Chrome Molly

The Haro is fantastic. I say keep the fork, since a tapered fork is only going to gain you so much, and what's on there looks right on a Haro. Another super clean bike on this thread, well clean for awhile anyway

neo_pop_71

It's not hard to praise the bikes you put up... the Benotto you redid, the Giant that got the full paint treatment, and now this one that looks ready for a photo shoot!

At that time Derby Bikes was distributing Nishiki and Haro bikes, I don't think it took much effort on their part to try and utilize Richard and his name with the design influence coming from Mantis. Between all the bikes, the 1989 Nishiki Alien with the Tange Prestige tubing is by far the lightest. It's bizarre, I've owned two 1990 Nishiki Ariels, both were covered in decals that read double butted 4130 frame and fork (just like the 1988 Ariel I also own), however one of the Ariel frames is stamped Prestige, just like the Alien at the base of the seat tube. I'm not sure if they simply rebadged Alien frames to keep up with demand for Ariels.

Oh, it was mentioned before about installing a belt drive set up on these e-stay bikes, it is doable but expensive unless you come up on a bunch of belt drive components cheaply. Also, the frame you choose can't have thin stays, the belt drive will bend your stays out of a true.

Cheers!

-D-

DorkDisk

Thank you for your background info on the Cunningham connection. I drooled over the Team issue Al / chromo frame but couldnīt afford it at the time.

I put a T-bone and Hyperlite to lessen the sting of the oversized and ovalized stem and oversized Wingbar on my Haro pretty fast.

IIRC, the rigid forks on these are Tange Big Forks

neo_pop_71

Sure DorkDisk, glad to help... I'm not like T-Mar with vast knowledge, I know a very little about few things and that's it! I'm one of the two mods on the Barracuda site, so any 'Cuda info I suppose would be my strong point, feel free if you come across a Trees Amigos Barracuda and you want answers.

That's an interesting coincidence, I did the same thing when I dumped the Haro Wing Strut stem and bar, I also opted for a Tioga T-Bone stem but I went with a Ritchey Force Lite bar. I do love the Hyperlites too and have them on a couple bikes in the stable. My Haro Extreme is long gone but I still have the T-Bone stem and Force Lite bar.

Hey WNG, if you want to try out DorkDisk's mod with the Tioga T-Bone stem, I have a spare in the bin that I'll send you and any bar will work with the 25.4 clamp. Let me know if you want to try out the plushness of a T-Bone on the pretty Haro.

-D-

WNG

[QUOTE=likebike23;16628223]I scored a sweet 1986? Ross Mt Hood today. It's pretty much original except for the tires and saddle, and in decent shape. The chrome has some surface rust and it's missing most of the decals, but it'll clean up nicely. Oh yeah, check out those brakes, Sweeeeet! Some pics "as found".



A very nice score indeed! I suspect it's likely newer given the brakes. IIRC, there weren't any chainstay brakes until 1988.
I'd love to find a Mt Hood or Whitney in my size, and make a LHT styled tourer.
Some oxalic acid will have all the rust off and parts sparkling.

Saguaro

Nice bikes Will! A vintage mountain bike is on the to-do list for sure.

likebike23

Thanks, not a bad score yourself. Do me a favor, if you're going to post a bike here, could you clean it up a bit?

WNG

I read DorkDisk's solution to his Haro Extreme and thought, Hmmm, how clever! Thanks for the idea!

Sounds cool! I'll have to measure the Haro stem's extension. Hope it's a match or close to your Tioga.
I have a couple 25.4mm mtb bars that are take-offs to try with.
I'm off to Austin, TX for some much needed R&R and to catch some MotoGP racing...a very long drive! I'll check back in with you in 24hrs.

WNG

LOL! I'm an OCD poster child!
@Saguaro Thanks Craig! I've been bitten by the off-road bug recently. So nice out on the trails in Winter. But I'll segue back to road going bikes for the next projects!
Then I can keep up with you on that Tommasini. Stay tuned for that one.

cyclotoine

You can always go a step further and put a nice USE suspension seatpost and a girvin flex stem in there. Girvin's are pretty damn cheep. If you decide to part with the bar/stem combo, please let me know.

inkandsilver

Great bikes in this thread. Hey, I have a question for the experts. Does anyone know the seat tube and top tube measurements of the largest size '83 Stumpjumper? I am eyeing one that is for sale; it's clearly the largest size they made but I don't trust the seller's measurements. I can't seem to find this online. Seat tube looks like at least 23", but I am especially interested in the TT measure. Thanks!

wernst

First, I wanted to tell you how awesome the whole project looks. It's quite inspirational, really.

