Bikedued

Nicely done sir! I'd ride that in a heartbeat, if it was a 23 inch frame.,,,,BD

My recent Trek build, on an 800 frame. Still not very heavy all things considered.

RFC

Well done! And the 950 is an excellent platform.

wrk101

+100 Love the Trek 950. I had a 1992 model, sure wish it fit.

Just completed my 1984 Ross Mt Whitney. It was missing some of its original parts, so I just picked out the best I had in the bin. Wheels came from my Cimarron.

I really don't like stem converters. But with the BMX sized stem, and a pile of threadless stems in my bin, why not?

Its always GOOD to start with a chrome bike! This one had some serious rust near the bottom bracket. I gave it the OA treatment, then touched it up with silver paint (noticeable if you look, but better than rust).

wrk101

Weight on the 1984 Ross, as it sits (31.54 pounds), not too surprising, given Brooks Pro saddle, heavy tires and tubes, and heavy wheels. I could probably knock four pounds off this bike with just a wheel and saddle swap.

3speedslow

Yea, you could drop the weight and some more but that bike is so classy as is...who cares ? Not me..

Chrome really does do it. Strange, I actually never considered a chrome anything but now with my chrome track and 84 chrome Super Course, I dig it !

Great build.

Johnny Mullet

That Trek looks sweet! When the tires, bar tape, and saddle have a matching look going on it makes a huge difference!

mountaindave 

@wrk101 has tempted me in the past with such a chrome beauty, but I had to pass. I agree, chrome is king and it's a beautiful build. I'll bet she rolls just fine!

cooperryder

'Erichevy'

I really like your Trek 950 build.
I expect you are going to have lots of fun rides on it.

I have certainly been enjoying by two 1990 Treks,
(have posted pics b4 but here are a few more current ones)
one an 850 which is of course down the charts from a 950 frame but still has
decent double butted tubing.

Mine has no original parts left on it unless the seat post was the original one.
I would have to check.

I just recently shelled out for a set of Compass Rat Trap Pass 26 x 2.3 tires which actually measure like 2.1 on my rims
and fit fine.
My 850 (a 22" frame) is my lightest 26"er to this point at about 26.5 to 27 pounds. I need to weigh it again with these tires.
I only have about a 100 or so miles on the Rat Traps so far but they roll really nice and seem to be of very high quality.
I look forward to more miles on them very soon.

As you can see it has the Albatross style of a bar, not road bars at this point.

The 2nd 1990 bike , a Trek 7000 aluminum frame, does have road bars and some 26 x 2.3 Michelin Pilot Sports which do measure 60mm wide
and provide a really great cush ride smoothing out the rough streets.
It is at about 2 pounds heavier at it's current build than the 850.

A friend an I are about to build up a 22.5 or 23" Diamond Back Ascent frame this week for him to try this 26" rigid mtb fun.

We are having to use a very short stem as that thing has a very long 62cm TT.

Soundtallica

I've already posted this before about a year ago, but my 1993 Rockhopper has changed a bit since then. Swapped out the crappy Exage cantis for powerful XT V-brakes, put different wheels on, and different saddle as well. The heart of the bike, including the shifting (Suntour thumbies with the clamp spread to fit on the end of the drops, and rotated 90 degrees to simulate bar end shifters) remains the same. Overall, it weighs 24.9 lbs so I'm happy with it!

This is a super fun ride, it works just as well on MTB trails as it does on pavement. Because of its low weight and low gearing, it feels sprightlier than you'd think. However, as all-rounders go, it's more biased towards the dirt side whereas cross bikes are more biased towards the road side.

I'm going to start commuting again, so I'll throw on a rear rack soon. And since winter's coming, my full fenders will be going on as well. And when I have the time, I plan to try loaded touring, for which I'll use this bike with slicker tires swapped on. It should work like a charm!

The last upgrade I'd like to make but am not in a hurry to is to give it a 9-speed (indexed) drivetrain. If anybody has 9 speed bar end shifters (don't care what brand, as long it has a friction option as well) that they're trying to sell for cheap, PM me. They're hard to find at a price less than what I spent on this entire bike!

kingston 

While the Rat Trap Pass Tires are marketed as 26"x2.3" the product description reads 26"x54mm which is much closer to 2.1". I wondered which one was right. Thanks for the real world info.

