Aychdub

Hello all. I have tried to come up with as much info as I could about this bike before posting so hopefully this all helps.

I am trying to figure out if this bike is worth keeping, restoring or modifying, or selling off. What I want is a good bike to ride the streets and hills(not mountains) of Seattle. I have no particular attachment to the bike and would only restore it to the original specs if it was worth it to the value of the bike in the end. If it is not worthy of restoration I was thinking about modification for riding myself. Would this be a good bike to mod in to a more city friendly bike? Mostly concerned about its weight and wheel size. I am also pretty frugal so the restoration or modification would take a couple to a few months, of course depending on how well I could find the items I need. If anyone has suggestions for a city modification or would like to point me in the right direction, that would be helpful.

The reason I think this is an 84 is because of the bi-plane forks, I've read that this is the last year these forks came out(?). Also concerned with the rear gear teeth, they look rather crooked and I'm sure require attention/replacement.

If more pictures are needed I can get on that tomorrow.


Rear Derailleur - Shimano Deore RD-MT60
Front Derailleur - Suntour Alpine Gear Tech (Maeda Ind.LTD Japan ZH)
Hubs - ??
Rims - Araya 26x1.75
Tires - Specialized Crossroads 26x2.125
Brakes - Shimano BR-MC70
Break Leaver - Shimano BL-700
Crank - Takagi Tourney XT 170(170mm?)
Pedals - Shimano PD-MX15
Shifters - Shimano Deore XT light-action SL-M730
Frame Height - 20"

oddjob2

My vote is a city bike. A cleaning costs only time. A set of road tires and tubes, $30. I just put a set of Panaracer Hiroad V on an early 90's Hardrock today, and it rocks! 26x1.5" $9.99 ea. at nashbar.com. $.40 shipping through tonight with $40 purchase. If your rims are 1.75" wide, you may need a slightly wider slick.

Go from there.

FastJake

It would make a great city bike. Already has the fenders. All you need are some slick tires and you're set. Redo the bearings and cables, I'm sure those need attention. As far as the rear gear teeth, they are supposed to be that way. They are a "twist tooth" design introduced by Shimano (?) to improve shifting.

Those XT shifters might be worth more than you paid for the whole bike...

bikemig 

No. 1 on this being a great city bike; it's tough to be an older mtb with a rigid fork for a first rate city bike. I picked up a 1988 stumpy comp with a full Deore XT gruppo that I use as my town bike:

radeln

That is a classic bike, only a few years after Specialized started making mountain bikes at all. From what I recall, the twisted teeth were normal on Suntour freewheels at the time. It doesn't look like it needs much work, and the parts appear to be original. The thumbshifter looks like it still has plastic shipping film on it! If you don't want it, it can probably be sold for enough to buy a pretty nice bike of the type you do want.

Aychdub

Thanks for the info so far everyone.

@Fastjake I didn't pay anything for the bike, so any of it's parts are worth more than what I got it for.

Looks like people are saying build it in to a nice city bike. So I guess my main argument is, build it in to a city bike or sell it/parts for money. Are the shifters really that pricey? What are we talking about as far as money goes selling this bike? I know markets can vary depending on where you live, I already mentioned Seattle but I have no idea if this is a hot bed for mtb enthusiast, I kind of assume so because of all the mountains but who knows.

IthaDan 

You're not going to get enough out of it to BUY a nice city bike. Put slicks on it and ride it as is.

You could probably get $3-400 out of it, but only after some elbow grease to clean it up and some serious patience. There aren't many people out there looking for early mountain bikes.

bikemig 

All I know is that when I see an older road bike on CL, the seller sometimes seeks to extract a premium price because it is "vintage" or "rare." Sometimes they are; usually they're not. I've never seen a seller on CL try to get a premium price for an old mtb. The market, at least where I live, treats the two bikes differently. Seattle might well be different, however, when it comes to vintage mtbs than where I live in the middle of the US of A. Certainly the coffee is better and the food in Seattle! I think it is a very cool bike.

I've made all sorts of bikes into commuters or beater bikes over the years. My rule of thumb is that it has to be cheap (since it might get stolen) and it has to be good (why ride a cr##py bike?). I've used road bikes, commuter bikes, three speeds, you name it. Vintage MTBs are my favorite. They're stout bikes with forgiving gearing and fat tires. Plus the older bikes tended to have more relaxed geometry than the modern ones which also helps out.

FastJake

+1 Dan makes a great point. If you spend time and effort cleaning and parting this bike out you could probably get good money for it, but not enough to replace it with a bike that's much better. The Stumpjumper will already make a great city bike. As far as the shifter price, you can check ebay completed listings but I'm pretty sure they're worth at least $50.

Same here. I've used just about everything as a beater/commuter over the years. I still have an old Trek 930 with fenders and a rack and it's a lot of fun, but probably my favorite commuter is an old touring bike. A little faster, more road-ish. But unfortunately they are harder to find and more expensive. I recently paid $175 for a 1983 Fuji Touring Series III in rough shape. Mountain bikes can be picked up for a lot less.

bikemig 

I agree that an old tourer is about the only bike that beats an mtb for a commuter but they tend to be expensive. I have a Bridgestone XO-2 frame in my size (purple frame, chrome moly frame, lots of braze ons) sitting around plus a bunch of old parts that I'm thinking of turning into a drop bar beater bike with 26 by 1.5 tires.

Aychdub

Thanks again everyone. As far as turning this in to a city bike, it looks like cleaning + more friendly road tires would be a good start. Any other suggestions as far as making it better/more equipped for the city? If I should be posting for information like this in another forum please point me in the right direction.

bikemig 

Fenders, lights, and a rack are all pretty useful. Also I'd get tires with a reflective band on the sidewall. The cool thing about a mtb to commuter conversion is that there really isn't anything you need to do except clean up the old bike and put on some slicks. The bike is good to go at that point.