bike in the right place to work on & the main grip part is very adjustable & simple to use. Seems quite sturdy with the bike on it. It's going to make working on the bike now & in the future a lot easier so well worth it I think.

A BIT OF HISTORY

2010-04-16T18:43:00.011+01:00

Whilst having a clear out today I stumbled across the magazine where I originally discovered the Isis. The magazine was the Spring (then quaterly) 2000 issue of What Mountain Bike & it was the first mountain bike magazine I'd ever bought. I was looking for my first mountain bike after having a burn round some local woods on my brother-in-laws Marin hardtail & realising that this was for me :-) My budget was around £200-£300 & there wasn't very much in this price bracket amongst the 100 bikes on review in the magazine. In fact there were only about 3 bikes that looked any good. I remember being shocked by how expensive bikes could be! But after just a couple of months on the £240 Haro hardtail I ended up buying I was already sizing up a £1000 upwards full susser. The Ellsworth Aeon Isis at £1396 ended up being my bike of choice & not long after I was making the trip down to Freeborn in Horsham, Surrey, to size one up.

CAN YOU TELL WHAT IT IS YET?

2010-04-11T21:34:00.012+01:00

No updates on the blog for a while but suddenly things are really taking shape :-) I took delivery of the wheels for the rebuild last week. I went for Mavic XC717 rims on Shimano XT disc hubs. I got these for the extremely reasonable (sale price) of £159 from Merlin Cycles. I'd also ordered a pair of Maxxis Ignitor 2.1" tyres for only £12.99 each from Chain Reaction Cycles. Bargain. I put the wheels & tyres together today & fitted these to the bike. I also added the seat post/saddle, Lizard Skins Peaty grips & then fitted the Shimano Deore crankset I'd bought some time ago. WOW!! Suddenly it looks like a bike again & for the first time since stripping the bike down I was able to sit on it! :-) So, no riding just yet but at least I'll be able to make a start setting up the suspension.

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?

2010-03-12T21:19:00.016Z

I can't really afford the next big part of the rebuild (the wheels) until next month’s pay day. So, in the mean time I've been furbishing the bike with more affordable parts. I managed to get a £60 FSA carbon seat post for a mere £28 from Chain Reaction Cycles. Low weight, low price, sounds good to me :-) I topped this off with bargain saddle of the moment, the Charge Spoon. This saddle seems to have won more magazine review awards than you can shake a s****y stick at! I got this for £20 but the praise & reviews it has earned would have you believe it could be worth quite a bit more.

COMING SOON - The Isis rebuild gets some wheels - then I will actually be able to sit on the thing! When I took my Isis frame to get it aqua blasted & re-sprayed actually riding the bike again seemed like a long, long way off. Now it doesn't feel to far away. The rebuild is coming together. There's still a way to go & lots to learn but it's starting to look like a bike again now.

FORK IT ..... FINAL

2010-03-06T14:16:00.008Z

My Stem arrived from the US yesterday so today I made another trip to Cycle Surgery to get the steerer tube cut down & the star fangled nut installed. Again, easy enough jobs to do if you have the right tools - in this case a saw guide (that slips over the steerer tube & is then clamped into a vice) & a star fangled nut installer. We measured the steerer tube length with the stem in place (of course) + x4 5mm spacers so I've got some choice with stem height position.

I'd also bought an X-Tools torque wrench in the week so I waited until I got home to put all the parts together. Looking good now. I was tempted to 'borrow' the wheels from the Giant Trance just to get a better idea of how this is going to look when finished. In the end I decided against this for fear of it leading to further annexing of parts from the Trance! I'll wait until I actually get some wheels for the rebuild, which is the next item on the list of things to buy.

BARS & STEM SELLS

2010-02-27T13:48:00.008Z

Now that I had got the forks the next thing to buy was a stem & some bars. I've long considered Easton Monkey riser bars to be my number one choice so it was just a case of choosing an option from the range. Easton MonkeyLite would have been nice but at around £100 I thought I could afford to spend quite a bit less on bars at the moment! In the end I settled on the good old trusty Easton EA50 riser bars, which only cost £30. The bars on the Isis always felt spot on before so I went for the same 685mm width & 2inch rise as the Azonic bars the bike originally came with.

