Swoofty

I was appalled to find a quick link on my Hex too. I got rid of it pronto! The pinch bolt is highlighted in the photo below. It's underneath the bike, but not one of the 2 bolts that hold the plastic tensioner part to the chainstay. If you want the absolute best chain tool available, get yourself a Rohloff Revolver 3 tool. It has the ability to re-rivet the chain pins for the best security possible, but it's pricey. Another trick for the tensioner is to put 10t jockey wheels on instead of the 11t that come on it so you can drop a link and/or straighten the chain a little bit more.

You can use a gold sharpie marker on the 'Spoon' logos. It'll come off with alcohol if you don't like it.

Drop the chain off the second jockey wheel (the one farther from the rear axle). Loosen the pinch bolt that holds the tensioner. Rotate the tensioner farther back (clockwise in the photo above) to increase tension. Re-tighten the pinch bolt. Put the chain back on the jockey wheel. Done.

I've got the XT double ring M8200 (i think) with just a cut piece of aluminum for a bash. I've had to file some teeth on a 22t ring before too.

You should have no problem with 170s. I'm running 175 Shimano XT cranks on my 2020 with no problems. It's a 68mm shell.

That was a good 2 minutes! Nice find.

Cool. Thought so. Thanks Ali. You know, you could try the Air Kings on your Arcade sometime, hint, hint ;-)

So I finally ordered some Air King tyres only to discover, printed on the sidewall, 'mount only on hooked rims.' I mean, you can't believe everything you read on sidewalls, but they did take the time to print it on there so.... Does anyone have experience with Air Kings on hookless rims? I've ordered some carbon rims, but I don't have them yet. I'll definitely mount them when they arrive, but it might be a while. Anybody? Anybody?

A V brake, an HS33 and a Disc go to a party. The Disc has a blast and dances with everybody; fat girls, skinny girls and even a few boys. The Disc leaves with at least 3 girls that night. The HS33 has a good time and goes home with a very decent girl that no one would ever be ashamed of. The V brake goes home alone. Life's not fair.

For the money, yeah, Hope wins hands down. If you've got more to play with (like, a lot more) Industry 9 Hydra is spectacular. Profile hasn't changed there Elite hub in a long time, but they're great too. Chris King is not my favorite company anymore, but their hubs are great too. You won't be unhappy with a Hope and you'll basically be able to afford 2 of them compared to the others.

Can you guys get Aircraft Stripper in the UK? That stuff is amazing for stripping bike paint. I'm lucky to have lots of sandblasting places locally that know all about bikes so no grit in the threads here. Strangely I've been feeling the call of the raw aluminum lately too. Viva la personalizacion!

Well, I've been defeated. I broke down and bought the WAW cranks that are intended for this bike. They spin great and the clearance is perfect even with 175mm arms. The Bonz cranks were working, but the combination of 24mm spindle in a 46mm BB was just too much flex for the spacing I was trying to maintain. Haven't actually ridden the new cranks, but the driveway test was very positive. Absolutely loving this bike still!

It's one of the lesser known holidays for sure, but it always falls on a weekend. I have a drawer in the garage that all my loose spokes live in. Over the years that drawer has become comically full of extra spokes and yesterday I decided to finally sort through them by length. Luckily, with the help of some good tunes and a large shandy, it only took about an hour and a half to sort, measure and label all the errant spokes. I now realize that I won't have to buy any 255mm spokes anytime soon. Cheers

They bark when you lock them, but pretty quiet when you drag them. Definitely not disc brake quiet, but they would give the bike that period correct sound ;-)

They never had it on their site. I contacted them directly as they are a Crewkerz dealer and Crewkerz wouldn't sell directly to me. I contacted close to 10 shops about the frame only and Trial-bikes and Webcyclery were the only ones that said they could get just the frame for me.

Yeah I was gonna say V brakes as well. Better than dealing with Evo adapters. TNN blue V pads are fantastic on smooth rims too.

I got my frame through Trial-bikes.com in Spain. Ridefactory.ch has some as well I believe.

I know I'm a bit late as you've already ordered, but I'd strongly recommend the Comas carbon riser bars. Very impressive feel and great weight and basically the same numbers as Arcade style bars. The Crewkerz WAW carbon bars are too stiff.

That is a beauty! Silver and black with red trim is hard to beat. The paint was worthwhile over leaving it raw aluminum. If only all spare parts builds turned out this well!

Haha! Thanks Adam! I'm just a natural contrarian. If someone tells me I have to do something one way, that makes me want to do it a different way. My ride today sold me even more on this bike. I was able to do everything I was doing on my Hex, but so much more maneuverable!

It's 99% how I want it now so I figured I'd put it in the proper thread. Now that the brakes are bedded and the hoses are trimmed, I'm having a whole lot 'o fun on this thing. Spins like a dream, but doesn't quite match the power moves I could do on my 26s. I'm hoping that will improve as I get used to the bike. When I can afford those $300 Crewkerz cranks, I'll probably admit defeat and install them, but I'll keep tweaking the Bonz for now. Hopefully Mark approves of my hoses now ;-) Crewkerz Guilty Frame Czar 15mm through axle fork Industry 9 Hydra hub to Spank Spike Race 33 rim Extralite Hyper JF front hub to Spank rim Magura MT5s front & rear, 180mm rotors Comas carbon handlebar, 90 x 35 stem Bonz splined cranks, 18t to 13t Weight 20.6 lbs / 9.3 kg

I'll get to that, don't worry. Just gotta make sure I'm married to this stem first. 90 x 35 right now.

Finished! I got a Profile 13t faster than I thought and after 2 rides on the Profile hub, I decided to cannibalize my Hex Hydra hub and finish the build. 4 rides finished now and I don't miss my Hex one bit. The geo is spot on and it's more flickable than the Hex for sure. Pretty close to my Czar Neuron 24, but the Czar was a tiny bit too short. It's fantastic on the rear wheel. I do cringe a little whenever I look down and see that asymmetrical bottom bracket, but maybe I'll get over that. Just gotta bed in the new discs and pads now and then I can ride it with no holds barred!

Shadow Conspiracy Invisa lite are my faves. https://theshadowconspiracy.com/shadow-invisa-lite-riding-gear/

You guys are gluttons for punishment if you're suggesting a steel 20" bike with no seat as 'the one bike.' I loved my Alias while I had one, but as my only bike? Heck no! I'd vote Hex or Czar 26 just because they can double as 'normal' bikes perfectly. Pretty much every time I rode my Alias, I wished it had a seat. Never ridden a Lesson. Ali made the Crescent Ilions look pretty appealing too, but good luck finding one I guess.