Building a bike from parts bikes, lots of questions.

2DIE

Likes Dirt
Hey guys, I picked up some free bikes and bits a lady was giving away.

Originally I thought I'd get the Giant running and decide if I'd keep it or not and sell the other frames but when I saw the frame where the seat pole goes in was squished to fit a skinny pole.

I'll also add a pic of my GT Avelance which I might swap some parts around on as well.

My goal is to have 1 practical bike and 1 thrash bike but at the moment my dilema is if I should leave my good GT with the 1×7 driveline or change it back to 3x7 and and make the other bike a 1x8 or 1x9.

I'll probably build up the GT Ricochet as the thrash bike, keep the forks that are on it, use the stem and handlebars from my Avalanche, put the Giant stem on the Avelance and get new bars for it (or I might see if I'm able to clean the Giant ones up).

At minimum I need a seat, seat pole, grips, maybe a chain, cassette/freewheel and some brake pads. I wish I didn't throw all my old parts out but I have some new brake and gear cables.

Just throwing ideas around for now but any input of other ideas or if you think it might be better to build one of the other bikes for some reason.

Any ideas or help appreciated.



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pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Any signs of stress where the seat tube starts to compress on that giant? From the photo it looks like a deliberate taper as the paint is pretty good and the angles seem fairly consistent.
 

2DIE

Likes Dirt
Any signs of stress where the seat tube starts to compress on that giant? From the photo it looks like a deliberate taper as the paint is pretty good and the angles seem fairly consistent.
Not that I noticed but I haven't had a good look, although the seat pole in there looks like a bmx pole and it's got about half a cm of PVC tape all round it.

I'll have a look later and take some pics.

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silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
Giant Cypress is a hybrid frame not an MTB frame. It's a good frame but not the geometry for an MTB. Forks aren't original either as axle to crown looks way too short. And they came with SR Suntour forks too from memory.

That green GT frame is quite nice
 

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Its a fun way to learn about bikes,parts etc if you arent in any hurry.
Patience is required as parts can take time to appear.
Most of my bikes were built this way although I actually paid for the frames .
 

2DIE

Likes Dirt
@pink poodle

I got some pics, it's been squeezed more than it should have but you could probably fit the proper size seat pole back in it with a little effort. Not too much stress apart from what looks like some cracked paint.

@silentbutdeadly
No idea about the forks but they have been spray painted gold with a bad rattle can job (it's the same blue as the frame under then gold) and then a rock shox sticker has been put on it. I rally like the green GT frame too even though it's got lots of scratches and chips but no structural damage at all.

@rowdyflat
I've built dozens if bmxs growing up but I've only been playing with mountain bikes for about a year, I prefer bmxs but being 6'6 and about 100kg+ I'm way too big for them now. I might keep a eye out for free and cheap parts, maybe I'll build a few bikes up.


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2DIE

Likes Dirt
Forgot pics of the Giant seat post clamp part.

Also the pole that was in there with tape around it that didn't fit, fits perfectly in the GT frame without the tape.



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The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
Any signs of stress where the seat tube starts to compress on that giant? From the photo it looks like a deliberate taper as the paint is pretty good and the angles seem fairly consistent.
Giant Cypress is a hybrid frame not an MTB frame. It's a good frame but not the geometry for an MTB. Forks aren't original either as axle to crown looks way too short. And they came with SR Suntour forks too from memory.
That's not a factory taper on the Giant!! If it was properly done it'd taper lower & straighten before the slot. Might be OK if very carefully straightened out, but as SBD says, it's not a MTB frame anyway, it's a hybrid, although a 100mm up from the original 63mm fork might slacken it enough to be passable for light XC use, but you might have a bit of trouble weighting the front wheel enough for traction.
 

2DIE

Likes Dirt
Can anyone help me with seat pole and clamp sizes?

The first 2 pics are from the Giant which I need a new seat pole for, the hole is squished a little so the measurements might not be exact but I think I can fit the right size pole back in there with little effort.

The 3rd pic and after are thr green GT which needs a seat post clamp, I took the clamp off my other GT that fits for measurements too.

I don't know how they measure seat pole clamps but I'd assume the measurement of the sea tool would just be the diameter?

Hopefully placing a order for a few parts tonight if anyone can help before then.


Giant:





GT






 
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2DIE

Likes Dirt
Edited the above post, I forgot to add the pics.

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2DIE

Likes Dirt
31.8 for the GT seat post clamp

30.9 for the Giant seat post

Is that right? I have them in the cart but I won't buy just yet incase I'm overlooking something.

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2DIE

Likes Dirt
I went ahead and bought some cheap parts, around $100 worth of stuff total but it's nearly everything I needed to get both the Giant and GT running.

All I need now is some skewers (maybe bearings), the part the rear derailleur attaches to on the GT and a pair of V brakes and that should see both of them up and running.



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The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
31.8 for the GT seat post clamp

30.9 for the Giant seat post

Is that right? I have them in the cart but I won't buy just yet incase I'm overlooking something.
Yep, they'd be right.

One thing with those flanged grips, you may need to trim the flanges back a little bit, or just cut a notch, because they can foul on the shift levers and stop them working properly.
 
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2DIE

Likes Dirt
Cheers, I also made the mistake of buying only the outer gear cables, I was looking at about half a dozen of them at the same time and overlooked the details. Oops.

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2DIE

Likes Dirt
@silentbutdeadly
It appears you were right about them not being the right forks for the Giant despite being blue under the rattle can gold paint.

I got some other wheels with it that had skinny tyres but no axels and I didn't think anything of it until today when I decided to scrub all the tyres I own in the bath and use some rubber restorer to soften them up.

Taking the tyres off the wheels I noticed that the rims said 700c, not knowing that that means I looked at the tyre and it said 700c too. So I put it side by side with another tyre (26") and it was bigger.. I also noticed that the 700c rear wheel had 2 broke spokes so that's probably why they weren't on the Giant.

After going back to look at the Giant again with the 26" wheels on it the rear brake calipers don't line up with the rim. It doesn't have front calipers so I grabbed one off another bike to test it and it does touch the rim so that means it's got 26" forks on the front. (I later found out 700c and 29" wheels are the same diamiter).

I thought I had everything I needed to finish the bike apart from some calipers, I bought a seat, seat pole, chain, brake cables, gear cables and grips.

Now it turns out I'll need to get 2 spokes repaired, buy quick release axels and skewers, bearings, calipers and then I still need 700c/29er forks with posts for v brakes.

I can probably find a $10 or giveaway bike for axels and bearings, cheap forks will be the biggest problem now.



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