Ok guys, here she is, as promised, newly freed from the confines of my Uncles dusty basement.
I was forced to move into a small apartment and I just didn't have room for her.
A bum leg kept me from riding for the last 2 years.
Well, the legs better now (as good as its gonna get) and I threw out allot of junk to make room for my bike stand and a small work bench.
(a guys gotta have priority's right?)
I present you my 'Lil Lucy, named after my youngest.
A 2003 Iron Horse Warrior 21.5 inch mens hard tailed aluminum mountain bike frame is the only part left that came out of its shipping box at the bike shop that day.
I took the job as a bike mechanic to just keep busy, I hadn't intended on building this bike... but fate stepped in... I opened the box to find the bikes rear wheel had been crushed in shipping. Now normally we just would have resealed the box and sent it back to the distributor as damaged goods but one look at the frame and I just had to have it. I struck a deal with my boss... id kick back all the unwanted parts to the shop and he would sell me the frame for $30 bucks, not a bad bit of haggling.
Its hard to tell from the pictures but its painted a deep satin blue..now a stock Harley Davidson color, with sliced up inner tube frame wrapping covered in good old black electrical tape.
(frame wrap is mandatory around here due to the need to chain her up to sharp edged parking polls)
Id been collecting cast off parts all summer. Controls here, bars there, I scored a BRIGHT RED Vetta light weight down hill saddle for free, the color was awful but the shape fit my posterior very nicely (you will see this information again)... so on and so forth.
The rims came out of the dumpster, they were attached to a crappy pacific mountain bike. They were painted in a thick coat of bright yellow and had the cheapest looking hubs and spokes Ive ever seen, but the rims were true and that was the tip off.
These are XTERA deep "V" cross section rims, I cut out the offending parts, zip striped them, wet sanded them for what seemed like days and polished them before lacing them to Shimano XT 32 hole mountain bike hubs with Bucanan stainless steel spokes and alloy nipples, I use a drop of loctite in each nipple. I got the hubs used for $40 bucks from a guy that just had to have an all "XTR" bike... his foolishness was my gain.
All that's wrapped in Specialized Hemisphere Kevlar puncture proof (yeah, right!) tires.
A big bike needs big brakes, a set of Avid BB7 mechanical calipers on 280 mm down hill bike rotors assures I can stop faster than I can get into trouble.
The fork is the last of the "dumb" Rock Shock "Psylos" its an SL model that's adjustable for ride height, rebound and compression dampening with a anti dive brake lock out.(the most expensive part on the bike, $250.00 with my employee discount) That's mounted to the frame by a F.S.A. "Downhill PIG" "A" type sealed bearing head set, these are $40 bucks cheaper than the accepted best Chrisking.
Its probably stronger than I needed.Shimano Xt series Quick Click 9 speed trigger shifters, Shimano V brake levers and black Oury sticky grips are mounted on a set of 5"riser wide flat track bars and a 30 degree 4" stem keep me in touch and control the beast.
The drive train consists of whatever parts Id collected all summer (read free) its a mix of Shimano 105 series road bike and XT mountain bike parts.
The crank is a 105 road series hollow tech with 52/32 tooth chain rings although its a 3 ring crank I removed the ultra granny 22 tooth.
It uses a OctaLink splined needle bearing bottom bracket shell.
(very strong and light, even with my big fat butt standing on them)
The rear derailleur is also 105 series that's has its logos polished off, modified with roller bearing idler gears. that acts on a XT 9 speed cassette type gear cluster
Notice the rear derailleur cable loop... its a hand made metal ball and tube set up with a Teflon inner tube for ultra crisp shift action.
The front derailleur is an XT side pull with a 105 series chain gate.
All control cables were measured and cut to exact length, both ends dressed for smooth snag free operation and finished with alloy ferule end caps. all exposed sections of cable are covered with extra thin nylon tubing.
I traded some maintenance work on this guys bike and he re covered my saddle in thin black leather.(SWEET!)
I intend to document a performance type build on these pages.
Parts are on order... boxes arrive every day.
I welcome your comments and tips...
Loose the hounds!
Tommy M.
