Dialled Bikes MX24R parts Arrived !
The B
rand-X headset and the DMR-Bikes Chain tensioners that I ordered earlier in the week for the Dialled Bikes MX24R arrived this evening. They were a day early so well done wiggle.
I set about removing the old headset but it is pretty much wedged into the frame and even after 30 minutes of hammering it has only moved a few mm. I have given up for today and I have sprayed some WS40 inside the headset and I will leave it over night to penetrate in and get rid of any rust that may be stopping the cups from moving! Usually the cups pop out with a few swift blows of the hammer but these ones are wedged in which suggests that the cups were not greased before installation and have therefore rusted into the frame 🙁
Unfortunately the chain tensioners also do not work as the wheel is too far forwards in the dropout for the chain tensioner to fit into the dropout!! As I want the wheel as slammed as possible I will not be able to get these chain tensioners to work 😬
I have been on ebay and bought 3 sets of cheap £4 chain tensioners that my friend has used on his dialled frame for years. They had 3 sets of black ones left so I bought them all and saved myself £1 in the process. This means that I will have 1 set per bike (20″ and 24″) and 1 set for the parts box if one of them breaks! I am not sure when they will arrive but they will most likely be here by the middle of next month! I have now cancelled the order and I will look for an alternative option that will arrive sooner.
I have been looking around and it looks like the best option for this bike will be Profile chain tensioners which I have bought before and they have been really good quality and I seem to remember that they worked well with my Dialled before! I am also going to get an S&M seat clamp as well as the Cruiser does not have a seat clamp at the moment! I bought them both from Crucial so they should be here my early next week I guess. I ended up getting 2 sets of the chain tensioners and cancelled the ones from ebay stating that the delivery would take too long so I should have both bikes set up by early next week.
As you can see from the photo’s above the paintwork on the 24″ is really rough and you can also see from the picture on the right from the 3mm of cup that has moved out of the frame, the cups have rust on them so with a bit of luck in the morning the WD40 will have done its thing and I can then do the same on the top cup! If I can get then out then I will then be able to get the front end dialled in while I wait for the chain tensioners to arrive.
I am still debating getting the frame painted now before I install the new headset as every time I look at the frame I see more area’s with missing paint or rough patches! In fact I noticed the patch of exposed metal from chain rub while I was trying the new chain tensioners out which I think needs fixing as the exposed metal is starting to rust as well!
I am thinking that I may strip the frame tomorrow and when I get paid on the 15th I will take it over to be stripped and painted I now just need to decide what colour to paint it! At the moment I am thinking either titanium like my last Yess frame, the standard colour Blue or I may just get it black again! I will have a think over the next couple weeks and then decide on a colour!
I have to be honest the Blue is growing on me at the moment but I will see and I also like the fluro Yellow colour of the 2018 GT Speed Series so I may get it that colour for a change as it will look really good with the black forks an black decals. I really liked my speed series when I had it do that may be a good one for a change. I think the yellow will also pop with all of the black parts that I have on the bike at the moment as well so that might be a good option.
As I stated yesterday I am mainly going to be riding the Dialled MX20R 20″ that I bought last weekend from now on anyway so I have time to build the 24″ up. I will not be racing it until September at the earliest so I might as well get it perfect and ready to race again now. I also need to get new bearings in the Profile elite wheels that are on the 24″ at the moment so that I can ride the wheels over the winter to not mess up my Onyx wheel! I am thinking that the Onyx wheel will be better going onto the Curtis frame once it has had its dropouts swapped out and then I can literally just ride the Curtis at gates when it is dry and race it as the Onyx don’t like the wet which is not ideal for the UK! The only issue with getting the dialled 24″ painted fluro yellow is that I want to use it as my ride to work bike so the colour will attract way too much attention, which is not a good idea really as the bike is going to be worth a fair bit once it is built up. I may save the fluro yello for the Curtis as it will need to be repainted after this season and replacing the dropouts so I may well transform it from stealth to in your face! Who Knows?
Once it is done I can then think about the 20″and what I will do with it as well. To be honest I am liking the white frame at the moment so I may well leave it white for now and just get new decals and new race ready parts for it like dxr cranks, onyx wheelset, Yess forks etc.