Performance Access XCL Comp - # 2

Racer Boy Ian continues to grow as most 13 year olds are apt to do.  My plan to keep swapping his existing Pile-O-Parts from one frame to another is working as planned. Picked up this new Performance Access frame a few weeks ago and moved everything over with no problem. I've built enough bikes over the years now to do this blindfolded...

I did purchase and install a new Cane Creek ZS-3 headset (eBay deal), since I didn't want to remove the headset cups from the previous frame. All the existing cables were too short, but I scrounged enough cable sections from the workbench to run new ones - minus the shifter cables. Picked up a new set from the fine folks at Kirkland Bicycle, a local shop.

Here it sits ready to roll.  This frame measures 18.5" center to top (of seat tube) and 16" center to center.  Top tube is around 23" and overall fits 5' 6" Ian pretty well with a little growing room left over.  This model arrives with a multi color paint job, which conveniently matches his team kit.  I think it would look better with black tires and saddle, but the red Panaracers are almost new and that's a high end Fizik saddle - so they'll both stay.

His first Performance Access frame was a 14" which amazingly he rode and raced for two years.  The 16" Sette Reken frame I recently built up, only lasted a few months - since I let it sit boxed in the garage too long - combined with a growth spurt.  We'll see how long this new Performance frame lasts and/or fits.  I'm hoping at least a year, maybe two if lucky.

This '99 era Shimano XTR derailleur - along with the shifters, brakes, wheelset - have now lived on five different frames over the years. Amazing.  Build is the same as the first Access frame I set up in 2010, minus the platform pedals.  Click here for full build details.

Short 4" head tube and integrated headset allow pre-cut 2004 vintage Fox Talus fork to still be used.  The fork has proven to be super durable and continues to impress after many years of use.

Bike has been a few rides now, including this little romp over at Freund Canyon, which was a blast - even if it was 90+ degrees - can you say hot?  Bike feels no different to Ian, just fits better.  I'd say that's a good thing.




If you're looking to build up a nice hardtail XC race or budget bike - depending on the spec - you can't go wrong basing it on the Access frame. Decent welds, light weight, disk and V brake mounts, handles well, and build quality that will amaze you for $180 (on sale).  For keeping a fast growing and fast riding kid on race ready wheels, been fantastic for us.

I'm sure the 29er version would also be a safe bet to build up a nice bike for low dough.  You don't need to spend a ton of money to ride and/or race bikes.  Trust me on that.  The Sette frames also work well.  Check 'em out.

Project Access - Round Two

Racer Boy Ian has already outgrown the mountain bike recently built up for him, only lasted a few months.  That'll happen when you're the fast growing (almost) 13 year old.  He's now riding (or will be shortly) the same size frame as me.  Welcome to Crazy Town, I'll be your Tour Guide, please keep arms in tram at all times.

Scored this Performance Access XCL Comp frame direct from Performance for $180 on July 4th, and it arrived today.  Larger version (18.5") of the same frame I built up awhile back, that one being the 14" model.  Amazingly, Ian rode the smaller version for two years.  Adding a longer seatpost with setback, along with a longer stem, extended the life quite a bit.  Lots of cool memories thanks to that little frame.

The Sette frame we'll soon retire measures at 16 inches.  Nothing wrong with the Sette frame - build or ride quality - and a screaming deal at $90.  It's just now too small.  So there you have it, 14" to 18.5" in three years (or so).  My, how they grow.

These "bargain" frames are fantastic for the money and work well.  The build quality and graphics are much higher then you'd expect, and they ride great.  For keeping a young racer on decent bikes, I can't come up with a cheaper solution.  I just keep moving the old school XTR parts kit and Fox fork from frame to frame.

Parts transfer/build to follow shortly....

Project Access - The Final Chapter

It's about time to bid farewell to the little bike that could, officially ending Project Access.  My son, Racer Boy Ian, has outgrown the 14" frame and needs something a tad larger.  I built this bike up two years ago using the bargain Performance Access XCL Comp frame, various parts around the garage, and few new tidbits.  A very light, totally race ready bike for very low dough.  Being the single paycheck family of four with bike nut dad (that be me) also requiring stuff to ride, need to be creative to keep everyone rolling on decent wheels.

