New to me '07 Explosif

This is my first post on here too... Haven't got any pics at the moment but I've also got an Explosif, bit older though ('01) and has the Easton Skandium frame, guess yours is steel by the looks of it?

Just put some new bits on mine to make it in to a rigid light weighter with road tyres on, as I'm back in England and living near Cambridge where there's no real hills or trails to speak of. Bit gutted about no propper xc rides until the next holiday, but its making a great road/city machine at the moment. Looks pretty mean as well, I'll get some pics posted asap.

What happened to cause all the clanking and snapping by the way? There's a blank on your post (on my computer anyway) where the reason should be. Hope it was nothing too serious...!

Ah! I can see it now... Only showed me one pic before. Good job its nothing too expensive (as long as the cassette and chain wheels aren't as shagged as the chain?).

Nope, cassette and chain rings are fine. Derailleur and cassette could use a good cleaning, but I'm out of degreaser.

I went to the LBS and got a new SRAM 951 chain with the gold connector link... works like a charm.

My frame is made out of Dedacciai chromoly steel. It's incredibly light.

Turns out the old chain was very, very worn and needed to be replaced... along with the chainrings and cassette. Bought myself a tool kit, new Sram PG-980 cassette and Shimano LX crankset from the LBS (all price-matched to Jenson's blowout prices) and got it installed just fine. Now it really shifts like a charm, but yes, now that I look at it, that housing does look a bit short.