What to do? What to do?
 

I'm about to start my winter project, which is a 1987 Giant Yukon. I picked the bike up when I worked in a shop in college. Giant gave us a huge discount to get us to use their bikes. This one was pretty sweet in the day. Triple butted tubing, full Deore group and some decent wheels. Later they re-ordered their line and the Yukon became more of an entry level bike. Anyway ...
This bike as a mountain bike doesn't have any use for me. It is in serious need of an OA bath and a repaint. I was thinking of building it up with some 700s and drop bars, but changing the brakes may be an issue.
Does anyone have any opinions on what I should do with this frame? I'm open to all ideas.
Thanks,
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you might be able to find brakes that will reach 700c wheels from the crown and bridge but then the canti studs are flapping in the breeze.

I would use skinny 26" wheels and tires like a 1.25. then depending on location a double crank with 42/53 and a 12-19 Fwheel or cassette

it won't be quite as fast as a 700c bike but will make a good commuter/errand/ or even tourer

I'd put it back together with skinny 26" tires, fenders, and Northroad or Albatross style bars. From the pics, your paint doesn't look so bad.

Cheers,
Chris

I concur. I have tricked out several MTB's and the street/path performance is amazing. You can even get 1" MTB tires. Any performance increase you might get from going to 700mm is insignificant. If you want to go further, get lighter rims.

As a matter of fact, I am currently biding up a Schwinn High Sierra to ride across country with drop bars and all that. The frame looks very similar as far as geometry goes. Anyway, I've decided to stick with 26" wheels. I threw some 700c's on there just to see how it looked/worked, but it looked awkward because the wheels we so skinny on a sort of beefier frame. I've decided to build wheels though, not put the originals on there.

cyclocross?

http://velonews.competitor.com/category/cyclocross

http://www.cyclofiend.com/cx/

www.mtb2cx.com :D

I'm in the middle of finishing a similar build with a Trek 800 for my kid. Drop bars, and skinny 26" road tires. I agree with sticking to 26 mtb wheels, 700C is not a certainty that it'll all work....clearances, handling, pedal strikes.
If new wheel experimentation is necessary, I'd try 650 instead.

Bump, I got the frame back from the powdercoater this week. In the end I did opt for converting this to a 700. I changed out the fork with a Surly which solved my front brake issues. I am going to incorporate and xtracycle brake adapter for the rear brake. I also had some Velo-Orange fenders powdercoated in the same color. I'm not sure how I feel about the color yet. It was an impulse decision at the time.
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What are you going to do about the rear brake?

This will be quite a handsome bike.

Great color! Are there any V-brakes that might give you the reach you need on the rear?

Neal

I like the frame color. The orange frame + orange fenders might be a bit much (aesthetically), but it's hard to say when it isn't yet completed.

But don't be disheartened about color - that's always changeable. Interested to see where this project ends up!

xtracycle makes a cantilever adapter that mounts to the current posts but has additional posts in the correct position. Mavic makes one as well but limits the tire size to a max of 25mm. I want to run at least 32mm tires on this.
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Added the fenders last night. I need to get some 35mm tires so I can tweak in the fit. The Surly fork has a huge clearance for fenders. So much so I will have to make a bracket for the front fender as it needs to drop down about 1 3/4 inch. The bars are also going to change as I want to incorporate more of an albatross bar.
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This was finished about 2 yrs ago I never posted a finished pic.
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That looks great and very practical. The orange looks more like peach on this monitor.

In reality it is more of a flesh tone. My wife seems to like it and it has become her bike. I really don't like the thumb shifters with those handlebars and may change them out this winter. I am also thinking of getting some new velo orange fenders as there is just too much of that color on the bike.

I like it a lot. A black crankset, RD and seat post would be kinda cool, but it looks great the way it is, and the fenders don't bother me a bit.