Originally Posted by
Aeroplane
That fork is definitely designed for 700c wheels. I'd bet the A-C height is roughly the same between the other forks. The only other real change to the handling would be a slightly higher BB, but that shouldn't make that big of a difference. Maybe your wheels were messed up? I'd bet he rode it around before he paid for it too.
re: the fork. i already stated that it's most likely not the original fork. it's pretty mint & chrome... the bike's been painted, what, 3 times?
re: him riding it: no offense to OP, but he thought it was a track frame when it had canti & bottle cage bosses. he obviously doesn't have much track frame knowledge.
Originally Posted by
Aeroplane
No argument there. But sketchy != ripoff. Sometimes it's just sketchy. Even if there is a rear-brake malfunction, that's not a death sentence. Not even a walk-home sentence. Quite fixable.
um, i was talking more about having some brazed on track dropouts and having no clue if it was someone's highschool shop project or whatever. all i recommended, if he insists on keeping the bike that is totally not what he thought he was buying, is that he has it checked out.
also, as i said, i had a mechanic say it could totally stress the welds to be riding
my frame around on 700s, due to geometry changes... i'm not a frame builder or an engineer, so he could be completely wrong and i probably wouldn't know, but it felt sketchy to me.
Originally Posted by
Aeroplane
You have no idea what you are talking about. Karakorams were a relatively high-end model for GT. Went for around $800 new, full LX drivetrain. GT made tons of frames like that, what makes you think it's the same as yours?
ok, great i'm glad it's a better mountain bike than i thought. as i said, i acquired it for free and didn't really research it. and it only took a spin around the block to realize it wasn't a great conversion option. while it's a pretty cool looking frame, i assumed there is nothing too special about it. regardless, it's a mountain bike being sold & setup as a track bike. all you have to do is look at the photos, it's not built up how its supposed to be... look at the wheelbase. any steel road bike would be a far better conversion option.
afaik, mine it was a mix of reg. deore & LX components, which is definitely not high end stuff... budget 'pro' gear. and that's neither here nor there, because these 'coveted' (decade + old, maybe close to 2) components were stripped off before he got it. i've got mine in a box if you wanna save on your next build.
again, this may not even be a karakoram. all i ever said is that it looks like mine when i threw 700s on it. and if it is, it's probably pretty dumb to be buying one to play track bike on. and if it's not, it's a super slack ride that has been torched and ****ed with. dude should ask for his money back.