Drunken Red Jumping Dragon

Derailleur:
SRAM Grip Shift ESP 9.0 carbon 8 speed

Shifter:
SRAM X7 pod 8 speed

Brakes/Levers:
Avid SD 7/Avid SD Ti

Bought the original bike with mostly stock components from a guy in Orange County for 0. He told me he had owned it for ten years and ridden it about as many times. At some point he had switched the fork from a Manitou SX to this fucking piece of shit Marzocchi EXR. It's an OEM fork which is not officially supported by the company. Riding it feels something like constantly riding over old bananas. He had also switched the stock XT cranks to recent Deore, and the awesome Syncros Cattlehead to a 140mm Control Tech (like steering a bus over old bananas). Beside the component swaps, I doubt he had ever serviced any part of the bike. The headset was seized and I shot the damn thing across the room when it finally came out. The BB was also seized and took three people almost an hour to release, a huge cloud of rust going with it. Finally, the bike had a full compliment of Gore Ride-On cables and housing which had not been properly installed and had been neglected to the point where the uncovered housing was rubbing paint off the head tube. I think he tried to stem the flow by gluing the housing to the frame. Not that I am complaining, I got a good deal.

Anyway, after cleaning everything out and replacing almost every part of the bike, it rides very well.

Just moved to Oregon, finally updated the Dragon with a Kelly 26" rigid fork, suspension corrected so I can hitch up a 29 inch rim. Just need a BB7 and the wheel. Suspension is bullshit. Last two photos are with the old shit EXR fork. Disregard.

Oh, and that orange stuff on the tires is mushed apple as I had just ridden through the house's orchard. Mushy.