Retro mountain bikes

Woah, A* bodgery efforts! So you've got a 1¼" steerer on your forks and want to replace the stem that came with it? I had it backwards - I thought you'd bought the stem but it didn't fit as the quill bit was too big, if you know what I mean.

I get it now. So yeah that one I posted won't work if it's got the step, I guess it must fit into a 1⅛" steerer.

Edit: if your idea doesn't work, you could also cut off the horizontal part of the old stem, file it smooth, and then clamp the new stem onto it. For example if the new silver bit of steerer had walls that are too thin to take the expander wedge bit or something.

So you've got a 1¼" steerer on your forks and want to replace the stem that came with it?

Yes, exactly that! This tube is thicker wall than the one on the stem, so I just need to lick it open a little at the top with a reamer to fit the top cap. Pretty sure we’ve got an adjustable one upstairs so I can do it by hand.

I had a 1 1/4” steerer on the gf’s hybrid (old GT triple triangle), my solution was to shim it to 1” and then you can get a threadless adapter like one @frankenbike posted

A standard ahead 1⅛" top cap might work too (instead of reaming) - it will overhang a little bit I guess - but I suppose they're not intended to take quite as much force as a proper one off a quill stem...

But less destructive/irreversible than reaming :)

It’s only a length of off-the-shelf 1-1/8” aluminium tube, nothing rare that I’m going to wreck.

28.6mm and 25.4mm are common seatpost sizes, so almost 100% a seatpost shim for 28.6mm to 25.4mm exists.

Also quill adapters are beefy enough and made of a grade of aluminium that won't leave you with a trip to the dentist.

Finished rebuilding my 1991 Scott Windriver.

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Cleaned wheels which came up great thanks to the stainless spokes, cleaned cassette and have new chain to throw on when I fit deore cranks. Fitted new cockpit, saddle, seatpost QR and tyres 26x2.35. Still more work to come.

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Nice and clean! Love the DX stuff. :)

Thanks. And it's amazing how well this groupset still works after 27 years. It shifts up and down as smooth as my 11 speed XT. Brakes are a bit less... :-)

That Ritchey Project 20 is so bloody nice...

may still be for sale

ATM I'm in pole position for aquiring a 1996 Project 20 frame (and Rock Shox SID from the same year) so I'm typing this with my fingers crossed. Should get an answer in the first couple of hours.

That Ritchey is lovely. What size is it?

Looks like 18". These have very long toptubes (22,5").

I have to stop watching internet bidding sites...

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All together in one pic.

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does anyone have a BLB Takeaway tray or similar that i could put on this parts bin winter tank thing?

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This 1990 Cinelli Ottomilainsu arrived today. Cromor OR tubing, XT groupset,...

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That looks super-original even down to cables & tyres?

Love the front stem bolt/cable guide detail. A great idea in theory, but in reality not actually that great and you end up with rather big hollow bolt rather than a slim M5 allen bolt :) But it's these details I love on old bikes! :)

Great image! Tomac, Juarez and Frischknecht... whose the GT rider? Avoiding Googling and trying to rely on my fading brain power. Doesn't look like Grewal, Rogers or Baker...

The GT rider is Gerhard Zadrobilek. An Austrian former road pro (Atala, 7-11, PDM) that used to race for GT back in the early nineties.