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Boulder Reborn

So I bought a 2004 Giant Boulder SE...a bike to break and rebuild.

June 2011

Before I started the project I thought I would see how it handled a cold morning at Stromlo, one last hoorah in the standard specs. So with little more than a swap of the saddle and some air in the tubes I set off. It was a foggy morning and the air was damp and the ground quite slippery. I was used to my Trance so this was 'different'.

Half way up I noticed there were no more gear changes and the shock that went 'pssst' every now and then went 'pssst' no more. By some magic of the mountain this bike had transformed itself into a single speed rigid...but we made it. It was great.

Coming down was fun too. Especially when I hit Luge and the brakes seized up and were permanently locked on. Having to peddle through the Luge was an new experience and a good work out. From this I learned that the difference between a quality bike and a cheap bike is not whether it will make it to the top of Stromlo or not but whether it could do it twice!

Step one - break the bike was achieved.

Now the rebuild:

Step 1: I stripped it back to bare frame.

Step Two: Sand and undercoat

Step 3: Top coat of Indian Red...it will go faster

Next: I finally got my Orange GIANT decals from Mexico (cheapest place for aftermarket bike decals...crazy)

27 June 2011

July 2011

After many deliveries all parts were in and ready for assembly. As much fun as it was for my daughter to help I decided to buy a proper stand.

next I built my own headset press...

and the rest was pretty easy.

In the end I decided to build a single speed and tried to keep it as light as possible within my budget. Failed on both to some degree. I found it hard to save weight on items like tyres and the budget? Well as long as the bike is loved can we really put a price on it? VISA says we can. Nevermind.

So here he is:

I am very happy with it. After reading much about buy or build I can confirm that you may get better value from a bought bike but you will never get better satisfaction than through building your own. When you buy a bike any compromise the manufacturer made is annoying but when you have to compromise it is more honest. I hate how built bikes hide the cost cutting in places like cheaper bottom brackets, hubs, headsets, etc. Sure they put the bling on the rear D and the shock, they fit bling stickers.

I have taken Mr Stevens on two trips to Stromlo with great success. Having never ridden SS before it was tough. You are either gogogo or STOP. The setup is 36t front and 16t rear which is not the easiest but very doable. The bike came in just over 11kgs which is respectable for its' origins as a 2004 Boulder. I have listed the components and prices below. I really enjoyed building the bike and look forward to building many more. Please feel free to ask any questions you like and if you see me on the mountain be sure to say hi.

...and for those wondering why "Mr Stevens" .... Death Star Canteen (language warning).

...the specs and prices are as follows:

Parts	Cost	Description
Bike	170.00	2004 Giant Boulder SE
Paint and decals	60.00	Various
headset	34.56	FSA Orbit XL2
grips	19.25	Prolock White
stem	5.00	Kore
handlebar	50.00	Merek Carbon Riser 31.8
headset spacers	-	Recycled originals
crank & bottom bracket	128.84	Shimano Deore SLX 170mm
pedals	36.00	Wellgo MG1 Pedals, BMX & MTB, 376g
chain	31.18	XTR 9 speed
single speed conversion kit	43.39	DMR Chain Guides Simple Tension Seeker & Single Speed Kit Green - 16t
saddle	10.67	Vader Saddle V-104
chain stay guard	2.99	n/a
seat post	27.20	RACEFACE 2010 RIDE XC Seatpost 30.9x375mm
fork	236.46	Spinner Aeris Sport 286-80
wheels	-	Recycled originals
tyres	31.98	Geax Lobo Mas Loco TNT MTB Folding Tyre
skewers	12.43	n/a
bottle holders	13.44	Top peak adjustable
brakes	67.76	SHIMANO DEORE XT V-Brake BR-M770
brake levers	54.23	Shimano Brake Levers - MTB XT V-Brake Levers M770 Black
Grease	14.00	n/a
shipping	26.00	n/a
pump	24.88	Top peak with gauge
tubes	6.90	n/a
TOTAL	1,107.16

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Comment by Jeremy S on July 19, 2011 at 20:29: Just googled the fork 1400grams light bugger for a fleabay fork. What size stanchions does it come with and how do you rate it?

Comment by Jeremy S on July 19, 2011 at 20:24: Nice work Joe. Pretty good weight I recon given you stuck with the original wheels which would be a heavy item given the year and model of bike. I would suggest if and when the budget can stretch grab something like a set of jetblack rockets and just swap them between projects. Probably find you would save 500+ grams from your build weight, and pick up some performance. They cost next to nothing, come in a decent 1600gramish weight and it took me two years of very unrefined riding to finally break a spoke on my set.

As for the fork, I've never even heard of that fork before.

I like it.

Comment by Matt W on July 6, 2011 at 13:08: Mexican decals came up nice, cant wait to see this thing up and running!

Comment by Karl B aka Crasher on July 2, 2011 at 7:48: Noice. My old Specialised is going to get some treatment if I can ever sell this bloody CBR.......

Comment by Third Idiot on July 1, 2011 at 22:08: Surely it's going to become a rigid singlespeed. That's what it was trying to tell you up on the mountain.

Comment by Deano on June 28, 2011 at 10:19: nice one joe, keepus bermers informed with your progress. i will be painting my Kona one20 soon

so I am interested how you go with it all

Comment by Jeremy S on June 28, 2011 at 8:19: Hey Joe - awesome retro colours, love it. You going to post up a specs list and costs once you build it?

Would love to do the same thing with a 90's stumpjumper if I can ever track one down.