Ti 90s hhsmtb (?) on a budget.

Bought this yesterday for the princely sum of approximately £90. It's a mystery frame, made in the late 90s according to the seller but has no markings at all. Very tidy welds. A minty fresh pink CK headset was included as well as a gritty BB which I've removed. I'm not sure what to do with it, but am leaning towards a cheap modern groupset as the new alivio m4000 is actually ok looking, and bling it up with cheap disco coloured ano bits from ebay. I don't know anything about mtb but this felt like a fun basis for a project so any advice appreciated. Will be a slow project as I haven't any spare mtb parts.

Edit: firstly, how the hell do I figure out what a-c measurement the forks should have??

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400mm ish A2C I'd have thought.

Thanks! Why, because of its age or can you tell just by looking at it..?

Standard 90s A2C for a rigid fork I think. Early suspension forks around 410mm.

Right, sourced two different basic steel forks -420 & 400 mm a2c - and the dark grey 400 mm one seems to be about right. Wheels on their way from Germany and some disgusting bright yellow and purple bits are also in transit, to match the neon pink cable outers I found in a box. Also got a good deal on some faux ti cranks and a grey xtr rear mech on retrobike. High hopes for a late summer completion!

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How do I upload multiple photos from phone?

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Cool. Following this for sure.

Do I go for a) ti stem or b) yellow stem? Black bars and post or silver (no budget for ti)? Wheels will be low profile silver. Ano seatclamp, garish ourys, gumwall tyres etc go without saying obvs.

Yellow stem looks ace

Go full banana. You must.

I think the frame looks ace and the yellow stem looks awful.

Three things are in favour of yellow stem. Someone coins the term "full banana", someone thinks the stem looks awful and it's called "power tools".

This will be awesome. Full banana +1

sweet project!

£90 for a Ti frame....... why don't i know people like that :)

Guess the brand. I can't remember the brand name, there was a budget company dealing direct (may have become "Global" later on) the frames where sourced from russia and reputed to be made by the same people/factory that made MiG fighters and ICBM's and general nik naks for the russian areospace programes in Ti

May have been called "airforce" at the time, the frames had rave reviews and where serious value for money, they did weigh a bit more that the american frames and had more simple tube profiles and less elegance, but from memory a touch overbuilt russian design :)

£90........ you jammy git, subbed for the build and any other name/brand guesses

May have been called "airforce" at the time

You thinking of 'Airborne'? They were offering decent budget titanium a few years before Global.

Didn't Airborne become Van Nicholas?

Hard to keep track of who was what and become something else later, but Airborne -> Van Nicholas sounds familiar, did it then become a bit of a house brand for Halfords.

Was going to post a piccy but can't from this PC. The Airborne had a neat headtube badge and the dropouts are different, granted i have looked at a later disc/v frame image, but the Airborne has more work in the dropouts and tubing looks more profiled, sooooo i am back to guessing a Global as it's a less flash looking frame.

Thanks for the info, global or airborne are two possibilities then. I'll post some closeups when I'm back home from a short holiday. In other news I got hold of a pair of panaracer smoke & dart which they've apparently reissued in gumwall flavour. I also fitted the crown race and got the fork on with the infamous yellow stem and it looks absolute, total shit. So a ti stem is on the way. I think I've either ordered or already have everything to finish the build so hopefully next week I can make some progress. Will update with pictures!

Quick mock up of parts. Different post and stem incoming.

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Awesome! You don't like the stem?

Banana is go

I don't know... it's kinda growing on me and I'm unpleasantly surprised the other coloured bits don't stand out more. After all, I'm aiming for some tastelessness here. Ah well. I panicked and bought a decent ti stem off someone on retrobike so we'll see once it arrives.

Slow progress. Some random pics. Old xtr RD looks great and the new alivio front isn't too bad either, it's grey at least. And has the exact same "9" logo as the 15 yo xtr. And yes, it needs to be nearer the chainring.

The (very stylish and understated) cable routing is hard to decide on, as the guides are on the side of TT. Suggestions?