Stem wise I was looking at an 80mm Thomson X4 but, like the Easton MonkeyLite bars, this seemed a bit 'bling' price wise at around £70. The X4 is considered once of the best stems around for weight, strength & styling but in the end I went for the same 75mm Azonic Shorty that had been on the Isis when I bought it. Chain Reaction Cycles were selling these for just £20 so it was a big saving over the X4 ...... except after ordering I realised that the clamp diameter was smaller than the 31.8mm of the bars! DOH! So it was back to the drawing board for a stem. I eventually settled on a Truvativ AKA, which I picked up for only £22 (including P&P) from an e-bay seller in the States. The AKA looks like a decent stem & it's much lighter than the Shorty so it's a decent compromise between that & the X4.

FORK IT ..... PART III

2010-02-20T15:09:00.019Z

I've finally ordered some forks. After much consideration, research & head scratching I eventually settled on the Rock Shox Reba Race Dual Air 100mm forks. I had been all set to buy the Recon 351 U-Turn forks but in the end the Reba's won out for a number of reasons - Firstly both Tony Ellsworth & Jim at Freeborn had recommended a 100mm fork for the Isis frame that I have. Both had warned against going to long as it would effect the geometry of the frame to much & spoil the ride. Both had also said that the ideal fork length for the Isis would be 100mm. Secondly the Reba forks were some 400 grams lighter than the Recon's. A big plus as one of the aims of the rebuild was to make the bike lighter than it originally had been. With the Reba's I'm around half a kilo down on the original fork (Marzochi Bomber M80) weight straight off! Sweet. Then there was the price. RRP ranged from £399 to £499 for the Reba's on the sites I checked. I eventually found them for £259 on JeJames' Cycles. Can't argue with that. The best price I'd found on the Recon's was only about £10 less than that so all things considered I think I've made a good choice. Next up stem & then wheels.

CHASED & FACED

2010-02-16T10:20:00.011Z

I took the frame to Cycle Surgery in Romford today to get the Bottom Bracket chased & faced ready for the Hollowtech BB to be installed. The mechanic was able to do the job while I waited, which was good because I got to see how it was done. I also had the head tube faced ready for the headset to be installed. I was only charged £15 to get these jobs done, which I thought was excellent considering the tools used total more than a grand! Not the sort of tools you'd buy to have lying around in the home workshop (currently the dining room floor!).

When I got home I had a crack at installing the BB. It was easy enough to install with Hollowtech II spanner I'd bought along with the crankset. I got a bit confused by the spacer arrangement but it looked to me like one space on the drive side, no spacers on the non-drive side. A quick post to the MBR forum revealed that this was infact the correct assembly. Next on the list are the forks & the stem so I've got a bit of money to spend next month!!

MORE BITS FOR THE BUILD

2010-02-04T22:36:00.006Z

The next stage of the build is to install the bottom bracket & headset. I ordered a Cane Creek S8 headset & a Shimano Deore Hollowtech II crank set, which comes with an external BB system. I also ordered a Hollowtech II tool (one more tool to the collection) to fit the BB. All of this stuff came from the ever reliable Chain Reaction Cycles. They have a sale on at the moment & I got a good price on both the BB & headset. I've arranged to get the BB shell faced at a local bike shop at a cost of £20. They said I could come into the workshop to see how the tool is used. But with the chasing/facing tool costing anything up to £500 I don't think it's a piece I'll be buying for myself in a hurry! Will be good to see how it's used though. I might get them to install the headset cups as well. A headset press is another tool I could do without buying right now.

QUENCHED

2010-01-24T20:48:00.007Z

So, I finally got myself on a bike maintenance course. I'd spoken to Quench Cycles, who are based at Bedgebury Forest, Goudhurst, Kent, in the week. They offer 3 bike maintenance courses (levels I, II & III) but were able to put together a bespoke course to cater for my needs. This was very reasonably priced I thought & took about half a day to do. We went through pretty much everything I need to know for the rebuild ....... except somehow I forgot to ask about front deraillieurs! How did I forget that!? In any case I learnt plenty & picked up some great tips from the mechanics there so cheers guys for sorting that out. Right, I'm off to buy some more tools :-)

GOING CLIPLESS

2010-01-09T11:45:00.009Z

I've decided to make the change to clipless pedals for the rebuild. Previously I've never liked the idea of being attached to my bike in this way. It sounds like a good idea for pedalling efficiency & some other things I've read about health benefits (i.e. your foot is properly aligned so your less prone to injury associated with poor foot placement on the pedals ......... or something like that!). On the other hand there are also a good amount of horror stories about remaining clipped in during many an unfortunate crash! Not so good. With this in mind I have decided to give it a go & ordered a set of Shimano M520 SPD pedals, which Chain Reaction Cycles are currently selling for less than £20. Sweet ;-) Just need to get some SPD shoes now.

