OK, I knocked this up over the weekend from the parts boxes.

If I had silver wheels, it'd be so much better. But its only a beater, so pink wheels it is.

Jim

Looks like a fun little project

OK, so this is done for a while. I just fitted it out with the bits I had at hand. Yes, that seat tube is very relaxed...70deg near as I can tell. I dont really know why, maybe it was a full custom build for a gorilla. 52/16 is OK on the flats, but will drop it to 46/16 when I can. And a zero setback seat post.

Paint came out looking so professionally done, I'd swear you'd sent it out

I love the finished project - particularly the red-anodized wheelset. Not too hipster-over-the-top, but just right. Well done!

BTW, What does the down tube decal say? And the head tube?

DD

DD

Looks great! My Premio has some rust in the corners and some of that "crazing" in the paint, so I've got an eye toward sanding it and repainting.

Got a closer shot of the decal?

Also, I'd get an 18T cog instead of replacing the chainring -- bigger gears are smoother, last longer, and (from what I've read) are a bit more efficient.

Eddy Merckx liked messing about with geometry. I have seen a couple of his frames that were very relaxed. I found the ride of a frame with a 70 degree seat tube to soak up the bumpy road surfaces really well. I think the idea of the relaxed seat tube was to place the rider well back, behind the vertical line of the bottom bracket so some of the pedalling force is initially more of a horizontal push on the pedal more suited to a long stage race. Personally I didn't like the feeling of sitting so far behind the BB (inch to two inches) so I moved the seat forward on its rails and just enjoyed the more comfortable ride.

Thanks guys. The DT decal says Street Fighter, with an outline of Australia at the S end. There's a little Aussie map on the HT as well. The ST decal is this one:


Had a few made up for this project, and a couple of mates.

Jim

lol "tubi illegitimi"

here's my rockhopper that i think is definitely "too far gone"... it's rusted through right by the bottom bracket

Rusted THROUGH? I see a chip with some surface rust on it Are you saying there is a hole straight through the tube? It doesn't look like it.

i know those pics suck, but yes, there is a hole in the frame. and a TON of rust in the BB.

Holy crap. Those additional pics helped. My netbook has a really small screen so it's harder to see some photos.

How would something like that even happen? It obviously rusted from the inside out. Water got down the seat tube and just got stuck in there and never got out or dried, most probably. Acidic grease in the BB? Someone poured something toxic down the seat tube? Mouse stuffed down something into it that was corrosive like fertilizer or a joker put a bunch of rock-salt down the tube?

That's just plain scary.

Still, it's saveable I would say. OA the crap out of it and braze a cripple over that hole.

LOL.. I'm not sure what happened to it. It was left at a bike rack unlocked for weeks with both tires flat. I didn't notice the hole until I got it home and started tearing it down. I suspect water got inside of the seat tube because the seat post that was on the bike when I found it was too small and the seat would move around. might have been left with no seat post for a long time, who knows..

Wow really?! I would assume there is a lot more rust damage inside that could potentially weaken the structure of the frame. it's not a super fancy frame or anything.. actually it's kinda heavy even tho it's a rockhopper... makes me wonder if the rockhopper and hardrock had the same frame and just diff components

It's steel. It's not like it's going to fail catastrophically like CF or Aluminum. If it fails it'll just start to bend over a series of rides. If the BB threads are salvageable then the frame is IMHO. Probably not worth brazing on, but I would guess that the worst of the rust is right there on the bottom portion of the seat tube.

Looks like the BB condom might have sealed much of the moisture in right there at the bottom section of the seat tube -and that's where all the real damage is. The rest is probably surface rust.

hmm now you've got me thinking i should clean it out and build it back up.. i managed to unscrew the BB w/o any problems earlier today so the threads are good. pretty sure the headset and the BB both are toast though.. might end up spending more to rebuild it than i would to buy a complete mtb without a hole in the frame lol

If I really wanted to save that frame I'd clean off the paint to bare metal in that area and just get an old DB tube and use a bit of the thin section and just wrap that bottom area with it after splitting it and wrapping it over. Just use some silver solder and braze it over the hole. Rattle-can to cover. Done. Ugly, but it would repair it well. Like patching a hole in an innertube.

But it probably isn't worth even that unless it is something that fits really well and you want to spend the time to save.