NocoRider

Ahhhh... so THAT's why it's so hard to find large frame rigid mtb's, it's all these people buying 'em and putting on small stems! :-)

Those Trek's are beautiful clean builds. Nice!!!

NocoRider

Question to the forum - How much of a difference in weight is there between a high end frame and fork with "light tubing" versus a more pedestrian frame and fork?

I've seen weights posted from 23 pounds to the mid 30's and I'm curious how much of the difference will be due to light weight parts versus the frame.

FWIW, I've built up three drop bar Frankenbikes ('89 Stumpjumper, '92ish Karakoram, '94 Trek 930) but despite all being made from butted tubing they are in the 30 to 33 pound range. However I do realize I'm running some rather hefty tires (2.25" Schwalbe Marathon XR's)...

3speedslow

Tires will make a big difference. I use WTB 1.5 slicks and the weight is minimal but the ride is smooth and comfortable when I work with the PSI.

Soundtallica

Really hard to say, as frames vary greatly not only in the type of tubing they use but also how they're built. For example, old steel GT mountain bikes were really heavy to the point that their double butted models were heavier than some straight gauge models from other companies. So the difference could be below a pound, or maybe even 2 pounds. It really depends on the manufacturer of the bike.

For example, my first drop bar conversion was a GT Tequesta (triple butted Tange MTB tubing) which weighed in at 28 lbs. I was able to score my Rockhopper pictured a few posts above (Specialized double butted Direct Drive cromoly, not Tange Prestige) for free, and when I transferred the parts from the GT over it was over 3 pounds lighter at 24.9 lbs.

As for your bikes, the Stumpjumper is old enough that it won't be light despite being Specialized top end model, your Trek was their lowest end model, and your Karakoram was a mid-to-lower end model so their weights make sense. As 3speedslow said, tires make the biggest difference in weight, as does the wheelset.

Bikedued

As long as we're discussing weight, I got this down to about 23.06 IIRC? It has a gained a little weight back, and now has straight bars. The tubeless thing was nice for a while, then I could get it inflated but it wouldn't hold air long. I was also going to get a carbon straight fork, but I came tomy senses before spending $300 +/- for that. It was fun though, while the tubeless tires held, hehe. It's awaiting a re-cable for the Crow Bar and Specialized Nitto stem. It also has bar ends. It should be around 25, which is not bad for this frame size. It was a TANK when I first got it., which is a shame for an aluminum mountain bike.,,,,BD

NocoRider

An FYI on another forum with some interesting info on vintage MTB's and the obligatory bike-porn.
What are some old school mountain bikes of the 80's?

Not drop bar specific, just lots of good candidates. I never thought a Novara would catch my eye, but the lugs on the Outback sure are nice!

NocoRider

Thanks Soundtallica and 3Speed... Valid points on the tires. I'm trying to close the deal on a Cimarron and have my eye on a very good condition Peugeot Canyon Express for winter projects.

ppg677

This is a bit too hideous. Wrong size frame (feels ok as a flat-bar MTV)? Wrong type of frame?

Johnny Mullet

Longer stem?

due ruote 

That's an awful lot of drop. On the conversions I've done (both with Midge bars) I set them up so the hoods were about even with the saddle, and those bars have a shallow drop. Ymmv

ppg677

I don't think the geometry of this frame works with a drop-bar. Top tube is too long compared to the seat tube (without enough slope in the top tube to compensate). Ah well.

zjrog

I have a 20" version that is a bit short, but fun to ride. If I had a 22" version, I might consider a drop bar conversion.

RFC

Apparently I was right about the old MIGs. The MIG-1 Titanium Red. I was directed to these strings on the Retro forum.

Titanium Red bikes - got one or remember them? | Retrobike

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/dow....php?id=166791

bigfishpayne

I built this up to take on a 100 mile ride through the blue mountains...turned out to be mostly uphill and the mustache bars killed me. Swapping some Nitto dirt drops on soon!

Steiner74

I have an old raliegh that is almost identical right down to the (chromoly sticker) is there any connection like same factory or such?