Hello To All!
I trash picked a mighty neglected ten speed bicycle with the primary intention of at least keeping it out of the landfill by recycling the materials. If I can make it safe & functional, I'll find someone who can use it.

But I can't figure out what brand it is. The only marking I found is a decal on the head tube (photo attached). I've searched & searched on line for this logo and came up empty.

The only other clues are that the headset is Zoom & the shifters, derailleur and brake components are Shimano Deore XT & MPE. The seat is marked "Wilderness Trail Bikes WTB Pro Gel Comfort One" (Aftermarket?). The hubs & wheels are unmarked. There is a lot of missing paint due to rust, so if there were other decals, they are gone.

I sure appreciate any information you can share about this mystery bicycle.

Thanks Much!
Paul

PS: Got any tips to remove seized seat post? (Aluminum into steel frame) Mild heat, penetrating oil, wood mallet smacks, tried to twist with strap wrench: All = No Luck.

Can you make out the frame ID stamped into the underside of the BB? If you can, there are outlets, like Sheldon Brown, where you can cross reference the number to the brand.

Dan

Have a mod move your thread to C & V. You'll get help there for the ID and seized stem.

If it's got all the wheels and stuff on it and it weighs more than 22 lbs, then put it back in the trash.

You still have a seat on the seatpost while you're trying to remove it... right?

Some people have put the top of a post in a vise, and twisted the frame, but that is an easy way to do a lot of damage if you aren't careful.

Remove the bottom bracket and add some rubbing alcohol into the underside of the seattube. This will dissolve some of the corrosion products and possibly free the seatpost.

looks like the universal sign for....
lord humongous second son of omega supreme of the third intergalactic sub quadrant of alpha centauri only 4.3 light years away.
great find

maybe?

Thanks Dan for taking time to reply with the idea.

Oddly, the bottom bracket has no markings at all. I searched the rest of the frame in case it's perhaps somewhere else. So far no luck. Not even a serial number. It's starting to look like a department store bike.

I'd forgotten about the tremendous amount of data matching information on Sheldon Brown's site. That's a great place to explore & learn (and spend a whole lot of time).

Thanks Again & Please Enjoy Today!
Paul

Thanks CliffordK for taking time to reply with a good suggestion, if done carefully. The seat's off. The post is aluminum and has a die cast aluminum seat rail clamp, so if I try this, it'll be a super careful & hope for the best kind of job.
I'd imagine at one time this was a perfectly good bike for a casual rider. Too bad it wasn't taken care of at least so it could be donated. Such is life, I suppose.

Thanks Again & Please Enjoy This Day!
Paul

Thanks ClydeClydeson for taking time to reply.

Your alcohol plan sounds like a very good one to try ( that I never thunk of).
We used to use alcohol squirts in the "way back" days when aluminum lugs on copper bus bars was a standard practice. They'd weld themselves face-to-face. Alcohol often would dissolve the bond enough for a light hammer tap to free the pair.

I Hope You Can Find Time To Enjoy This Day!

Paul

My friend generally took excellent care of her bike and had it serviced regularly EXCEPT I guess no one thought to deal with the seat tube since the height was perfect. Then she is trying to pack the bike for flying. Seat post would not budge. I went over and we wrenched and tugged and tapped and put in some plumbing solvent for seized pipes. Not a bit of movement.

The lbs was able to really apply torque using the saddle and seat post.

Thread moved from General to C&V.

You may be able to get an adjustable wrench on the top of the seat post.

But, the safest thing may well be to find an old "junk seat" and mount it temporarily to give you something to twist. Then if that doesn't work, look for something more aggressive.

Based on the S- shaped chain stays, I'd say this is likely mid-1980s, unless it's a lower level department store bicycle that has been upgraded with high grade parts, which seems unlikely. Rarely do bicycles of this level not have a serial number. More than likely, you just haven't found it yet. After the BB shell, the next most likely locations are the lower or upper seat tube. rear dropouts and head tube. The best indicator of the frame grade(and whether it's worth saving) is the diameter of the seat post. Additional photos might provide some clues to the answers that you are seeking.

Thank You All Very Much For Helping!
This has turned in to quite an enjoyable project. Any time I can learn something new, it's an enjoyable project!)
I apologize that I haven't been back to the thread for some time. It's rained every day for a couple of weeks. (This is an outdoor project)

Regarding the seat post- Oy Vey!
First, it got more penetrating oi, a few vibration taps & was allowed to sit for days of rain. Still no luck.
Then I tried CliffordK's plan of an adjustable wrench. Even with my 24" I could not budge the stubborn thing. (For the record, I have an old Schwinn with a stuck post. CliffordK's wrench idea worked great!)
A Side Note- I have anti-oxidation paste on the seat tube on one of my bikes that is aluminum into steel. I tried it to see if it would slip down. It's been working great for years. I use the anti-ox paste when I connect aluminum to steel wiring devices. It comes in brand names such as No-Alox, Penetrox and others. Basically it's zinc flakes in castor oil.

