Great stuff all.

I bought a 2004 Gary Fisher Marlin Disc back in 2008. I cracked the frame (alu) near the start of 2012 and found out to my pleasure that GF were owned by Trek who offer a lifetime warranty on their frames. I got a Trek 3500 as replacement. The components weren’t up to much so I replaced the brakes with the Deore Hydros from the GF, and other parts I’d upgraded on the GF over the years – drivetrain, forks, saddle, grips, wheels. I’m still commuting on the Trek 3500, as well as longer road/XC rides. The only component that was original to the Trek 3500 that remains is the seatpost (and perhaps a headset spacer). I’ve upgraded the forks since, and the drivetrain again, and bars and stem. Could do with replacing the grips now – the cork has almost worn away in places.

The 10 year old Deore hydro brakes from the Gary Fisher are still performing relatively well.

Used – but it’s in nice condition. I was going to Alfine it, but never got round to it.

I had one of the anniversary Inbreds; it was a great ride but the chainstay design was dreadful and I ditched it as I spent a great deal of ride time dreading when the next grinding crunch of chainsuck would occur (I rode a DN6 Inbred prior to this). I remember following your repair threads with interest!

Two 853 steel frames on and some of the kit bought for the anniversary Inbred build is still on my current bike ( although the wheels have to be replaced after 10 years+ a few months back due to serious cracking in the rims.

I’m riding a rigid steel bike with 26″ wheels, 3×9 (Octalink) drivetrain, silver finishing kit and bar ends (so rather out of date) and having great fun. I don’t have a great deal of spare cash so plan to continue doing so.

I like the way the frame has gone through evolutions, and still gets used.

When the basic design is good and the materials repairable, then there’s no reason to dump a damaged frame.

have enjoyed reading this thread.

i have a 2011 charge duster 26″ skinny tange prestige bike that i do love (it’s also my only bike at present).

due to various things have not ridden my bike for a while now (for any distance anyways,i still use it as my transport to town).

my duster does need some tlc,and i do plan on giving it some tlc once i have recovered from my operation (that makes sitting on a saddle erm difficult shall we say 🙁

i fully intend to get back into riding my bike again,as the duster is a great bike.

am thinking of getting a full xt groupset 2 x 11 for my bike,and then fit a nice set of rigid forks to it also (kona project 2’s discs would be ideal i thinks). then buy some new wheels for it (maybe hope pro 2’s). i need to buy some new tires also as the charge splashbacks are worn out now unfortunately.

yes that sounds great actually 😀

here’s my bike before i changed the bars/stem and seatpost to ritchy wcs black (with cane creek ergo bar ends).

I’m glad you like it, OP, and I think it’s great yo’ve chosen to fix it and keep it running rather than scrap it. Personally I would only have done the bare minimum to that frame, and maybe spent more if it was something really nice like a custom/handbuilt frame. I do think it’s a shame that so many old steel frames end up in scrap; they cold be repaired quite cheaply really, most times. The cost of getting a ‘framebuilder’ to repair stuff makes it economically unviable most times. Many repairs don’t require specialist skills really, just a bit of welding or brazing.

My ’97 Lava Dome has evolved over the years, but doesn’t get used much any more – apart from pub/shop runs. Feel like changing it a little though and maybe taking it back a bit more retro – regret selling my P2 forks a while back. Considered putting an Avid BB disc on the front, but don’t know if there’s much point – the V’s work fine. Thinking black tyres and flatter bars maybe

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GWZj2M]2016-06-05_08-35-00[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr