DorkDisk

Always good to see the Original Owned vs the craigslist score. Thanks for sharing.

jimmy78

I'm new here, btw, I got this vintage 1970'ish road bike, all brand tags were removed by who knows who, but I've had the bike for some 7 years, the guy who sold it to me said he guessed it was a chinese brand, but I wonder if by looking at the serial number on the frame would help. It is maroon, frame is steel, heavy and if I have the chance, I'd attach a photo of it.

2cam16

Road or mountain? We're talking vintage mountain here.
Welcome though!

jimmy78

Lol, I didn't notice here was a MTB vintage forum..Though, it's a road bike, I've been researching on clues from it's vintage approximate built year, and found out it's from 1975 ahead...Only like to figure who made it tough..

2cam16

Finished reassembling my 1990 Rockhopper Comp this morning. Mostly original except for the cantis which for some reason are dead, crankset because the pedal on the drive side was frozen to the crank, and the saddle. The Futureshock still works pretty good too:

DSC_2020 by 2cam16, on Flickr

shelgame

Pulled this off the neighbor's trash pile and built it up for my nephew to take to college this fall. ~'95 Diamondback Ascent EX. CroMo frame, Tange fork, misc Shimano Deore (mostly) components. V-Brakes are Tektro, though. All from my parts bin. I think I might have $75 into this bike, and most of that is in paint and supplies.

Here's where we started:


And ready for school...

blakcloud

Nicely done!

DorkDisk

Built this Breezer in 93/94. It has gone through three worn out wheelsets, two cracked cranksets, one cracked stem, one bent seatpost, one set of broken bar ends, two sets of worn 747 pedals, and countless saddles, tires, grips, and chains.


This is a great riding bike and I've had it for my entire adult life, I really really love this thing.

Originally built with:
Bontrager threadless fork
King headset
American Classic hubs, Ritchey vantage Pro rims, Z Max tires (red rear)
Sachs 7sp freewheel 12-28
XT BBUn71
Topline cranks
XTR chainrings
Ringle Zooka stem
Ritchey ForceLite handlebars
Fast Feather seatpost
Selle San Marco Bontrager saddle
Ritchey WCS canti (f)
Dia Compe 987 canti (r)
XT f derailleur
XT shortcage r derailleur with SRP Ti breakaway bolt
XT thumbshifters
Suntour XC Pro brake levers
Yeti grips
Velocity barends
XT pedals with PowerGrips

Sadly the bike is in another location, but here are a few old pics:

With a rare Ringle Zooka stem (cracked)


No lawyer tabs


Naked fork:



Front end and triple clamp:

TenGrainBread 

Nice Breezer, @DorkDisk. Any closeups of that Bonty fork? I believe these were made by Tange (essentially Switchblade copies).

DorkDisk

Thanks, I've uploaded some pics.

From what I understand, Keith Bontrager has the patent on the triple clamp, the exact clamp was used for the Rockshox RS-1. The Tange fork was a collaboration. This is the Comp fork, for "Composite," as it used Al (fork tips, crown, boss mounts) and steel (steerer, legs, bosses).

I called up KB and talked to him about a longer steerer tube to run as a threadless setup. He sent me a 14" monster. Turned out I had to lathe it down for a threadless. I dont think there ever was a 1" Bontrager Comp threadless fork stock. I hope I am wrong as I am looking for another. It's the only part on my nice bikes that takes an imperial hex wrench (1/4" or 3/8" IIRC)

Found this:

amillhench

Almost finished with this Panasonic MC-7500 single speed conversion. I just need to shorten cables and housing.

The Tange MTB frame rides great, and the Simworks bars with the Nitto riser stem create make for a nice cruiser position.

Thanks for for all the inspiration!

Igotdibs

My '88 Rockhopper

Korina

Pretty, pretty bike. How do you feel about that U brake? I have an '88 Comp frame, and am iffy about whether to build it up or pass it along.

Igotdibs

Mine has never given me trouble, but then I haven't ridden this bike all that much over the years. When I DO ride it, it's on dry pavement or dry gravel. I'm more of a fair-weather road bike guy.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with U-bakes except their location on the frame. If you ride a lot in wet, muddy conditions the U-brake gets pretty grimy down there!

Korina

Thanks @Igotdibs, that's useful. It might be better to go more touring build than mtb with this one. Especially as I have an off-road bike. Speaking of which...

Korina

I love everything about this bike; or I will when I get those ridiculously long cranks off and some decent pedals on. I like the Kenda Small Block 8's too; grippy but not overly aggressive.

merziac

That STP sticker is awesome.

thook

@Korina what length are they and what length do you need?

Korina

They're 175s, and I'm going to put on this 152 youth set from Suntour; the husbeast just has to sand off the paint. If I like it, and at 5' 4" why wouldn't I, I'll put it on my Trek Singletrack too. Not sure yet what to do about my hybrid, as it doesn't have mtb gearing.

beicster 

I have an 87 HardRock with u-brakes. This is the only bike I have had with them and I find them to be no problem to work on. Perhaps a tad bit more inconvenient but I can flip the bike upside down in my work stand to get at the brakes. Mine is set up as a commuter with fenders so it sees bad weather and I have not found the u brakes require more maintenance.

thook

ah, okay. the shortest i have is a 165mm, but then it's not even an mtb crankset, either.

what might the future be for your 175mm stx?

Korina

I love mtb gearing, as Humboldt Bay is a thin strip of flat surrounded by crazy steep hills. Not sure about the stx; the big ring has a broken tooth, so probably it'll go to the bike library.

bwilli88 

What grips are these?

amillhench

@bwilli88 they are Vans Cult waffle grips. 👍🏻

thook

mtb gearing.....me, too! ozarks here! this 165mm is a triple road (mid 80's SR) with 110bcd outer/middle and 74bcd granny. so, mtb gears can be installed, but the tread profile (i think that's how it's termed) is narrow. would hit mtb chainstays trying to pedal

that stx looks like the rings are replaceable. someone should get some use out of it