Hey everyone, happy off-season!
In the last couple of winters I showed you how to build a bike from scratch
and I have quite a few videos about that.
But this time, yes, I'm gonna build something new,
it's not really new because I'm trying to reuse a lot of things I had
that's a Rockshox Revelation fork,
I've had some 11 speed gears around,
I had that rear wheel,
ended up buying a front wheel for 100 bucks,
I ended up buying a 9 speed triple crankset for very cheap,
but most importantly I ended up buying a super cheap frame,
and in this short video I'm gonna show you how I'm gonna prep this up,
just to turn it into a real bike.
You don't have to look hard to find Brand-X online
and I've never really used anything serious from them but this time
I ended up buying this frame.
This is a 27.5 hardtail that I'm gonna build for myself.
Believe it or not, I've never had a 27.5 bike.
I already mentioned that price was my first criteria for selecting this frame,
so much so that I can tell you I paid slightly more for it
than I paid for that front wheel which was 100 bucks so that's quite impressive.
This is an aluminum frame, 27.5 again, it's been around for a while,
and if you look back here you're gonna notice that
this is a good old time 135 millimeter spacing,
which is fine I don't mind that.
And everything is routed on the outside of the frame which I think I prefer anyway.
You can see the quality of the welds right here by the head tube,
head tube which is tapered and I really like that because it will take tapered forks.
This is a Rockshox Revelation, it's 150 mm travel, I'm gonna modify it to 130mm.
Would you guys want me to do a video on how to change the travel on this Revelation fork?
Let me know in the comments below, I've never done
videos about fork servicing but I can definitely do that for you.
Continuing on, here's back to the bottom bracket.
I like the threaded bottom brackets because they are easy to maintain
this is a 73 mm shell
and if you watched my "How to build a bike from scratch" series
you know how to measure your frame and get to the appropriate bottom bracket.
Continuing on the seat tube:
31.6 mm, 34.9 mm seat post clamp here.
Seat clamp that is not provided, kind of unusual,
but this is a cheap frame so I guess I'm gonna have to buy one of those.
And talking about what you don't have, it is the bottle cage mount screws
you don't get those with this frame.
And also, if I bring you back here where your rear caliper will get installed
this is called an IS mount.
And in order to install any of the brakes you might love today,
you're gonna need one of these.
This is an adapter, IS to POST mount adapter.
What this frame has plenty of though, is these cable stops.
This being an older frame it was supposed to be installed
with segments of housing, so these would be cable stops,
and then each inner cable will be flopping around here on its own.
What I'm gonna have to do is drill these out.
With the frame upside down, you can see some sort of a serial number over there
and you can also see that there is no protection on this frame whatsoever.
If you read on the reviews, a lot of people are going to complain
that the matte black finish looks pretty but it shows all the marks.
And I can probably attest to that because I already have a bike in matte black.
So there is no protection whatsoever and I would highly recommend
to use at least something like this:
this is the 3M Scotchgard Clear Bra
They use it on the cars but you can find strips like this.
Definitely cover the downtube, the top tube, probably the seat stays and chain stays
because I already see marks over here
and it's probably gonna get pretty nasty with usage.
Chain stay is not protected with anything on this frame either,
and this is an area that's gonna cause a lot of noise,
and also the paint here is gonna be damaged right away by the chain.
Highly recommend to use something like this, I've been using it for a while.
It is the professional-grade, moisture sealing electrical tape from Scotch.
So I already mentioned that I went for this frame because of the price, but is it any good?
I already mentioned the headset which is tapered, and I like that,
I also love that the head tube is at 68 degrees,
which can make this a pretty decent trail bike.
Also, to go along with that, your seat tube angle here is at 74 degrees.
So it's not at 75 or 76 degrees, like most of the modern bikes out there.
However, with a combination of 68 and 74 degrees, I think it's gonna be more than decent.
Also this frame was built with 120 to 130 mm fork in mind.
Well, as soon as I modify that RS Revelation from 150 to 130 mm,
I think that's gonna give me a pretty capable hardtail
that should be quite playful
given that the chain stays are pretty short, at 425 mm,
and the components that I'm gonna put on it are gonna be at least half decent.
The weight of this 17-inch, or a medium frame is 2.04 Kg,
That would be 4.8 pounds.
It's not light by any means but it's pretty much according to spec.
I promised you guys a couple of ideas on how to drill out these cable stops.
First of all, I've applied some tape on the frame,
just so I don't scratch the paint.
So at the very minimum what you're going to need it's a round file.
I found it into a needle file set, because it has to be tiny.
And together with that I'm always using a piece of housing.
This is the Shimano SP-41 that I plan to use
and I'm gonna use this along the way, just to make sure
that I don't make these holes too too big
because I want the cable to be snug in there, so it doesn't rattle.
So I'm gonna use that along the way.
Now, if you have access to something like this,
this is a rotary tool, a Dremel,
always use, first of all, always use protection you want to take care of your eyes,
but if you use these grinding bits
the tiny, tiny ones that people usually wonder what to do with them,
they will be good for that task.
Actually this time, I'm gonna use what's called a Diamond Point.
This is an engraving tool that should be good enough
for the aluminum that I'm working with right now
If all you have is a tiny round file,
arm yourself with a lot of patience, and why not, a couple of beers,
and just go out at guys!
It's gonna work, it's just gonna take a while
because you can only fit the very tip of the file into the hole.
Using the Dremel is a lot faster...
The tiny grinding tip, and the round file seem to be the tool for the job again
and you can see the cable going through this first stop.
And if I can give you a conclusion,
a carving bit like this works wonders because it removes a lot of material.
Use the grinding stone to polish it.
If you have just a round file, that's perfectly fine, it just takes a lot more work.
Don't waste your time with the Diamond Point, because that's not the good tool for the job.
And look at this! All my stops are drilled out so I'm good to go.
And here's the frame ready to go guys!
Pretty excited about this little project.
I have the film installed pretty much everywhere,
I have mounting bolts for the bottle cage,
I have the the 3M mastic tape,
I have the adapter for my POST mount brake, which I don't have yet.
I turned that 9 speed Shimano triple
into a beautiful crank set with a 34 tooth chainring, narrow wide,
I can probably fit a 36 in there,
but one big question that I still have in my mind is:
am I gonna be tempted to install a dropper post on this bike?
With a 68 degree head angle and 130 millimeter fork,
I think I'm gonna be very, very tempted to ride this hard,
harder that I'm supposed to.
And for that, I'm gonna want a dropper post.
The problem is this, this frame is not setup to take anything internal,
and I don't really like the externally routed droppers.
If I was to go for one of those,
I can probably use the mounting bosses down here
to run any cable I want for the remote.
However, if I am to run an internally routed dropper,
I'm probably gonna have to drill a hole right down here,
just so I'm able to run a cable on the outside of the frame.
What do you guys think?
Would you go for the internally router dropper or the external?
Let me know what you think,
I'm curious if you've done something like that before,
and if you consider it worth it.
What else can I say?
I'm pretty excited any intrigued by this little frame.
I think it's gonna turn into a cool little bike
I will probably make it a 1x10
because I still have some parts in the parts bin.
What about you guys?
Would you be tempted to buy something like this?
Do you have a 26er that you want to turn into something a bit more modern,
or are you in need of building something only because...
Let me know what you think in the comments below
I'll try to keep you informed with the status of my build.
But for now, I think this is it.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Keep an eye on social media and all that kind of good jazz,
and until next time,
I will keep you guys in the loop.
Take care guys, Cheers!