This bike has exceeded all expectations and worked fantastic for two years.  For a fast growing son having this rig work from age 10 - 12 was more then expected.  From the original build, only changes were the addition of clipless pedals (out of my garage stash), Ritchey seatpost ($15 online), longer stem and wider 'bars (garage stash), and one set of XTR brake pads (garage stash again).  That's it for many hours of two wheeled fun and frolicking.  Bargain of the century, if I may say so.

Ian has piloted this bike on countless rides shared with me.  Many awesome father/son memories and some adventure added to our lives. Plus, scored 2nd overall in the Budu mountain bike race series and 6th overall in the MFG cyclocross series - in addition to a few other assorted races.  All this from my garage built special, which makes it even more - uh - special.

Fire up some sappy music and enjoy the farewell slideshow...

My plan was to order another Performance Access XCL frame in a 16" size, then swap everything over.  Plan was foiled since Performance no longer carried this frame.  Bummer.  I should have grabbed one and stored in the garage until needed.  I even called Performance and attempted to track one down.  No luck.  Incredible deal for a $100 frame (on sale).

That was a few months ago, however, just discovered Performance once again stocks this frame.  Interesting.  In any case, if you're looking for a bargain build, don't hesitate to pick one  up to construct your own low dough XC race bike.

Since I couldn't score another frame from Performance at the time, picked up a different $100 frame that's been sitting in a box awaiting build up.  Now is the time.  Stay tuned.

Once retired, the Access frame will hang in the garage patiently waiting for my 8 year old daughter to grow into it.  Project Access will live once again.  Until then, I hope it enjoys the rest it deserves.  It's been a great ride. 

Project Access - Ready to Roll

After a late night wrenching session on Friday that concluded at 2:00 AM - Project Access became a living, breathing, ridable bike. And if I may say so myself, it turned out pretty damn sweet. Looks cool, really light - guessing under 23 pounds, should be a killer bike for a 10 year old - no?

Build went together fairly easy, only hassle was the headset. After installing, impossible to adjust without being too loose or binding up. I pulled the fork back out to discover the bottom bearing had imploded into several pieces. Either a defective bearing from Cane Creek (doubt it) or I installed upside down (most likely) and blew it apart. Pretty strange. In any case, I had the exact bearing replacement laying on my workbench - a left over from my HeadShokectomy experience last summer. Total dumb luck and easy fix. Only other complaint would be the chainline not being as perfect as I'd like - still, it rides and shifts fine. I'm just being the fanatic.

Let's buckle up for a build review and tour, shall we?

I started with a new $99 Performance Access XCL Comp frame from uh, Performance. Access is their house brand frame and I was pretty pleased, actually kind of amazed, how decent the frame is for the dough. Under four pounds, disk and v-brake mounts, paint and graphics - all good. Original frame arrived damaged from shipping, the replacement arrived quickly and the build started......

New 170mm Shimano LX crankset off eBay, complete with BB for $76, nice deal. Pedals pulled from Ian's now retired Specialized Hotrock. He's still riding platform pedals, we'll give clipless a shot later. Shimano XTR front derailleur pulled from my Cannondale donor bike.

Fox Talus fork, circa 2004, features adjustable travel (now set at 80mm) - still a killer nice fork. XTR hub laced to Mavic ceramic rim, XTR v-brake to slow things down, Panaracer Fire XC Pro tire for traction. All parts pulled from my Cannondale. Pretty sweet front end, no?

Sette stem pulled from Ian's Specialized, Sette handlebar sitting in garage unused - until now. I cut the bars down a bit, think they maybe a tad too narrow now - may swap 'em later. Grips were laying in the garage, no memory where they came from. XTR shifters and brake levers, pulled from the Cannondale. New Cane Creek headset, eBay sale for $30. Hey, look at that - frame even sports an actual headbadge - no sticker.

