stripping down my mountain bike..how?
 

I've a 20+yr old Dawes wildcat mountain bike thats not had much TLC over the years.

Now the wife wants to go Biking more.... :eek:

i've a two year old Trek 4300 with disc brakes... and a shed load of gears!! i'll let her ride that as I like the Dawes better ;)



So....... was thinking of stripping it down (the Dawes) to the farme etc, cleaning all the gears etc etc... the re painting the frame + folks in new colours.


is there any special tools i need to take everything off the bike.. then put back together?



also... the bike is a yellow colour at the moment, with alloy/silver rims.
whats a good 2009 colour to change too, ORANGE?

anyone sprayed their bike up in new colours that looks modern?

pix would be good too so I can get an idea.

Have a look on this site-tells u basically how to do all the jobs needed on a bike with pics -

Park Tool Website

to find the latest in fashion colour just go to any bike shop site and see what colour bikes they are selling now :thumb:

Bike shop - hardly worth all those tools unless youve a passsion for the sport

Special tools Ive need to buy for mountain bike stripping/servicing are minimal.

A normal selection of tools will do most jobs, I have a comprehensive tool set supplied by Henry's Grotto.

I needed a bottom bracket extractor a bit like a toothed socket with a nut on the back, and a cassette extractor which looks similar, also you will need a chain link splitter.

You tend to have an Allen key in your hand most of the time.

Starter for 10
Park Tool Starter Tool Kit | Buy Online | ChainReactionCycles.com


iv got some of their spanners , about £12 quid each at the time



surely hed get the whole thing serviced for £35 - depending on how wrecked it is

Ahhh MTB servicing/stripdown!

You'll be needing this website then :D
Sheldon Brown-Bicycle Technical Information
Sheldon Brown is a good general reference site to use - it's very informative.

One thing to watch out for on such an old bike is that you may not be able to get replacement parts for it if they are needed.
I'm servicing my Specialized Rockhopper which was built around 1992 and I need to renew the gear cassette due to wear.
Easy enough but for the fact that it's the original Shimano ultraglide system which was discontinued yonks ago!!!
As well as buying a new cassette I also have to change the rear hub to a Hyperglide to bring things up to date - so much for a cheap, inexpensive tidy up!! LOL!
As has been said, by the time you buy cassette removers, bottom bracket remover tool etc and if the wheels need truing, you may be better off getting a bike shop to do the overhaul unless you are going to use the tools regularly :D Good luck!

I'm not servicing it...... lol


just a strip down, re spray and put back together :)

But you still need some tools, bottom bracket removal tool and the sort depends on what type of bb you have, cassette removal tool along with a chain whip. Take the bare frame to a decent bike shop and they will be able to get it painted properly for you.

Good luck, or why not buy a new one .............?

remember the reverse thread crank and pedal on one side

Decathlon do a kit with everything you need for twenty quid.

Chain Whip, Cassette remover (depends which it has), crank stud extractor, Bottom Bracket too, spoke key, chain splitter. I do all my own maintenance and it has stood me in good stead, bikes are a doddle.

J4cko... this?
Decathlon - cycling Tool case DECATHLON CYCLE - Tool set DECATHLON CYCLE - carrying out bicycle maintenance work and repairs.

There is a danger that it will look crap once its re-painted. I did this once and it looked pants.

I am with Paulr on this subject.

I took big time out to strip down a Scott Octaine, got the frame stripped to nothing and ended up with the front Y frame/fork legs/ and rear sub frame bare.

I payed to have it powder coated and decided that one colour would be too bland so mixed it up a bit, red fork legs, green Y frame and red rear sub.

The job its self was spot on, although some threads were not covered so needed tapping out,and certain pieces of tubing had small holes drilled in them. :eek:

But when I rebuilt the bike again with care and effort over 4 nights in my garage after work.....it looked sh1te. (Maybe sh1te is a little harsh, it wasnt to my expectation)

You need a decal kit, and you need a photoshop of your bike so you can mess with the colours.

I will never do it again, its easier and possibly cheaper if you account for you time, to buy a new bike.

Is it ever that straight forward on something that's 20 years old? :lol1:

Keep us informed on progress :thumb:

I was saving up as a kid for a Raleigh Record Sprint and was doing quite well but my dad thinking he was doing the right thing got me a Peugeot racer off a mate and it just wasn't what I wanted but his plan was not just for me to have it, bought some choice bits from the local bike shop. he sprayed it and wrote to Peugeot and asked if we could buy some decals, they sent a set gratis, we chose a Ford medium metallic blue and with the red and yellow graphics it looked pure factory, Iscaselle turbo saddle, alloy rims it looked fantastic and cost me half what the new bike would have cost, so as has been said, get the decals otherwise it will look unfinished.

Or, instead of proper decals, get a custom set made by a signwriter, in vinyl, and laquer over them.

Then you can have owt you want: my eldest used to have his name in curly script as part of his on a trials bike. They can also copy any decals you want and you can have any colour you want.