2010 The year we made ..... a new bike!

2010-01-08T10:08:00.005Z

I've not had much to post on here of late & christmas, a freezing UK Winter & budget concerns are the reason. I'm still concerned about spending lots of money on parts when I'm still not exactly sure how they attach to the bike! So, one of my New Years resolutions is to get on a bike maintenance course ASAP. I've found a one day crash course fairly local. Just need to find the time around work to get down there. It's about £100 for the day & it should hopefully cover everything I need to know to build the bike.

The next resolution, apart from the usual cutting down on the crap intake & living healthy stuff, is to continue with the rebuild. I'm also looking to get out on my current bike (Giant Trance X5) much more often this year. The first move towards this increased ride time is that I've decided to start riding to work at least 3 days a week. Its not that far. I should have been doing this for the last year! Anyway, new year, new start. I've ordered myself an Exposure Diablo bike light so I can get home cross country whilst the UK days are still short. 2010! bring it on :-)

FORK IT ..... PART II

2009-09-25T22:11:00.017+01:00

Been a bit quiet of late on here. Reason? No fucking money to speak off!!! Funds a bit tight with loads of other stuff going on lately so the rebuild has taken a bit of a back seat. As such 'budget' has now become word of the month where the rebuild project is concerned & no doubt shall remain so until I get this done, which I am determined to do. Fork choice of the moment is now the Rock Shox Recon 351 U-turn forks. Performance should be more than admirable & they look bloody good to boot. Best of all they fit very nicely into my budget. Sold to me :-)

FORK IT!!!

2009-08-26T10:16:00.021+01:00

I've been looking at forks for the rebuild. I want to get something decent up-front but money is to tight to mention at the moment so probably not the best time to buy forks. I think I'd rather wait to afford something decent rather than buy cheap & regret it later when performance takes a knock. Not much else to be doing with the rebuild at the moment other than drawl over those forks I'm looking at - a set of Rock Shox Revelation 426 U-turn forks are top candidate at present.

SHOCK MOUNTED

2009-08-14T16:22:00.019+01:00

I installed the Rock Shox Monarch rear shock today. It wasn't easy as the hardware I had installed to the shock earlier in the week was an extremely snug fit. I had previously tried to push the shock axle between the mounts to make sure I'd bought the right hardware kit & I couldn't even get it in there! I checked this with the guys at TF Tuned & they told me that a tight fit was what I was after. Fair enough. But when installing the shock it took a good few blows from my new Park Tool Rubber faced mallet to drive the shock into the mounts & get the eyelets lined up correctly so that I could insert the bolts to attach the shock to the frame.

It's not very satisfying when you have to rain down blows onto your new kit but that's what it took to get it installed. I caught the frame a couple of times but luckily the rubber from the mallet only smeared onto the frame & could be later wiped off. Made a bit of a mess of the inside of the frame shock mounts though. The shock axle ripped the paint to pieces as it was forced in. Didn't seem to be much I could do about this. Oh well. Final job was to let all of the air out of the shock & check the movement of the swingarm. All seems sweet but I guess I won't know the full story until I finish the build & get out & ride.

FIRST NEW KIT

2009-07-30T10:56:00.015+01:00

Got the new rear shock today. I did end up going for the Rock Shox Monarch 2.1. I Bought it from Chain Reaction Cycles for about £135 & I think it should be a good compromise between performance & price. We'll see. It's the first new bit of kit I've bought for the rebuild. Now I just need to fit it! Speaking of which, I also needed to buy a hardware kit for mounting the shock to the bike frame. Working out exactly which kit I needed to buy was tricky. You have to measure the shock mounts & bolt holes on your frame precisely in order to get the right kit. Thankfully I eventually discovered the TF Tuned website (another heads up for the guys on the MBR forums for pointing me in the right direction). These guys had the kit I needed & were very helpful on the phone. They clearly know what they are talking about when it comes to this stuff, which is extremely useful for someone like me who doesn't know what the Hell they are doing with this stuff!! The website also has some very good guides showing you how to install new bushings & hardware kits. They also managed to deliver the parts the morning after I had ordered them!! Fantastic service all round. Highly recommended for your shock requirements.

