EG: A Total Rebuild...

With the recent demise of my Podium pedals, along came an orchestra of squeaks on the bike. Loads of things have been neglected for a while... and it's taking forever this time to rebuild a bike... Can't seem to shake off the lethargy and procrastination...

Didn't look so bad from a glance... just lots of left over mud stain and couple of surface rust on bolts...
Pic taken to remember how cables are routed as I don't use much of the guides on the frame except for the rear brake.

Its a good idea to snap some "before" pics prior to a tear down. Especially if you don't run your parts like cables via the default routing. Everyone has their own little ways to make things work. You might think u can remember, afterall it was all your own DIY. Trust me... once u take them out-- the memories somehow gets synchronized to be erased from your brain at the same time....

Ok this I have to admit is a somewhat more neglected part than most on the bike.. Hidden behind chain guide and crank, the main pivot bolt wouldnt be something I would want to fiddle with on the usual. But 3 years with the last year a never ending onslaught of mud fest on most rides-- finally things have taken its toll as pics show.

TIP... if its extremely tight when removing a main pivot pin or bolts from rockers..make sure that they are being worked on from a neutral position. Top right pic-- with frame pressing on the ground trying to get the bolt out wasn't a good idea.. -- really tight as front and back is probably flexing while the bolt is being impinged in the middle. Found the best position by flipping frame over and holding rear tri with one hand and working out bolt with the other... whenever it feels tight, lift or lower the rear tri a little and feel things ease off... Not shown here but its the same with rocker bolts -- hold onto to rear tri so that the weight is not acting against the bolts as you get them out-- otherwise there could be some nasty surprise in store as i have learned by now... A repair stand is good for most work but not when taking apart hinged parts like frames.

[Edit] While play was detected in the main pivot, the 3 year old Horst links were still tight as day one. The alloy spacer (aka Pivot Pin??) was ok-- no excessive wear and when cleaned, light oiled and slotted with the new Igus bushing on both sides, all seems good to go. But it was really about time too as one of the bolts is just ever so slightly getting bent. Main pivot is a write-off though..from the way it was scraping the old bearings inside and the resultant dinks on it-- both this and the bearings are confirmed toasts.

After that it was a trip down to Dirty's place. Bearing tools arent something I can justify buying yet, especially if you have easy access to friends that have them ;p

And I was right-- the 4 x 6802 bearings were completely totalled. One actually disintegrated on its way out as seen above. Back home it was time to take a look at the rocker bearings which being just changed a few months back, only needed some grease stuffed in.

Rear Shock cleaned up, piggy resevoir topped back up to my psi setting, bb bearing checked and regrease... time to put things back. Followed by some decals doubled over with window films on the usual cable rub spots.

Still, it doesnt look like its gonna be finished anytime soon. Decided I'm done with those shifter cable guides I never used. Drilled them out for full cable housing to go thru instead of bunching all to the brake cable like before.

... Almost forgotten. My new fork! Ok... same old routine "measure 10 times, mark, tape, locked down with el cheapo homemade "saw'guide".... Damn! Need a new saw blade... arrghhh got to wait till tomorrow again.

And its a bad bad idea.. never strip more than one bike down. Not ever in a small confined cell. Much less 4 bikes! What the hell was I thinking of...





Fast forward to a...Lazy Sunday.

Paranoia says to measure another 10 more times even though everything was marked up the night before... Steerer cut, headset cleaned and bearings repacked. Front porked up by half a pound over the old fork...

Cable Management

Often one of the most visibly neglected parts on many bikes or simply suffer from poor bike building. That is cable lengths are incorrect. Many a times simply following the default cable routing on the guides on the frames without further thought if things makes sense. I have pretty much troubleshooted the various issues and modded before albeit not often the best looking. Decide to get these done properly once and for all.

Sick and tired of chafed housing? Its a nuisance especially with full sussers.. Double up the protection where the usual spots will occur. Snipped off old plastic cable ferrules and antiquated v-brakes noodles are great to have. Found more usage of bits that most would have junked out from their tool boxes a long time ago...

No as if I'm in any hurry... decide to apply my usual dose of el cheapo DIY. Decaling that doubles up as frame protection and cabling aesthetics instead relying on old mangy velcro from before...


If there is anything "wrong" with the EG it has to be the cable guides on the headtube. Pretty ridiculous to bunch it up front running long bars. To leave enough cables for the bar to turn a 180 degrees during a crash would loop the cables way too forward. FUGLY.  Even then it tends to pull the cable, stretching it. Thus apart from licking your wound mid trail you will have to get down and fiddle with the bike to get it to shift properly to get you home.

Some has argued that not using the provided guides will result in cables getting hooked on the top of the fork. Now that's just cables being too long and not secured at the right places beneath the top tubes. Tagging cables that run together is always a good idea as it reduces the messy look. Otherwise let them run parallel where possible (see left shifter and rear brake hose). Apart from aesthetics there is also a functional side. On night rides, one of the thing robbing precious lumens and casting funny shadows from your front light would be cables. One of the thing I really dislike about most lights is that they are mounted above the bar and off-centered. Something I just cannot agree with visually. Much prefer something central and in front of the stem... something that can be done with cables out of the way now and my DIY lighting mount...

And finally triple-film wraps on stays instead of the usual bulky protector and inner tube wraps for both aesthetics and functionality... these window films are some tough little mothers.. Made some triple layer with a thin decal sheet in the middle. Always wanted more black on the rear tri and Titus never seem to make a rear black triangle for the EG.

Reborn. The "EL Getsugatensho"  theme.. for the Bleach anime lovers, you'll know what I mean.