Its been a while since a Project Kastan update.. its been slow going, mostly because I have been waiting on a few unique parts to arrive. Here is the latest installment of of Project Kastan. Not much build wise going on in this post.. more and overview of some the trick parts to go on the build.

The post I am going to be running I pick up many years ago on TradeMe and has previously been on one of T.Whites Bikes. I’m not sure exactly what brand the post is.. it might be a 90′s uno.

Finding a rad brake lever that suited the 90′s vibe with out looking like a cheap part from Taiwanese source bible was hard, and any levers that are actually from the 90′s go for a small fortune on ebay.. VG levers for $200.. f#@k that! Luckily Mark Skull just happened to be in Japan, in Tokyo at the Blue Lug store… which happened to have this relatively rear and very suiting Paul Comp lever in non other that midschool 90′s race purple. The bike god are on our sides at times!

Next on the list of hard parts to find to suit this build was pedals.. most moderns pedals on the market these days don’t have much of that 90′s cnc’d charm. But I did managed to track these down which I think will suit the bike very well.. you cant go wrong with purple and pink splatter matched with gold Ti Axles.

Here’s another look at the Paul Comp anodized 90′s race purple lever. 3DV FTW!!!

Its nice to get a little bit of purple in this otherwise anodized blue build.

And again.. the Burgtec Pedals. So much radness!  thanks John Oldale for the hook up on these!

This saddle I have had for a long time now and has been through a few hands and even traveled across the globe once or twice. It’s a really nice shaped Selle Italia saddle in hard plastic.. no padding. The thing I love about this saddle is that it is filled with glitter sparkles.. more 90′s radness!

I was originally going to run the 90′s purple PMC hubs I have.. but when these Spin wheels came up for sale from T.White I had to jump on them. As much as I love the PMC hubs these Spins are going to add the extra over the top feel to this midschool racer.

At the moment the frame fork and the rest of the build sits patiently in the corner of the room.. there is a few more parts on the list to get before the build can be completed, and some more trickness that is yet to be revealed.

The next update on Project Kastan will be in a few days.

Previous Project Kastan Entries:

1. Project Kastan – The Start
2. Project Kastan – Update #1
3. Project Kastan – Update #2
4. Project Kastan – Update #3
5. Project Kastan – Update #4

Here’s another quick update on the Kastan Project…

I got the Marzocchi Sinister Fork back from the polishers who also stripped the black anodizing from the fork.

Before:

After:

Installed the Fork and Stem to the frame. The stem I’m running is a Knight Bike Co Ruff Neck..

I didn’t like how the stem looked with the head set top race and spacer.. so I removed it and slammed that shit!!

This how it’s look so far.. more to come!

Previous Project Kastan Entries:

1. Project Kastan – The Start
2. Project Kastan – Update #1
3. Project Kastan – Update #2
4. Project Kastan – Update #3

Here’s a little update on Project Kastan, this time focusing on the crank set up.. I’m going to be running a pair of RNC 2nd Generation Race Cranks with Ti Spindle. The crank arms came from Dave Struthers at Ride On in Vancouver via The Wazman and the spindle came from Louis Bolter. Thanks dudes! They are super nice cranks and suit the midschool  steeze of the Kastan.

The left crank arm still needs to be polished, I might take them to the polishers and get a nice mirror finish done?

I wanted to run a Profile American BB because the look trick as hell and come in anodized blue. The only problem is that the Profile BB’s are for 19mm spindles and the RNC cranks are 22mm.

So I paid a visit to old mate Paul Beadle who took some time away from his busy schedule making the machines that make beer to mill out the profile BB cones to 22mm.

Skull’s got me this nice NOS 42t anodized blue chain ring which looks really good on the RNC’s.. thanks Mark!

Here’s how it looks installed.. killer!

Because every pair of spindle bolts on every pair of RNC Cranks known to man stripped out or snapped I had to pick up some general dome head bolts for the Bolt Shop and run them with some  anodized black PMC axle washer which makes for a nice fit. And Paul Beadle trimmed the bolts down nicely for me.

The TNT chain ring is rad… BUT.. I also have this 44t Profile Imperial in Blue!!

I also spotted that Profile have Rip Saw’s on special in anodized blue.. which I could easily order in through the shop. Decisions decisions? What should I run?

Previous Project Kastan Entries:

1. Project Kastan – The Start
2. Project Kastan – Update #1

Here’s a small update on Project Kastan..

I stopped by Repco today and picked up some paint stripper so I can make a start on stripping the frame. Also stopped at the Bolt Shop a got a bunch of new bolts to replace the old ones and the ones that were missing.

All new bolts (right) to replace the old (left):

Made a start on the paint stripping, the clear blue paint should strip back easy and the aluminum will polish up nice.

A few new parts for the bike also arrived at T.Whites.. new school parts but definitely with some mid school 90′s flavor.

FSA Orbit MX2 Headset:

Atom Lab 20″ Race Rims:

That’s all for now.. more updates on Project Kastan soon.

Rolling into this winter in Auckland I decided it’s time to piece together my 1996 Kastan and document the build here on the SBC. It should be a fun little project.

Here is the frame… the same as it was when it was given to me by T.White way back in the day. He brought the frame home from Vancouver for me. Thank you T.White.

The frame was originally polished aluminum, at some stage it was painted with a translucent blue. It has a few chips here and there. I’m thinking about stripping it back the the alloy and polishing it.. what do you think?

Some of the first parts I have for build are these 90′s race purple PMC hubs that I got from Justin H.. Thank you Justin!

The axles and cones on the hubs are a bit wrecked so I switched the front hub’s axle and cones with a NOS black PMC hub I already had.

Before Swap:

Axles:

After Swap: Looks tidy.

Rear axle needs some work so I took to it with a file and small saw and got the threads working again.

Made a new cone by cutting down the old one and using a couple of washers. Should work fine.

The fork I’m going to be using is this Marzocchi Sinister. It should match the 90′s race style well. Thinking of stripping the anodizing but sounds like dangerous work.

Control Tech Brakes.

Quick mock up.. looks tough!

That’s it for now, still needing a lot more parts to finish the build. If anyone has some killer midshcool 90′s race parts kicking around let me know!

Sorry about the shitty iPhone photos also.. will use my better camera next time.

In other news.. I managed to get the old SBC archive imported in.. so we have the archive dating back to March 2008. If anyone knows the password to the old old blog .. http://skullbikeclublog.blogspot.co.nz/ .. let me know and I will get it transferred over also. Rad.