Hey guys/gals.

First off, I'm a road/track bike kinda guy. I have literally zero experience with mountain bikes, hence by being here asking these ridiculous questions.

I need a beater/lockup bike. I can't really park my road or track bike anywhere and not worry about it. I want a hard tail mtb with a rigid fork. I figure the fewer moving parts, the better. I'm picking up a Nishiki Manitoba (1991?) tomorrow for stupid cheap and have a couple questions.

What size does it look? 22"? The guy selling it doesn't know much about it, but I threw the picture into photoshop, put a line from edge to edge of the rim through the hub (which should make for a 22" line, 'cause the ERD on a 26" wheel is pretty much 22 inches), and it fit spot on for the seat tube center to top.

Any recommended tire? It's primarily gonna be ridden on the street, I wanted a MTB instead of a roadie beater, 'cause there are some decent trails that I'd like to toy around with here. Keep in mind it is a beater, and I'm trying to keep costs as low as possible (said everyone, ever).

I'm going to convert it to a single speed. Any issues with that? It's a beater, and I don't really want to bother with 22 year old derailleurs.

I'm going to throw some drop bars and levers on it. Any problems there?

Lastly, anything I should make sure to check before buying it?

Here she is:



Thanks, anything you give me is better that what I have, haha.

That would be an excellent choice for a street beater bike. I'm really into that seat, gotta have one.

If it shifts and the crank moves freely you have a good start. The good thing about old mountain bikes is you can customize it how ever you want, anything goes. It will look more like a CX bike than MTB, but its a beater.

I like Michelin 26X1.5's for riding around the streets with. Inexpensive, reliable, roll smooth, grooves for water. Enjoy yourself, ya stinkin latex lizard!

PM your address and I'll ship the saddle to you when I take it off.

yeah, it's gonna look pretty CX-y when I'm done.

Thanks for the tip on tires. Michelin Country Rocks look good for the money.

I used Serfas Drifter 26x1.5 tires on my MTB for awhile, never had any flats or any other problems with them. Great tires.

For drop bar brake levers, you'll need levers compatible with those canti brakes. Something cyclocross-specific.

I was thinking there may be compatibility issues with canti's and drop levers. I'll make sure to look into it before I buy there levers.

Post pics of the tear down and build up. I enjoy projects!

Drop bars and cantis are like toast and butter, they will work fine although you may have to play with the stem to get the fit dialled in.

MTB geometry is often a little different than road and track bikes which are usually square, a 22 inch top tube probably means the frame is a 20 which puts it into the medium size range.

Think the stock crank is a Sugino 250 which is pretty low end and not suitable for singulation and of those are vertical dropouts you will need to use a tensioner which is a good use for the old rear d.

Check the wheels for true and proper spoke tension, make sure the frame is straight (and it does look pretty clean) and if that all checks out, go to town on it.

The groupset throughout was Shimano 200GS, which is today's Atlus I found out through googling. The crankset has riveted rings so I can't pull the extras, so It's a manual three speed now, haha.

The RD was bent beyond salvageability, but I did end up using a RD for a chain tensioner. Cheapest one I could find on amazon. Set me back 9 whole bucks, shimano tourney.

The wheels were probably in the best shape of everything. The hubs needed overhauling, but that was expected. Frame is straight and fork isn't bent.

BB shell is cross threaded, which is the only issue I ran into. I got everything installed well enough with the issue. There's a bit of drag, but no slop side to side, and it spins square. If it doesn't work itself loose I'll keep it on there, otherwise I'll pick up a threadless bottom bracket and a new crankset. Trying not to do that, as it is my beater.

Here he is, Handsome Dick:


Sorry for the crappy night time shot, haha. I'll snap a better pic tomorrow on the trails.

Oh yeah, went with mustache bars instead because I've always wanted to try them.

Great looking build. Its shows what some scrambling can do! You should have a blast.

Here's a better shot, before I hit some trails (which I loved btw). Really glad I picked up a mtb instead of a road bike for my around town use.

Oh, no, you rode some trails on it??? Now you're gonna be buying a new bike again soon! That's OK, you can always sell that boring road bike for some cash toward the sweet new MTB. You'll see...

My road bike has seen a Lot of wall hanging time since I got a decent MTB. It's pretty much just for leisure riding when the trails are wet but I still want to get out on a bike.