For this bike, I tried putting a junk seat on & twisting. Nope. In the vise it went. Still, I could not budge it.
This next trick I tired killed the seat post. It's death was not a quite and peaceful one.
Since I'm a skinny old guy, my strength isn't what it used to be, so I got out the big guns. I put the padded jaws I use for stainless steel rigid conduit on a B.A.P.W. (Big Amazing Pipe Wrench).

The wrench went on the seat clamp. I straddled the frame. The 18" wrench didn't work. Next were the 24" and the 36. Nope. Finally I got the Big Daddy out- 48")
The locating pin that holds the seat clamp perch in the tube tore the seat tube. I think it is hardened steel, since I couldn't drill it with cobalt. I was able to heat & punch it out.

If the frame is to be saved, I'll treat it as if it were a seized conduit nipple. I'll cut it close to the top of the seat tube, leaving a couple of inches. Next, a hacksaw blade will be inserted in the tube and a series of vertical cuts will be made through the tube, stopping before scratching the inside of the seat tube. One of the slices is grabbed with linesman's pliers and pulled inwards until it's free. Then the other two will fall free. Then a wire brush on a twisted stem will be sent in on a drill motor and the bore of seat tube cleaned. Next is normal paint prep & paint inside (or perhaps bare metal and oil).

For identifying, I spent a lot of time searching the serial number look-up, for components to see if I could find a manufacturer who used that combination, etc. I also went to Mr. Brown's site that Dan was kind enough to mention, but could not find the serial number look up tool. (I enjoy that site. I've spent hours on it over the years learning & learning.) The best I came up with is it is (maybe) a mountain bike. (Based on components)


The numbers were, indeed, on the bottom bracket, as Dan & T-Mar mentioned. I just did not look hard enough or not in the right light (old guy eyes). They were obscured by paint & rust.
The Numbers Are: 6051356 in the forward row & GC286 in the rearward row. (I learned from Mr. Brown's site that the GC number might be the frame builder's personal mark.)

From T-Mar: Additional photos might provide some clues to the answers that you are seeking. I very much appreciate your offer to look at the photos & help identify. Hopefully my upload worked.

Here are some component details:
Derailleurs- Shimano Deore XT
Brake Levers- Dia Compe MPE S-7
Shifters- Shimano Deore XT Light Action 515
Crankset- Sugino VP
Wheel Tag- RM-25 (Maybe Araya?)
Pedals- VP 722 on cages. Nothing found on pedals
Seat- Wilderness Trail Bikes WTB Pro Gel Comfort One
Size- It is 58 cm from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat tube.
Sorry the list is messy. I couldn't get it spaced properly (Me plus Computers equals Disaster
There are more components I forgot to identify. It's raining again, so I'll try later.

Thank You Again everyone for helping. I hope some of the details can help identify this bicycle.

Please Enjoy Today's Ride!
Paul

It's a Giant manufactured frame from February 1986 but that's not their logo.

Edit:Forgot to mention that the Deore XT would appear to upgrades, as that's not the correct generation for 1986.

Thank You Very Much T-Mar!

I appreciate your help & sharing of knowledge. Out of curiosity, what part of the serial number revealed a Giant frame? (The GC number, I'm guessing) I sure could not find any Giant decoders on line.

Looking around showed Giant only marketed Giant branded bikes in Europe in 1986 and, like you mentioned, they didn't have these components.

I got sidetracked when I found a Schwinn High Sierra for sale stating it was a Giant frame. I remember that Giant made bikes for Schwinn for some time. The for sale bikes had similar Dia Compe Levers & Deore Shifters. So I wonder if that bike was upgraded, too.

Hoping the Schwinn clue would lead me to another brand that matched and had the same head tube logo as mine, I followed the Schwinn lead for a while. There is a lot of conflicting information about whether Schwinn even sold High Sierra in 1986 and what components is had. Most places say the model wasn't made in 1986, but one shows it & mentions Dia Compe & Shimano.

Since it's still been raining every day for a month or more, between rains yard work has prevented me from going back to the bike to check the other components. (Very, very unusual for June-July in the Detroit area)

I wonder how many brands that almost the same bike was made under by Giant? (If only I could identify the triangle logo on the head tube...)

Thanks Again!
Paul

https://budgetbicyclectr.com/1986-sc...icycle-21.html
https://wheretheroadforks.com/schwin...d-bike-review/