Building a MTB for the wife.......

[catso]

OK so the wife 'wants' a bike, not sure if she'll use it much so don't want to lash out big money and I've got a few parts lying around doing nothing so I'm hoping to do this on a small budget - the more I save the more I can spend on me

Anyway I've got a frame, (Saracen ladies MTB which is as new and lightweight) and wheels, tyres, V-brakes, brake levers & shifters (from my Specialized prior to upgrading to disc brakes) which are all as new. I've also got an old Raleigh MTB from which I 'could' source some parts, however most of it is crap and alot of it is knackered.

So I'm looking for parts to complete this bike; forks, gear mechanisms, headset, rear cassette, seat, crank? and other bits 'n bobs, now I could just buy it all from bike shops, chain reaction etc but by the time I've done that I may have spent as much as a new bike, so probably ebay will be my 'friend' for many items

Firstly though I'm looking for forks, she will mainly be riding it on the road with the odd easy trail so she probably won't need supension, however she'll probably think I'm being cheap if I don't get it so I'm looking for a reasonable set of suspension forks, no huge travel/20mm axle required, preferably in the right colour (metallic Red) or a neutral colour? (so will probably need to buy new from a shop) as I don't really want to get involved in painting. Any advice on make/type best deal etc?

[deevlash]

try the wooly hat shop, Ive bought most of my kit fromthere, its the cheapest arounbd and usually arrives fairly promptly. www.woollyhatshop.com/#

[wildoliver]

Rock shox judies?

[catso]

Looking on various bike sellers & ebay (forks seem to be about the most expensive part of a bike) has got me wondering about sizes;

1 1/8" seems to be a standard size for the 'tube' but the ID of the tube on the frame measures about 33mm, is this right?

Steerer tubes seem to come in all sorts of lengths, how long do they need to be in relation to the length of the tube on the frame? do I need to get one that's just right or can longer ones be cut down?

[pdV6]

catso said:

Steerer tubes ... do I need to get one that's just right or can longer ones be cut down?

Get a long one and cut it down is safest.
Need to decide at what height you want the bars and allow enough length for the stem plus as many spacers as you want to add to adjust the height.
Then, the top of the steerer needs to end about 5mm below the top of the stem clamp. You can always get bars and/or stem with a different rise to further adjust the height of the grips once you've cut the steerer.

[pdV6]

Another source of forks:

www.wiggle.co.uk/CategoryProducts.aspx?Cat=cycle&w=0&CategoryName=Forks%20-%20MTB

[Neil_Bolton]

pdV6 said:

catso said:

Steerer tubes ... do I need to get one that's just right or can longer ones be cut down?

Get a long one and cut it down is safest.
Need to decide at what height you want the bars and allow enough length for the stem plus as many spacers as you want to add to adjust the height.
Then, the top of the steerer needs to end about 5mm below the top of the stem clamp. You can always get bars and/or stem with a different rise to further adjust the height of the grips once you've cut the steerer.

Ahem, slighty correct you there young chap

Should always be 2mm...

[beyond rational]

Anywhere between 2-5mm is fine

There is no exact figure and it doesn't matter, nearly all different makes of compression caps are sunk into the top of the stem to different depths anyway so you'll never get it spot on.

[catso]

I've noticed that some forks have threaded steerers and some don't, presumably this is the method of fixing and require a different headset but what are the benefits/advantages of threaded vs non-threaded?

Thanks for any help.

[pdV6]

Neil_Bolton said:

pdV6 said:

catso said:

Steerer tubes ... do I need to get one that's just right or can longer ones be cut down?

Get a long one and cut it down is safest.
Need to decide at what height you want the bars and allow enough length for the stem plus as many spacers as you want to add to adjust the height.
Then, the top of the steerer needs to end about 5mm below the top of the stem clamp. You can always get bars and/or stem with a different rise to further adjust the height of the grips once you've cut the steerer.

Ahem, slighty correct you there young chap

Should always be 2mm...

Just looked at a ruler and, yes, 5mm looks a bit much.

[catso]

OK revisiting this thread, I've got just about everything I need and built most of it up now but I'm missing one vital component; The hanger for the rear gear mech.

I've found 2 sellers on ebay that stock different types but only have pictures (for comparison) to order from;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl

and;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl

Problem is that I don't have an old one to compare as my frame came without the hanger, so the question is does anyone know what type of hanger a Saracen 'Verve' (ladies MTB) frame would need?

[pdV6]

I think your best bet will be to ask a bike shop that stocks (or stocked) Saracen frames as hangers can tend to change quite a bit from year to year and even model to model.

[catso]

pdV6 said:

I think your best bet will be to ask a bike shop that stocks (or stocked) Saracen frames as hangers can tend to change quite a bit from year to year and even model to model.

Thanks, I contacted one of the above mentioned ebay sellers who reckons he can get the right part so just playing the waiting game now.