Indulge me – I have a problem of my own making.

I have acquired in the last 3 months 3 90s MTBs. I bought the first so I could stop beating up my road bike commuting, but acquired a taste for how versatile and durable they are – steel frames, 1 1/8th head tubes, standard BSA bottom brackets. And even though they’re fairly low-mid end, I like how they have cool little features like internal cable routing and stamped logos on the dropouts that you might not see on modern entry level bikes.

I have various other parts already lying around to add to them to give them their own ‘specialism’, but I can’t decide which bike/frame for which purpose, so I need help!

The frame sets:
– Trek 830 1997, 18 inch with rack mounts. Fairly long and low position. Paintwork still pretty good.

– GT Timberline 1992, 17 inch. Fairly short top tube. Paintwork pretty chipped and worn and original ‘splatter’ paint job makes it look dated and kid-like. Stem matches paintwork… No rack mounts. U brake rear.

– GT Tequesta 1993(?). 17 inch. Fairly short top tube. Paintwork – original owner seems to have sanded off the GT logos in some mad belief that GTs aren’t cool. No rack mounts. U brake rear.

The parts:
– Surly Forks (425mm A-C)
– An Avid BB7 disc brake and matching Avid lever
– A pair of wheels built by myself, 19mm inner rim width to accept wider tyres, 8-10 speed Deore disc hubs
– A pair of wheels built by myself, 17mm inner rim with 2nd hand 90s 7 speed XT/LX hubs
– An Avid Shorty canti brake
– Some Planet X Fast Bar riser bars
– Some On-One Midge bars and high-rise stem, plus quill adaptor
– Cane Creek SCR5 drop bar levers
– A set of 2nd hand Sugino MTB cranks (Sq taper). 44-34. missing granny ring.
– A modern set of Shimano MTB cranks, 22, 32, 42 (Sq taper)
– An 8 speed cassette and chain
– A 7 speed cassette and chain
– A couple of 7-8 speed Shimano rear mechs
– 90s Deore 7 speed Friction Shifters
– All the original kit off the Timberline, inc a Biopace crankset, Exage rear mech and hubs, Plasticky shifters.
– 2 Deore U brakes which need to stay on the GTs
– Various saddles, stems and seatposts, 90s canti brakes and flat bar canti-brake levers. Various BBs to get good chain line. 1 1/8th threaded and threadless headsets

Any suggestions as to possible combinations of these bits to make 3 ‘distinct’ bikes much appreciated – I have a few ideas below but feel free to suggest different ones.
At the moment the Trek is set up as the ‘proper’ MTB due to it’s longer, lower position, but it’s the only one with rack mounts… The Timberline is the commuter due to it’s worn appearance and plasticky levers = less theft-worthy. The Tequesta is about to be the dirt-drop bar bike unless persuaded otherwise.
I know none of these are high-end modern bikes, so don’t expect them to perform as such, and I don’t do any serious MTB-ing but they’re cool bikes and it’s a project. But should I expect one to be better than the other at certain stuff due to geometry, age, etc? Should I avoid using any of the bikes for a particular purposes? Should the one with rack mounts be the commuter?

Please reply if you’re interested in tinkering with worthless stuff too. If you’re going to reply to tell me I’m tinkering with worthless stuff, don’t bother!

The ideas:
– A ‘proper’ MTB with: Surly forks, Avid BB7 front disc, 8 speed cassette on wide rim wheels with disc hubs built by myself, 2.1 inch knobbly tyres, Planet X fast bar risers, 8 speed STI shifters.

– A dirt drop MTB / 26 inch CX type thing, with: On-One Midge bars, Cane Creek SCR-5 drop levers, 90s Deore friction shifters made to fit bars somehow (bendable clamp…), narrow knobbly-ish tyres. Something I can use for longer mixed terrain rides in winter / if road bike is broken.

– A commuter with slick-ish tyres. Mary bars, nothing too thieve able. With racks…

I’ve just started a similar project this morning on a 1990 Marin Pine Mountain. I’m amazed how well made components were back then, all the Deore DX is still in great shape. Replaced cantis with V brakes, replaced all cables, put new grips on and properly decreased and cleaned all the drive train. Ordered some 1.5 City Jet tyres to hopefully make it a pretty fun commuter.

