Hey everyone! I've been back on the bike wagon again recently and wanted to show you guys what I've been up to! I know it's not a classic or rat bike but it is old in the sense that 2001 was 16 years ago. (As I near the big 3-0 that thought terrifies me) Aside from propsing to my wonderful girl of 5 years under the cherry blossoms in D.C. I have been working on a few projects. (the others will get threads of their own [emoji41])
About 2 months ago I ended up seeing this bike on letgo for 45 dollhairs. I bought it with the intention of popping a Chinese engine on it. (no it was not a brilliant scheme) After reading up on it since I literally knew nothing about mountain bikes other than I had three Huffys growing up I discovered that it was actually a great bike for the cash. I didn't actually have a mountain bike and there are trails-a-plenty near our complex.
It was pretty clapped out... The last dude to own it left it outside... I realize it is made in Taiwan but with a 700 dollar original price tag why anyone would mistreat it, I don't know. The rear hub was missing balls from the cassette side bearing and the tire was rubbing the frame... All the brake cables were trashed. The chain was rusted solid. The grips were worn off. The front forks had more play than a broken leg. The saddle looked like Freddy Kruger had a hayday on it. The paint was okay minus some scratches.
In the end I chose to go on a budget with this one. So Chinese parts from eBay sounded fine to me. I bought a wheelset by aowo with stainless spokes, quando sealed hubs, and dual wall, alloy, tubeless-ready rims. That was direct from China. I ordered a cheap set of disk brakes with rotors and calipers by tongli. Got a set of cst heathen tires, new ebay bolt on grips, mzyrh sealed pedals, eBay fenders, new cables, and a base camp saddle. I had a local bike shop put a new cassette and chain on it. The end game was to have a cheap, awesome riding, trail bashing rig that would be durable and better than a Walmart special. All in all I have about 280 in it from start to finish. Not too bad.
As it says in the title the bike is equipped with I-Drive. It is brilliant! It consists of an eccentric bottom bracket and rear suspension that allows the rider to always have the optimal riding position no matter where the suspension is. It's been a major seller for gt over the years.
So after all the parts came in I took the bike down as far as I could. I scrubbed and removed what rust I could then waxed the frame. I rebuilt the front forks which I played replacing with oil/spring forks in the future. After that I popped it all back together and sent it to the bike shop. I also plan on replacing the seat tube, head stem, and bars. The shifting is kinda wonky but I'm sure it's the derailleurs fault for having weak springs. I kept the og shimano acera trigger shift system on it. If anyone can help me pick out a new derailleur I would appreciate it very much!
Since I finished it I put about 40 miles on her on the trails around our complex. It rides awesome! No hiccups and it's super comfortable! All the parts have held up well even with as hard as I've been riding it. I will keep you all updated as I get new parts for it. Hope you enjoy!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
About 2 months ago I ended up seeing this bike on letgo for 45 dollhairs. I bought it with the intention of popping a Chinese engine on it. (no it was not a brilliant scheme) After reading up on it since I literally knew nothing about mountain bikes other than I had three Huffys growing up I discovered that it was actually a great bike for the cash. I didn't actually have a mountain bike and there are trails-a-plenty near our complex.
It was pretty clapped out... The last dude to own it left it outside... I realize it is made in Taiwan but with a 700 dollar original price tag why anyone would mistreat it, I don't know. The rear hub was missing balls from the cassette side bearing and the tire was rubbing the frame... All the brake cables were trashed. The chain was rusted solid. The grips were worn off. The front forks had more play than a broken leg. The saddle looked like Freddy Kruger had a hayday on it. The paint was okay minus some scratches.
In the end I chose to go on a budget with this one. So Chinese parts from eBay sounded fine to me. I bought a wheelset by aowo with stainless spokes, quando sealed hubs, and dual wall, alloy, tubeless-ready rims. That was direct from China. I ordered a cheap set of disk brakes with rotors and calipers by tongli. Got a set of cst heathen tires, new ebay bolt on grips, mzyrh sealed pedals, eBay fenders, new cables, and a base camp saddle. I had a local bike shop put a new cassette and chain on it. The end game was to have a cheap, awesome riding, trail bashing rig that would be durable and better than a Walmart special. All in all I have about 280 in it from start to finish. Not too bad.
As it says in the title the bike is equipped with I-Drive. It is brilliant! It consists of an eccentric bottom bracket and rear suspension that allows the rider to always have the optimal riding position no matter where the suspension is. It's been a major seller for gt over the years.
So after all the parts came in I took the bike down as far as I could. I scrubbed and removed what rust I could then waxed the frame. I rebuilt the front forks which I played replacing with oil/spring forks in the future. After that I popped it all back together and sent it to the bike shop. I also plan on replacing the seat tube, head stem, and bars. The shifting is kinda wonky but I'm sure it's the derailleurs fault for having weak springs. I kept the og shimano acera trigger shift system on it. If anyone can help me pick out a new derailleur I would appreciate it very much!
Since I finished it I put about 40 miles on her on the trails around our complex. It rides awesome! No hiccups and it's super comfortable! All the parts have held up well even with as hard as I've been riding it. I will keep you all updated as I get new parts for it. Hope you enjoy!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
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