SHOCK DECISION

2009-07-23T11:15:00.004+01:00

One of the first components I'm likely to buy for the rebuild will be a replacement rear shock. The Isis came with a Fox 165mmm Coil shock. But the frame also has mounts for a longer 190mm shock (as used by the 'Joker' model). Rear shock of choice would probably be something like the Fox RP23. But budget concerns have put pain to that idea. It's kind of sad to be talking about an Ellsworth in the same paragraph as budget concerns but there it is. I'm still confident I can make this rebuild a fantastic bike whilst also giving some concern to the amount of money I'm spending. More money gets you more things to tweak. But do I really want that? Sure it's better for tailoring the ride but I have a feeling I'd spend more time fiddling with the damn thing than actually riding. There's a lot to be said for a set & forget system if you ask me. This leads me very nicely onto the rear shock I now have in mind. The Rock Shox Monarch 2.1. It's bigger brothers have been very well received in reviews & this is basically the same with less features ....... so less to go wrong also? I'm onto a winner here ;-)

TWO BECOME ONE

2009-07-20T21:40:00.015+01:00

Today I finally put the two parts of the frame back together. Getting the new pivot bearings into the swingarm was a real pig of a job. I was hoping to use the tool I had made to remove the old bearings to put the new ones in. But this wasn't having any of it! The bearings kept going in wonky & I just couldn't seem to stop this from happening. In the end I tried pushing the bearing in using a vice & a couple of blocks of wood. This got the bearing in straight but just as I was about to drive it home the vice broke! There must have been so much pressure on the screw that it literally sheared off from the block. Whoops! I then went to a neighbour’s house to see if I could use their vice. I kept quiet about breaking my one. Luckily my neighbours vice had a bit more guts in it but it still wasn't quite driving the bearings home. In the end brute force prevailed as we broke out the hammers & mallets. Job done, but unfortunately not without a few blemishes to the new paint job. This was unfortunate but nothing that a light spray of white paint won't fix. It was then just a case of fitting the new pivot bolt. Everything went together okay so hopefully all will be well & I can put this job behind me.

WE CAN REBUILD IT

2009-07-04T15:37:00.002+01:00

Got the frame back from the powder coaters today .... when I eventually found the place! I only went there last weekend but somehow I managed to get completely lost this time!! Anyway I'm really pleased with the results. They have done an excellent job & the frame looks great. It will look better when I start adding some parts, which means it's time to start spending some more money. Good! My next job is to fit the new pivot bearings & re-attach the rear swingarm. I'll then be looking at buying a new rear shock. Top candidate so far is the Rock Shox Monarch but I'm open to ideas on that one. The main thing is I'm at a turning point now because I'm starting to build the bike back up again as opposed to stripping it down & slicing bits off.

AQUA BLAST

2009-07-01T17:54:00.009+01:00

I took the frame parts in to be shot-blasted & powder coated last Saturday. The frame was to be aqua-blasted rather than shot-blasted because of the frame material. I decided on the 'Arctic White' colour for the powder coat. Should look good. I had a chat about the processes involved & I left feeling very confident that the job was in good hands. I was originally told the job may take up to two weeks due to work load but I had a call today to say that the frame was ready for collection. That was quick. So this coming Saturday I'll be making a return trip to Maldon to see the results. I will of course be posting pictures ASAP ;-)

BEARING DOWN

2009-06-21T14:46:00.011+01:00

Eureka! I managed to find a reliable method for extracting the pivot bearings. One that thankfully did not require the use of a mallet raining down blows on my swingarm! I had thought of using a method like this previously but wasn't sure if it would work. After someone else suggested it on the MBR forum I thought I'd assemble the parts & give it a go. Using this method the first pivot bearing came out so easily that I thought I'd make a video showing the extraction of the second & exactly what I did. This method works a treat & I think it would work for any bike as long as you make sure you have the right sized parts for the bearings. This technique might also work for pushing the new bearings back into the frame once it is powder coated. Who needs Park Tools :D

LOOSING MY BEARINGS

2009-06-20T22:47:00.008+01:00

I've been trying to get the 2 pivot bearings out of the swing arm today & I'm not having much joy! The bearings have to be removed from the inside of the frame outwards. Easier said than done because each of the pivot yokes on the swingarm get in each others way! I spoke to Freeborn earlier & they advised me to use a socket to knock the bearings out. I'm going to try & make some sort of support for the swingarm so that I don't stress it as I take a few swings at the bearings. It looks like it's going to take a fair amount of force to budge these damn things. I got a new bearing kit in the post yesterday although I'm trying not to think to much about fitting those at the moment!