I’ve just started a similar project this morning on a 1990 Marin Pine Mountain. I’m amazed how well made components were back then, all the Deore DX is still in great shape. Replaced cantis with V brakes, replaced all cables, put new grips on and properly decreased and cleaned all the drive train. Ordered some 1.5 City Jet tyres to hopefully make it a pretty fun commuter.

I agree – small things like having replaceable chainrings rather than the riveted c%@p on even otherwise fairly decent bikes today speak of a time when fewer corners were cut and less of a ‘disposable’ culture. Rose tinted specs probably!

But why replace the cantis!!!??? They rule.

Come on sb88, nobody has sufficiently rose tinted glasses to ever say that cantis ruled, they were wooden at best 🙂

how are you going to address the lack of rear brakes on either of the GTs.

Even well set up U brakes were optimistic at best….

small things like having replaceable chainrings rather than the riveted c%@p on even otherwise fairly decent bikes today

Have I gone upmarket? Can’t remember the last time I saw a riveted chainring on a reasonably decent bike.

how are you going to address the lack of rear brakes on either of the GTs.

Even well set up U brakes were optimistic at best….

Well I’ve ridden the Timberline in hilly Sheffield and it seems fine to me. Perhaps my expectations were lower as I’ve never used hydraulics and ride road bikes with rim brakes in the winter, but it seemed no better/worse than a well-set up canti…

Have I gone upmarket? Can’t remember the last time I saw a riveted chainring on a reasonably decent bike.

You possibly have. I know the cost of a decent bike is more than the non-biking population would believe, but there is sometimes a loss of perspective within the biking world as to what constitutes ‘decent’. E.g. a roughly £800 Scott aluminium MTB I borrowed from the owners when staying at an B&B recently. In many ways a superior bike to an alloy bike that cost twice as much in, say 1999, which is in general more than satisfactory for most riders’ purposes, but with cost-cutting features including the aforementioned riveted chainrings. I wouldn’t buy one, because I like the idea that something is maintain-able and is made to last, but it doesn’t make it complete rubbish.

You could argue that having a riveted chainring by it’s nature means it can’t be a decent bike. But we’d be getting off topic…

i am currently (and slowly) converting a 1992 raleigh into a town bike.

So far it has: swept back town bars, nexus hub & shifter & 47c touring tyres.

still to come mudguards and a rack/ basket combo, and possibly a chain guard….

I think you need at least one single speed.

You’ll get those U brakes to work fine. Pretend you are building a modern TT bike and you’ll be trendy.
Are you sure that GT is 93? I would have thought that U brakes were gone by then. 88/89 would be more likely but I may be wrong.

You’ll get those U brakes to work fine. Pretend you are building a modern TT bike and you’ll be trendy.
Are you sure that GT is 93? I would have thought that U brakes were gone by then. 88/89 would be more likely but I may be wrong.

Yep the Timberline is 92-3 and the Tequesta is similar period. Both have 1 1/8th quill stems whereas before about 91 they used 1 inch I think, which would make them a bit less useful by modern MTB standards. I checked up thoroughly before I bought them because I didn’t want to end up with 1 inch headsets given that I knew I would likely tinker with them.

trail_rat – Member
how are you going to address the lack of rear brakes on either of the GTs.

Even well set up U brakes were optimistic at best….

Magura HS33’s with the slave cylinders mounted upside down, like I have on my ’88 Explosif.

Magura HS33’s with the slave cylinders mounted upside down, like I have on my ’88 Explosif.

Or a Sturmey 5 speed hub gear with coaster brake…

I’ve a Kona Hahanna (~94ish – deep red colour) I’m going to stick some white fat apples onto for pub duties.

I’ve a Trek Y2 I’ve no idea what I’m going to do with – has campagnolo mtb groupset (which I imagine is turd and impossible to replace/fix) and is URT.

Both coming my way as otherwise they would be thrown in the scrap – were my brothers back in the day (I did lust after the kona to replace my Raleigh mustang which also still in the garage, back in the day too) and have been stored at the back of the garage at my folks for 20 years or so.

I’m tempted to stick some RC36’s and G3000 alex rims on the kona (almost period, currently not really used on the wifes potter bike) and as it’s a bit small keep it for the nipper to destroy in 10 years.

I’m possibly interested in your Campagnolo groupset if you could mail me som pictures of the parts and their condition please Saccades?

The rear mech especially and the shifters if they’re thumbies, but interested in all potentially. 🙂

Get the feeling this has gone a bit off topic!