The Bike Geek

Inspired by Moe’s KHS Alite… Here’s my newest toy. A Nashbar Reynolds 853 Signature Frame, 90% complete. After riding a full suspension ‘05 Rocky Mountain Slayer 70 for the last 2 years I felt like I needed to go “retro.” I wanted a good ole’ steel frame. After some research, I found the Nashbar Signature frame. From what I read, it’s made in the same Taiwan factory as the Rocky Mountain Blizzard and is pretty much identical. So I waited for a 20% off coupon and ordered it.

The frame is pretty darn nice for mail-order bike. I got the 15.5 inch and on my fish scale it’s 5.0 lbs. A cool feature is that the dropouts are Tom Ritchey dropouts.

Here’s the buildlist so far.

• Bike Nashbar 853 Signature Frame (15.5″)
• Nashbar Deluxe Seatpost Collar 31.8
• 2006 FOX Float 100 RL OEM Fork
• Cane Creek S-3 Headset (1 1/8″)
• Truvativ XR Mtn/Road Stem, Black, 100mm, 82/95 Deg, 11/8″
• Truvativ XC-XR 31.8 Flat Bar, Black, 5 Degree
• SRAM PC-991 9 Speed Chain
• Hope Mono Mini Disc Brake (Front 51mm mount)
• Hope Mono Mini Disc Brake (Rear 51mm mount)
• SRAM X.9 Front Shifter
• SRAM X.9 Rear Derailleur
• Truvativ Stylo Single Speed Cranks with BB 175MM
• Wheels (Mavic 717, Hope Hubs, DT Swiss Spoke, & Alloy nipple) taken from the Slayer.

So far as pictured the bike weighs in a 20.7 lbs. I’m “Hope”ing once completed it will weigh in at a hair over 24 lbs. I just have to be wait until the cranks arrive and it’s ready to hit the trails.