Nukeproof MTB build (now a Giant strip and rebuild)

[Gunk]

As my son has grown out of his Trance carbon.

So we’re stripping it and building it into this

 

[Gunk]

My work bench is chock a block with the contents of the cupboard under the sink as we wait for our washing machine to be repaired.

As soon as the bench is clear we will start breaking down the Giant.

First project in almost a year so quite excited about this one.

 

[Gunk]

Washing machine has now been fixed, so the bench is finally clear. Frame arrived today, it just needs detailing and a clean, our plan is to strip the donor bike this weekend.

 

[Gunk]

So now a change of plan the “larger” frame my son has bought is in fact an identical size to the Giant. Which is a much better frame, he feels cramped on it and it has a very short handlebar stem so my plan is to just strip, service and rebuild it with a 100mm stem and see how he gets on. It’s an 18” frame and he’s 5’8” so it should be fine.

It didn’t take long to dismantle it, everything is filthy (I built it three years ago)

First job was to clean the frame, now looking really good.

 

[Gunk]

I’ve now done enough for one day, new correct XT jockey wheels have been ordered plus a nice used Bontrager 100mm stem with a 10 degrees lift which should provide a better riding position.

So everything is now tucked away whilst I wait for parts and start cleaning and servicing everything for re-assembly. (Don’t worry the carbon frame is just loosely held in the clamp, I’ll clamp the frame by the seat stem on my floor stand when I come to put it all back together)

 

[Gunk]

All done, replaced the bottom bracket, inner cables, handlebar stem, headset and jockey wheels. It was a bit of pain reassembling as I hadn’t taken any photos of which outer cable went where as I was going to sell the frame but after some head scratching it all went back together.

 

[Gunk]

If you haven’t completely stripped a bike down to service it, I would thoroughly recommend it. It gives you an opportunity to check, service/replace every component and deep clean everything. My tip would be to photograph everything, mark the exact position of the front mech with a tiny dab of tippex and label up all the outer cables.

once completed you have the comfort of knowing that your bike is genuinely back to “as new” condition. Next one of my bikes to receive the full strip down treatment will be my 2007 Specilized Epic which I doubt has ever been completely stripped.