It doesn't take "track frame knowledge" to tell if a bike is rideable or not. It really only takes the ability to ride a bike.
You're jumping to tons of conclusions like you did before. All we know is that the seller didn't know much about the bike and made some stuff up. It could be a converted road bike, cross bike, or mountain bike. It may have been done by a reputable builder. It may be the frame that Christ rode into Jerusalem. You can't say that because it looks kind of like a junky bike that you had once that it's definitely a horrible bike that has been chopped to bits by a blind dude with a blow torch.

I'd really like to know how 700c wheels are going to endanger the frame.

lol, that's why i've said, in all of my posts, that i could be wrong, and he should have it checked out. it might not even be safe. i never said it's definitely a junk bike... just that it looks exactly like a rather old bike that i haven't found enough of a use for to build up.

regarding it being a road bike, i really doubt someone canti bosses onto some slack-ass gt road bike, but whatever, they went through the trouble to put track/bmx dropouts on some slack 4130 frame, maybe the previous owner had yamaguchi do it cause he was racing offroad in the olympics or whatever.

my only 2 points were that he didn't get the GT track frame he's been running around the forum bragging about and that he should have it checked out.

There was a period of time before widely-available cyclocross frames when crazy roadies and bike shop rats would just torch cantis onto decent road frames.

I've owned a pogliaghi and a 3rensho that have been butchered in that manner, and they've held up just fine.

gt road bikes were pretty aggro, btw.

and were threadless in the late 90s, so that's one more thing you can use to determine what your bike is. i'm guessing GT didn't have a dedicated cross bike in the mid 90s.

like i said, that coulda been bull****, just the advice of a mechanic frame... now that you got me wondering, i'm thinking he may have been talking more about squashing the 135 spaced frame down to 120.

just saying, this:



looks a lot more like this:



or this:



than this:



or this:

It looks a lot like that last one to me.

um look at the tire clearances (seriously, it's like 3x), smaller triangle, the protruding top tube on his, the canti bosses...

ignore the fork and bars for a sec.

i'm not worked up, really, but i'm pretty sure he didn't buy a road and damn positive it isn't a modified track frame.

This is just about the only way that it could hurt the frame. It sounds to me like the mechanic doesn't know what they are talking about. Changing wheel size does not affect the the wheelbase since the axles don't move. Also the overall diameter of a 26" wheel with a fat tire is not that far from a 700c wheel with a skinny road tire. This should not stress the frame as long as everything fits.

The main problem with 700c wheels in a mtb frame (aside from brake mounts) is that it just looks plain silly. There's just something wrong with having two inches of clearance between your tire and your frame. I've done it, changed it back. Maybe your mechanic has done this too and was trying to come up with a reason not to create another frankenbike with kludged together parts.

Not that there is anything wrong with kludged together bikes (like most of mine).

man you guys are amazing,...yeah I dont know **** about track bikes, thats why I asked you dipsticks,...sorry I ever did that,..glad you guys are this worked up over me spending $170 on a GT road bike with track ends that were brazed on by a local frame builder. (I ended up calling the original owner after he got back from his trip and got the whole story) I thought it was maybe a track bike that had been set up for cyclocross or something, since both the original owner, and the guy I bought it from were from marin co., and those crazy rich people do some weird things, or maybe you didn't read my original post? (I should have put a question mark on the title, sorry bout that)

YOU GUYS said it was a yamaguchi, and blah, blah,, or can't you guys read threads?

anyway here it is with a proper fork, and a 700C wheelset, notice there isn't "THREE INCHES OF SPACE" on the back wheel, blah blah blah,.....(there's a HALF INCH of space between the tire and the crossbar thats between the chainstays)


and, no it's not a freakin mountain bike, I know THAT much, but thanks for caring,.... anyway after I get the canti bosses and cage bosses off of it and it's painted, I get a sweet commuter/city bike, with my favorite triple triangle frame and I actually like it better knowing it's just a regular road bike and not some priceless olympic collectors item, because now I can lock it at safeway for 20 minutes and know it'll be there when I get back.

to all of you that were decent and actually were defensive of me in some posts, thank you, I appreciate that, glad to see there is some maturity somewhere in here.

this and the road forums are just notorious for this crap, and is why I am reluctant to answer some of the painting questions here, knowing that most of these hostile fight starters don't deserve it.


peace and ride safe

i stand corrected, like i said, i just thought it coulda been and was looking out for your wallet.

whatever you did, it looks much better. what fork is that? my karakoram may just make a nice fixed cross bike after all.

Do the Canti Studs get in the way when you do bar spins?

No, but I think his bruised ego does.

Why are you taking it personally that some people were speculating that you might've bought a mountain bike? You think you are being disrespected or something because someone questions the actual value of your estate sale find? Give me a break. I'm rereading this thread and everybody seems to be pretty nice here, you ought to be a little more appreciative.

because of the genuine hostility I read, and felt when I read some of those posts, you guys need to relax, seriously

and I did thank you guys, wow,..sorry I didn't include a deposit to your bank acct., I'll remember that the next time.

ok back to the bike,...the canti studs will be off sometime this week (I can't do bar spins whatever) when I can find time at work to use the die grinder with the coolant set up, then I'm just gunna toss a down and dirty 30 minute silver metallic paint job on it (hope it duzzent suck) cuz the van halen special just isn't me.

the fork is a tange cr-mo fork for 700C wheels my LBS had on the shelf ($30)
it rides MUCH better, and I really like it.

I'll post more pics when I get em

Hey there, slow down a minute. It was not my intention to start a fight or disrespect you or your bike. I just wanted to make an argument for mating your frame with appropriate wheels, which it looks like you were already on top of. My reading and proofreading time before posting goes way down when I'm at work and looking over my shoulder. Maybe this makes my posts come across as abrasive. If they are, please accept my apology. In the future if you see my posts and I'm not personally insulting you or your family please assume that I'm not trying to give you crap or piss you off. Thanks.

if anyone cares I have a sz53cm GT track frameset for sale...pm me if anyone interested.