Pictures by tjm1959 - Photobucket
I was forced to move into a small apartment and I just didn't have room for her.
A bum leg kept me from riding for the last 2 years.
Well, the legs better now (as good as its gonna get) and I threw out allot of junk to make room for my bike stand and a small work bench.
(a guys gotta have priority's right?)
I present you my 'Lil Lucy, named after my youngest.
A 2003 Iron Horse Warrior 21.5 inch mens hard tailed aluminum mountain bike frame is the only part left that came out of its shipping box at the bike shop that day.
I took the job as a bike mechanic to just keep busy, I hadn't intended on building this bike... but fate stepped in... I opened the box to find the bikes rear wheel had been crushed in shipping. Now normally we just would have resealed the box and sent it back to the distributor as damaged goods but one look at the frame and I just had to have it. I struck a deal with my boss... id kick back all the unwanted parts to the shop and he would sell me the frame for $30 bucks, not a bad bit of haggling.
Its hard to tell from the pictures but its painted a deep satin blue..now a stock Harley Davidson color, with sliced up inner tube frame wrapping covered in good old black electrical tape.
(frame wrap is mandatory around here due to the need to chain her up to sharp edged parking polls)
Id been collecting cast off parts all summer. Controls here, bars there, I scored a BRIGHT RED Vetta light weight down hill saddle for free, the color was awful but the shape fit my posterior very nicely (you will see this information again)... so on and so forth.
The rims came out of the dumpster, they were attached to a crappy pacific mountain bike. They were painted in a thick coat of bright yellow and had the cheapest looking hubs and spokes Ive ever seen, but the rims were true and that was the tip off.
These are XTERA deep "V" cross section rims, I cut out the offending parts, zip striped them, wet sanded them for what seemed like days and polished them before lacing them to Shimano XT 32 hole mountain bike hubs with Bucanan stainless steel spokes and alloy nipples, I use a drop of loctite in each nipple. I got the hubs used for $40 bucks from a guy that just had to have an all "XTR" bike... his foolishness was my gain.
All that's wrapped in Specialized Hemisphere Kevlar puncture proof (yeah, right!) tires.
A big bike needs big brakes, a set of Avid BB7 mechanical calipers on 280 mm down hill bike rotors assures I can stop faster than I can get into trouble.
The fork is the last of the "dumb" Rock Shock "Psylos" its an SL model that's adjustable for ride height, rebound and compression dampening with a anti dive brake lock out.(the most expensive part on the bike, $250.00 with my employee discount) That's mounted to the frame by a F.S.A. "Downhill PIG" "A" type sealed bearing head set, these are $40 bucks cheaper than the accepted best Chrisking.
Its probably stronger than I needed.Shimano Xt series Quick Click 9 speed trigger shifters, Shimano V brake levers and black Oury sticky grips are mounted on a set of 5"riser wide flat track bars and a 30 degree 4" stem keep me in touch and control the beast.
The drive train consists of whatever parts Id collected all summer (read free) its a mix of Shimano 105 series road bike and XT mountain bike parts.
The crank is a 105 road series hollow tech with 52/32 tooth chain rings although its a 3 ring crank I removed the ultra granny 22 tooth.
It uses a OctaLink splined needle bearing bottom bracket shell.
(very strong and light, even with my big fat butt standing on them)
The rear derailleur is also 105 series that's has its logos polished off, modified with roller bearing idler gears. that acts on a XT 9 speed cassette type gear cluster
Notice the rear derailleur cable loop... its a hand made metal ball and tube set up with a Teflon inner tube for ultra crisp shift action.
The front derailleur is an XT side pull with a 105 series chain gate.
All control cables were measured and cut to exact length, both ends dressed for smooth snag free operation and finished with alloy ferule end caps. all exposed sections of cable are covered with extra thin nylon tubing.
I traded some maintenance work on this guys bike and he re covered my saddle in thin black leather.(SWEET!)
I intend to document a performance type build on these pages.
Parts are on order... boxes arrive every day.
I welcome your comments and tips...
Loose the hounds!
Tommy M.
Pictures by tjm1959 - Photobucket
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