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Swapping It Out

October 6th, 2007 by Arleigh Jenkins

I am known for swapping parts out on my bike. I normally buy a bike frame based on it’s universal opportunities. My Karate Monkey has been a single speed that was fully rigid, to 1×8 with front suspension, and everything in between. I have a Gary Fisher X-Cal that has been a 1×9, single speed and a monster cross. I hope to start documenting the swaps on this Blue Collar blog.

I plan on starting with my Surly 1×1. It originally was a single speed with super nice Mavic wheels & Fox F80X fork. Then I turned it into a cruiser bike. A sweet bike with swept back bars and front basket. I had plans to turn it into a townie bike, Rohloff in the back, and generator light in the front. The PERFECT commuter bike. Time has turned, and now it is becoming a 69er. I figure I’ll see what the hype of 29″ in the front and 26″ in the back. The way I look at it if the sexy Travis Brown loves one it is worth me giving it a try. I know that geometry will be off but trying the wheel size for temporary use it should give me an idea.

Keep your eye here for some the run through of swapping out parts and some how to’s while I rebuild my beloved pink Surly into a crazy 69er.

As a cruiser:

Now what makes you the most interested?
On this project I will be -
Pulling cranks & bottom bracket.
Aligning chain line with spacers on chain rings & cogs.
Bleeding Avid Juicy 7 brakes.
Truing wheels.

Among other things.  What of these would you like a documented how to?  What else do you want to learn?  Give a shout out, I will do my best to take good photos and explain it well.

On upcoming projects I need to…. Rebuild my Rock Shox Reba 29er fork with a new seal kit.  Rebuild a couple wheel sets.  Install a Phil Wood bottom bracket.  Overhaul an XT hub. Etc etc etc…. I think you get the point.  What do you want to learn?  I’m ready.

10 Responses to “Swapping It Out”

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  1. 1 Rob  on Oct 7th, 2007 at 7:10 am

    Aligning please & bleeding second - ta

  2. 2 Kerbouchaud  on Oct 7th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    rebuilding forks and wheelsets.

  3. 3 Andrew  on Oct 7th, 2007 at 6:57 pm

    I’d definitely like to see a fork rebuilding on here. Thanks for taking the time out for all this!

  4. 4 back of the pack  on Oct 7th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

    69er? Blah…the idea of carrying two tube sizes every time I ride doesn’t really appeal to me.

  5. 5 Arleigh  on Oct 7th, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    Back of the pack -
    I have carried a 26″ tube with me for most of a year to use with my 29″ tire. Just inflate it so the tube stretches, push it in the tire, and let out the air before that last 6″ of mounting your tire.

  6. 6 Randy  on Oct 10th, 2007 at 8:29 am

    I am really interested in seeing how it works to make the Surly 1×1 into a 69er. I have thought of doing this with my Giant Yukon. It looks like a 29″ wheel with a rigid fork would work nicely. But I would rather see someone else do it first.

  7. 7 Simon  on Oct 13th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

    Quite interested to see how it rides with a big wheel in the front. Not that I’m going to try it with my Surly, 29er wheels are silly :)

  8. 8 Arleigh  on Oct 13th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    I have two thoughts that I”m going with. The first is with a Maverick fork up front for suspension. The second is a 29″ fork from Soulcraft that is NOT suspension corrected, so it should put the front end about the same place that the 26″ suspension corrected for would be.

    First up is Maverick.

  9. 9 Simon  on Oct 13th, 2007 at 5:32 pm

    I have two maverick forks I could try but I’ve lost confidence in them since cracking a dropout.

  1. 1 Monkey » Swapping It Out Pingback on Oct 6th, 2007 at 11:09 pm

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