Super light Fizik saddle and Ibis seatpost, originally from my Ibis Silk Carbon road bike. I swapped 'em out for other items at the time, so these are new - been laying in the garage since 2006. Perfect for this build.

View of BB area. I dig the unfinished "Stack-O-Dimes" welds and matte black finish - very stealth.

Curved stays and Panaracer Fire XC Pro rear tire.

Shimano XTR v-brake slows down the rear.

XTR rear hub and Mavic ceramic rim, XTR rear derailleur - pulled from Cannondale. New SRAM cassette from local Craigslist sale - $20. New Shimano chain from eBay - $20.

There it sits - not bad, huh? I was going to swap the stem over to lower the bars, but Ian digs it this way. I don't want to cut the steerer tube any shorter. As Ian grows, the extra spacers allow possible use with a larger frame down the road. Smart, eh?

So all in all, a pretty cheap build for a pretty trick little bike. Most of this due to pulling almost everything from my Cannondale frame - XTR goodies, cables, wheels and fork. The XTR parts and Mavic wheelset are from 1999 and first lived on my Ellsworth Truth for many years, then later transfered to my Cannondale - now in use on Ian's bike. Hats off to Shimano for manufacturing quality stuff. That's 11 years of use and now going on bike number three - very impressive.

Whoever built that wheelset also deserves a raise (wasn't me) - still dead true after 11 years. Amazing. The Mavic ceramic rims also held up fantastic. Expensive at the time, but well worth it. Without the ceramic coating, rims would have been toasted years ago from mud damage. Ceramic rims and v-brakes were the hot set up before disk brakes hit the scene. Even today, they still work pretty well.

Another aspect to the low price build was the online deals for the few parts needed. Yeah, hitting the local bike shop for this would have been cooler, but the savings were needed to allow this project to exist at all. That's my excuse anyway.

Due to Easter festivities and other distractions this weekend, no woods time for us. Ian demo'd the bike on our street for a bit and said it felt great. Sizing wise, looks good. I bet we get two years of use out of this set up.

I'm pleased and Ian is happy. Can't wait to see it dirty. As usual, blog updates to follow.

Project Access - Performance Access XCL Comp

Let the festivities begin - bike building festivities that is. As mentioned in a previous post, Boy Racer Ian is ready for a 26" wheel mountain bike. After spending way too much time on Craigslist and eBay searching for something nice enough to race, yet cheap enough for a 10 year old to outgrow - I've formulated my plan. Well, a semi-plan open to change anyway. Even so, plan has been officially named Project Access. Set your decoder rings to stun and follow along...

I noticed this Access frame on the Performance site months ago. Yeah, being semi-bike snob - well, not really - but certainly liking higher end stuff, I thought the mail order "no name" frames were junk. Still, when I looked at the specs for this frame - seemed perfect for Ian. The right size, under 4 pounds, disk and v-brake mounts, and sells for $115 or so. I don't remember the exact price, 'cause it just went on sale for $99. How can you beat that? For a 10 year old kid, could build this up into a nice race hardtail. I took a chance and ordered one up.

Ordering this frame also falls inline with a mental health vacation/project I've messing with and researching for a few months now - starting my own bike company. Without capital, a pipe dream for sure, but interesting to research exactly where frames are made. Not to blow away the smoke and mirrors, but when you look into this - some interesting finds. In any case, that's another story to post about. Having said that, was curious to see what this frame would look like.

Well, the frame arrived yesterday in a slightly battered box. Looked like it had been opened, since only about 2 staples were left holding the box closed. Frame was also poorly packed and kind of bouncing around inside - as was the box of parts - seat clamp, derailleur hanger and headset. I pulled it from the alleged cardboard protection and unwrapped the frame to check it out.

First of all, pretty stinking light - no scale to officially weigh it, would guess 3.5 pounds or so. I've held a fair amount of bare frames in my hands (still illegal in certain states I'm told) and this qualifies as light. The small size is a factor in this for sure. There's something really cool checking out a bare frame, free of parts - bike geek I am. Sue me.

Enough describing already, let's just look at the damn thing...



