The Problems

Bombproof Primer

I’m not sure what kind of primer Marin used for this bike, but that stuff was STUCK on there. The same chemical stripper that I’ve used successfully on all of the other SBs did a fine job of eating through the clear coat and the main frame color, but it just would not penetrate the white primer layer on the aluminum frame. This impenetrable primer ended up adding weeks to the build time, which was already far exceeding my turnaround time estimate to my friend. The solution to the problem ended up presenting itself on a bit of a lark. After the who-knows-how-many attempts at chemically stripping the primer, I remembered I had access to an incredibly powerful car wash pressure washer. I’d seen this thing take the finish off a car before, so maybe it could do the same with a bike? In short, it could. After an hour or two with the power washer I FINALLY had a clean and clear aluminum frame ready for the painting process.

What’s Old Is New, And What’s New Sucks?

SBC has a habit of taking old frames and putting modern parts on them to improve performance and add capabilities that weren’t present on the original bike. However, the Mediocritatem ran this in reverse. Brand new parts were removed and replaced with stuff that was 15-20 years old. Stock, this bike shipped with a 7 speed Shimano cassette. (I find it crazy that in 2022 non-Walmart bikes ship with 7 speed drivetrains.) One of the things that I learned on this build, is that 7 speed Hyperglide freehub bodies are less wide than 8+ speed bodies. I naively thought that Hyperglide was just Hyperglide, and any HG compatible cassette would slide on to any HG body regardless of era. Nope.

When trying to slide on the 9 speed SRAM XO cassette onto the stock 7 speed freehub body, the threads on the lockring wouldn’t engage. The cassette was too tall. No worries, I had a spare 8+ speed freehub body, I could just swap it out. Also nope. The stock freehub body refused to be removed, even besting a 3 foot iron pipe cheater bar. I gave up at that point and purchased a lightly used 700c six bolt disc wheel with a 8+ speed HG hub for $30 from the Boise Bicycle Project. The 9 speed SRAM cassette slid on drama free.

In a wacky turn of events the 20 year old cassette that was destined for this bike was too new in order to go on the stock freehub body of a bike that was built new in 2022!

Brakes

Unfortunately the Avid Juicy 7s in my friend’s parts box were unable to go on the frame. The caliper size, shape, and location of brake pad removal tabs meant that there was just no way for them to fit. The stock mechanical disc brakes were used instead. The performance of the stock budget brakes were acceptable, but three or four finger braking is a departure from the one or two finger braking that we’re used to with modern hydraulic systems.

Time

This was the first commissioned project for SBC, which meant that it was the first time that I was accountable to somebody who was expecting a bike. The hurdles above caused many delays and challenges. My original ballpark estimate to turn this around of “a few weeks” ended up being a couple of months. I felt bad giving regular updates to my friend that consisted of “Hey man, so, uh, it’s still not done”. Although we both agree that the final product was worth the wait, the waiting and blowing the timeline sucked :/