Regarding the bone-crushing stiffness, though, I can relate. These days I'm riding my only MTB bike, that vintage, fully-rigid '87 KHS, on very rutted/rocky/bumpy off-road laps with 20 other riders all riding full-suspension modern marvels. The first time I actually had bruises on my palms the next day that lasted all week! I enjoy the rides, but something had to give, so I set about trying to solve the problem. I think I have, and perhaps my experiences may help you with this.

I think I've heard you say you think traditional raked steel fork wouldn't do much to help, but I'm here to say that there are a number of things you can do that each item of itself won't do much, but in aggregate and working together, do A LOT to smooth things out and make the rides more pleasant.

In no particular order:

1. A raked fork. The fork bending probably only "gives" 1/8" of an inch of absolute "travel" over the really hard stuff, but the springiness over merely rough terrain shouldn't be ignored either.

2. Low front tire pressure and a supple front tire. I can see from your thousands of posts that you're not new, but I wonder how low your front tire pressure is. Mine's down to 32 lbs with traditional tubes, but I'd be in the low 20's if I was tubeless. My front tire has casings with around 130 TPI, and when I'm going over roots and rocks, I can see the sidewalls bulging dramatically and absorbing TONS of shock as the front wheel rolls over, yet I haven't had any flats (snakebites or otherwise.) This made a huge difference.

3. Ergon grips like the GP1. (ERGON BIKE ERGONOMICS) I went through several pairs of highly regarded "absorbing" grips before I tried these and fell in love. What I found worked best was a grip that offered a broad and flat surface to evenly distribute the shock of the road across and up as much of my palm as possible, rather than concentrating it all along a single, narrow ridge.

4. Gloves with a gel palm. I still swear by Spenco Gel gloves. The padding is way thicker than anything else I've tried, yet it rebounds spectacularly.

Add these 4 items up, and its surprising how comfortable a rigid frame can be when combined with the classic technique you had to know in the 80's.

Food for thought. Love the bike - kudos to you.

-Warr

Lizzy

Those are hot! Love the colorful paint. Head turners for sure.

Lizzy

Hot! Love the colorful paint. Head turner for sure.

eastcoaststeve

[QUOTE=WNG;16654675]

What size frame are you looking for WNG? I might have something cool hanging in the rafters.




Steve

eastcoaststeve

1991 Trek 830


Back in 1990, I spent every nickel I had on a shiny neon Trek 830...I really wanted the aluminum 6000, or the carbon 8900, but there was no way that was gonna happen.

My $369 investment turned out pretty well though...the bike carried me through a bunch of states, all sorts of punishment, and put a smile on my face during the peak of my early MTB years.

As most things go, it was eventually replaced in the line up, and the bare frame has been hanging in my garage for more than 10 years. After looking at it a while back, I decided it deserved to be put back together, but this time with a bit of flair....



























Steve

Vonruden

WOW, nice build Steve! Hyperlites, Bullseye hubs...sweet!

cyclotoine

I'll say... not to mention those purple toplines, M900 derailleurs and is that a weyless skewer set or something else? minty flight also just sweet.

eastcoaststeve

Thank for the compliments on the old Trek guys...glad you like the build.


I tried to put it together with the higher end stuff I could never afford back in the day.


Skewers are Odyssey Sveltes.



Steve

BluesDaddy

Best-equipped 830 in the world, I'd wager.

inkandsilver

That is just awesome. I love the story too.

neo_pop_71

As I've always been a fan of Odyssey stuff, especially their Svelte series, I have a couple set of the same Odyssey skewers. They rarely pop up, but you can also keep an eye out for similar quick release skewers that Sachs made back in the day. Here is a NOS one I bought recently off Ebay to complete a set. I had the rear from a wheelset purchase and I wanted to complete the set for the missing front. They fit the modern 100/135 spacing. Both the Sachs and the Odysseys are really nice quality skewers and are a nice light weight option.



-D-

frantik

sweet trek love the paint and nice build as well

I installed my limited edition turquoise Chris King headset today using my $5 headset press.. ano turquoise and titanium.. mmm I ordered jagwire titanium colored cables, should hopefully come next week, then i will finally build this thing up

Italuminium

That thing is awesome, @eastcoaststeve. So many gears though for a bike you build!

Vonruden

The before pic