After riding my Diamond Mission 2 for 11+ years and dealing with numerous cracks (that problem addressed here) it was time to upgrade. Using an online marketplace I found a used orange Yeti 575 frame for sale that would work perfect for me. Make the purchase and upon getting the frame I jumped right into the build!
Parts Needed:
Parts Transferred from Old Bike:
-Fox Float 32 140mm Fork
-Sram X0 Derailur
-Sram X0 Shifters
-Hayes 9 Brakes
-Truvative BB and Crank
-26" Tires with 26x2.3" Kenda Nevegal Tires
-Easton Handlebar
-PNW Cascade Dropper Seatpost (Highly Recommend!)
Tools Needed:
-Rubber Mallet
-Screwdrivers
First step was to clean up and inspect the frame for any irregularities, plan the cable routing and look for anything that may be needed. The only concern so far was that my old headset was not going to work, so after measuring and confirming that my headset was 1-1/8" I ordered a cheap FSA headset.
Next step was to strip down the parts from my old frame for the install and see what needed to be cleaned/repaired/replaced.
Removed the chain, rear derailleur (Sram X7 on my old bike), hydraulic brakes and tires. Make sure to use something in the brake caliper to deep them from accidentally compressing. I used cardboard and it worked fine.
Next remove the crank and bottom bracket using a bottom bracket spanner tool. Keeping in mind that one side is counter-spun (should be labeled).
Next I removed the Fox 32 fork (140mm travel). Which I rebuilt as I have had it since 2008 without a rebuild... way over due. The rebuild for the Fox Float 32 is documented here (soon to come).
My Fox Float 32 had severely faded from either sun or constant washes. I trick I had used with my jetskis to deal with sun fading is car polish then wax. I decided to give it a try in a small area and it turned out great! Polished (Meguiar's Polishing Compound) and waxed the entire fork (NOT the stanchions!!!). Here is a picture of one side polished compared to the other side:
Now that I had all the parts off the old bike it was time to assemble them onto the new frame.
Started with installing the bottom bracket and making sure the spacers would fit the crank into the new frame. After two tries it worked.
Next I decided to steal my Sram X0 rear derailleur and shifter from my Rocky Moutain Flatline Pro over the Sram X7 that was currently on my old bike. I really liked the X0 a lot more than the X7 shifters and I plan to ride this bike more than the Flatline. Threw the X7 on the flatline for the time being.
Installed the X0 rear derailleur on the Yeti 575, however I ran into an issue with the deraillur bolt being different heights and I had to dig into my spare part derailleurs (X9, X0, X4) and was able to find one that fit the new frame and X0.
The longer one worked great on the Yeti.
With the rear derailleur attached I mocked up the handlebars (waiting on the headset to be delivered) and attached the shifters and brakes. With those on the handlebars I was able to run the new cable housing and cables.
My old front derailleur did not fit the frame (bottom pull vs top pull pictures below) so I had to install a new front derailleur which I actually had in my spare parts kit (Shimano Altus Front Derailleur).
After the FSA headset arrived I installed in into the frame. This required a press-in method to get the race in. Being that I did not have one I looked around the garage for something that would suffice and landed on a spring compressor tool for car suspension, which can be rented for free from autoparts stores and worked great for me. I cover the headset install on the bike in a separate thread you can read here.
The front fork is then installed into the headset with the new bearings and grease, aligned and tightened down. Next I installed the chain, which at first felt like it was too long now, but after completing a chain length test which requires unhooking the rear suspension I realized the length was fine.
After throwing on the brakes and the bike was good to go. Installed the tires. Adjusted the front and rear suspension sag and installed the PNW Cascade Dropper Seatpost, which I had purchased for my last bike and cant speak highly enough about. Purchased from REI and had a component issue that PNW quickly took care of and sent me new parts for.
At this point I tuned in the rear and front derailleur and confirmed everything was tight through a few test rides. I quickly noticed that a 26x2.3 Kenda Nevegal tire needs to be perfectly straight (which mine was not) due to low clearance in the rear triangle. Once straightened it didn't rub, but I plan to downsize to a 26x2.1 in the event that I bend my rim on the trail (highly likely) and don't want to deal with immediate rub.
Video Help Links I Used:
UPDATE (Oct 2019): During my first mountain bike ride on it the rear shock (Fox RP23) appeared to not have functional pro-pedal function and was leaking from behind the rebound adjustment knob. After a lot of research into this it seemed clear that it is not repairable by a novice and pros want $150+ to professional rebuild it, which exceeds the cost of the shock. So I am in the market for a Fox DPS rear shock for this frame.
Comments