UNITED COLOURS

2009-06-20T10:51:00.016+01:00

Been thinking about which colour to get the frame powder coated. At the moment the frame is a sort of battleship grey with a black swingarm. I've always liked these colours. I think they suited the bike. I did think about getting the whole thing powder coated in a similar grey colour but I also thought a change would be good & at the moment white is winning through. I'm still not completely decided on the colour though. I made a drawing of the frame in Photoshop & have been painting it in different colours to get an idea how it might look ..... yes, I've got to much time on my hands today! I should be getting in some ride time on the new Trance X5 instead of flexing my Photoshop skills!!

BB REMOVED

2009-06-17T20:14:00.005+01:00

My Park bottom bracket tool arrived today & I was finally able to get the BB out of the frame. The non-drive side came out very easily but It took a good amount of force to get the drive side loose. Once I'd done so it unscrewed very smoothly & easily. I had done a bit of research before doing this job, which had revealed the correct way to unscrew each side. The best tip I came accross (+1 again to the MBR forum guys) was - 'tool arm facing towards the front of the bike, push down to unscrew'. A good & easy to remember tip & one that I'm glad I found. Without this I might have attempted to unscrew the drive side anti-clockwise, which would obviously have been wrong & could have easily made a mess of things.

I was pleased to find that the BB looked to be in very good condition (I don't think it's very old) so I may keep this & re-install it. It was my intention to buy all brand new components. But since this part seems perfectly okay I may stick with it. At least I know it will fit back into the frame, although I guess I may need to get the BB re-faced once the frame has been sprayed. Speaking of which this is one of the next jobs to get done now that everything has been removed from the frame. I've found two local companies that do shot blasting & powder coating for this kind of work. Both have quoted £45 for the job, which I think sounds quite reasonable. Just need to ask a few more questions about prepping the frame & then I can book it in to get done ;-)

V BRAKE (DIS) MOUNT

2009-06-16T18:37:00.014+01:00

Since disc brakes are the norm these days I thought it would be a good idea to remove the somewhat bulky V-brake mounts from the rear swingarm of my Isis frame. Not having the tools for this job myself & not really wanting to buy any (I'm spending enough on bike tools at the moment) I asked for some help from the DT guys in the school I work at. The technician in the department was good enough to lend a hand & go to work on the rear swingarm with a hefty hack saw & a decent metal file. The results were fantastic & once I get the frame shot blasted & powder coated I don't think anyone is going to know that the rear swingarm ever had V-brake mounts. And if you want to get anal about shaving weight off your bike then I'd say I've shed a good few grams by getting the V-brake mounts removed. Every little helps ;-)

PIVOTAL POINT

2009-06-15T18:24:00.008+01:00

The pivot bearing for the rear swingarm on my Isis has not been replaced since I bought the bike. I thought it would be a good idea to get hold of a new bearing set to replace the one that has been on the bike for the last 9 years! But would I be able to get one easily given that the bike is no longer manufactured? I contacted Freeborn in Horsham, where I had bought the bike from, to see if they could still get hold of the Isis/Joker pivot bearings. I was pleased to get a reply from Jim at Freeborn telling me that they do actually still sell the bearings for the sum of £22. That's excellent news. Especially considering I will only need one set because the Isis/Joker frame is of course a single pivot design. +1 for the single pivoters :-) Jim also had this to say about the Isis & my rebuild project idea;

"Hello, Thanks for the email. Good to hear the Isis is still serving you well ! There's still a fair few that come through our workshop, both Isis and Jokers. Glad to hear that you are keeping it ! The Isis still holds its own against current single pivots, still a shame Ellsworth stopped making them in my opinion."

I couldn't agree more, Jim.