In all it's flat black glory, still clean enough for quickie living room rug photo session. Seat tube measures 14.5" with a center to center of 12" or so. Should fit almost 5 foot Ian well, with some room to grow. Curved downtube should avoid any fork clearance hassles. Frame is designed for 80mm - 100mm forks.

Weld quality won't impress anyone at Moots, but not bad at all. The build quality, paint and graphics are shockingly good for a $99 frame. I have a very expensive older Ellsworth Truth hanging in the garage with welds not much better looking then this. Of course I have no idea if this frame is aligned as well, and it uses cheaper tubing. For the money though, I'm amazed how decent it looks.

Curved seat and chain stays, v-brake and disk brake mounts included. Where the seat stays join at the top looks a little bargain like, but still not bad for $99.

Bottom bracket area detail. Welds still look pretty well done, certainly on par with bikes costing a few hundred bucks sitting on the bike shop floor. Makes you ponder the actual frame cost of most production bikes - most now welded in China or Taiwan. This frame is from China. Hopefully not welded by small children with excess toxic waste dumped into nearby stream. I'm half joking here, but do wonder about such things.

Here's where the story takes a turn for the worse. Notice the out of round head tube - caused by a whack to the front of it - complete with dinged up aluminum. You can tell someone dropped it onto something hard, like a concrete floor. I don't know if it was shipped this way or occurred during shipping itself. In any case, I'm not attempting to press a headset into that. Game over.

I called Performance today and they're sending a new frame. Well, technically I had to buy another frame, and will be reimbursed when I send this one back. I'm cool with that - it's quicker then sending this one back first and waiting for a replacement. I could have just bagged this whole idea and returned the frame for a refund as well. I'm impressed with the frame enough to continue with this project - especially for $99.

When the replacement frame arrives, will build it up with parts from the garage - wheelset from my Fat Chance, spare seat post and trick seat I already have, and mostly everything else pulled off Ian's 24" Specialized - drivetrain, bars, etc. Need to buy a headset as well - one that comes with the new frame is total junk. Oh yeah - and a fork. I emailed my mountain bike club list and have some leads on a few used forks. Fox and Manitou. This Option 1 build would be the cheapest route to get this rolling.

Option 2 build is to find a good donor bike on Craiglist or eBay and transfer parts to Ian's new frame. I've seen some good deals float through there, but none with a small enough frame - now that doesn't matter. Modified Option 2 is for me to score a used bike, then transfer parts off my Cannondale frame to him - old XTR and Fox fork.

Option 3 is to score me a new bike, then transfer my Cannondale build to him as well. Daddy likes that option, but tough to swing at the moment - though I'm working on it. Being Family Guy, can't justify throwing down $4000 for a new bike (I want something nice. Sue me). Something in the $2000 range - maybe. I've also been hardtail 29er curious for awhile (also illegal in some states I'm told) and have been looking into that. That also happens to be much more affordable as well.

On that note, today I was going to bum a ride on a friends Niner EMD to check it out - but needed to reschedule. I did take a drive over to Veloce Velo in Issaquah to check out some Niner bikes, but all the hardtails (demos included) were sold. I did test ride a Specialized Stumpjumper 29 with a decent build kit and RockShox Reba SL fork. Pretty nice bike for $1850....

The Niner frame geometry would be fit me better however, will check that out ASAP. Speedgoat also has some killer deals on Niners at the moment - with free shipping and no sales tax. I'd rather support a local shop, but the savings difference may dictate if I can pull this off at all. I'd probably go for the Air 9 model....

I've also been looking at the Sette 29er available online. Yeah, an "off brand" but a killer deal with a 3.2 pound frame, SRAM X7/X9, decent wheels, and RockShox Reba SL fork for $1200. That I could swing and it's half the price of a similar Niner. I've also Googled a bunch of favorable reviews on it. Interesting. The geometry appears to work for me as well. Very similar build kit to the Specialized I rode today for $600+ less. Frame also appears to a copy of the Niner. Makes you wonder....

More pictures and various rambling to follow as this story unfolds. Feel free to comment, ridicule, or ignore as needed. Thanks for your patronage. Drive safely. Good night.