HELPING HAND

2009-06-14T18:24:00.011+01:00

So where do you go to get help & advice on bike maintenance other than your LBS? My first port of call was the Haynes Bike Book. Now in it's 5th edition, published September 2007, this has some fairly up to date tutorials covering all areas of the bike. It will also tell you what tools you need for the job as well as giving some idea of the difficulty. All good so far & it is a very good & useful book. Problem is if you have trouble following something your kind of stuck.

The next place to look for help is of course the internet. There's a huge amount of info out there & even plenty of good videos on YouTube. These can be very useful for actually watching someone carry out a job you might have read about on the net or in a book. Seing someone actually do something your not sure about doing yourself can be a great confidence booster. But one of the most useful resources on the net has been forums, in particular the MRB magazine forum. This is a very active forum & I've been getting loads of advice & technical help from the guys on there. From what tools I need to advice on using them I don't think I'd have gotten very far with my project without the help I've received from the MBR forum members. A big thanks to everyone on there who has taken the time to reply to my plees for help. Much appreciated.

http://www.mbr.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php

BICYCLE REPAIR MAN

2009-06-14T12:24:00.016+01:00

Had a bit of a disaster today. I've been breaking down the old parts from the Isis frame so I can sell them on e-bay. One job I had to do was to remove the disks from the wheel hubs & also remove the cassette. Things didn't go well. I found that several of the hex bolts wouldn't budge at all! It looks like they have been overtightened, which has damaged the hex bolt head meaning the hex key just slips out when you try to turn it. Not good. Not sure what to do about this at the moment.

Whilst I was doing this I was also thinking about which tools I would need to buy in order to remove the cassette from the rear hub. I need not have bothered as at that point the cassette simply fell off onto the floor along with several small springs & tiny metal blocks. Erm! That's not right. Looks like my wheels are simply falling apart before my very eyes!! Given my current limited knowledge of bike maintenance I think this could be a job for ........

TOOLBOX

2009-06-14T08:13:00.009+01:00

I've started to build up a nice collection of bike specific tools since starting this project where before all I had was an incomplete set of hex keys & a small screwdriver! It was time to get a tool box to keep everything together. No more rooting around in the garage trying to find what I needed or loosing small parts God knows where. A quick trip to B&Q got me just what I needed for the very reasonable price of £7.99. It was from B&Q's value range but a nifty bit of customisation in the form of a DMR sticker placed over the 'B&Q Value' logo & you would never know :-)

LABOUR OF LOVE

2009-06-13T21:56:00.013+01:00

Since I have a perfectly good bike to replace the Isis (The Giant Trance X5, pictured above, now with dodgy reflectors removed!!) I'm in no hurry to complete this project. It will be a labour of love and I will be taking my time with it ...... actually I don't have much choice! I'm making this up as I go along as the only work I've done on my bike until now is to repair a flat & tighten the odd bolt here & there! Clearly there is going to be a lot of stuff to learn if I'm going to do this right.

INTRODUCTION

2009-06-13T20:58:00.030+01:00

It was time to get a new bike. Out with the old, in with the new. My Ellsworth Isis had served me well for the last 9 years. But now all the components were starting to show their age & fall apart. I had changed & updated a lot of parts over the years. But my general feeling was that a lot of the components were starting to look dated next to newer bikes. Things had moved on a little in the 9 years since I had bought the Isis. Lighter bikes, longer suspension, revised geometry, disk brakes as standard. Should I upgrade the Isis or just buy a new bike?

Bike lust got the better of me & in the end a new bike seemed like the way forward. The Lapierre Zesty 314 was my main choice. It looked & sounded like the ideal bike ..... but the price didn't! A new bike with a budget would have to be the way forward. Following MBR's £1000 full susser round up in May (2009) I ended being sold on the Giant Trance X5. MBR had very good things to say about this bike. I ended up getting the X5 for £877. I took it out on the trails & I've been more impressed with it the more I ride it. The Isis was history .......

...... Or was it? After buying the Giant Trance X5 it seemed the best idea for the old Isis was to strip it down, sell the parts on fee-bay & eventually sell the frame. But having stripped down the bike until all that was left was the frame it suddenly dawned on me - I've had this bike for 9 years, it's a classic & there's no way I'm selling this frame!! I then had the idea to rebuild the bike from scratch. It would be as good as it was when I first rode it (i.e. fu***ng amazing) except now updated with more modern kit. And so my project begins .......