Current Projects chat and miscellany

Haha - my man from BC perhaps?

they're so good, why people do this. What was your one?

It's bizarre because a year ago i bought the exact same frame to build up into my own GT. Maybe cosmic ordering, but delayed by a bit.

It is a Talera. Picked it up like 3 years ago and still riding!

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10/10 townie, is it fixed gear?

very tasteful. What's the story with the rear brake? was it one of those U brake thingies and you've bodged a long reach caliper on?

It was fixed gear, flipped the hub to freewheel side now cos it’s a bit more chill. Got a front dynamo, haven’t fit the rear yet. Also putting full length guards on at some point :)

Yeah, I actually had one but the clearance above the tyre wasn’t very good and I wanted to put guards on. It’s more of a backup brake and is super flexy. just use the front most of the time

How did you like the fixed gear on the 26er compared to a ‘normal‘ 700c fixed? These old mtbs have about the same bb height as a track bike so provided they have horizontal drop outs, they should make for nice fat tyred fixed conversions. But there seem to be hardly any around. Is it because hardly anyone rides fixed these days or does the sluggish/tractor feel of a retro 26er not lend itself to fixed?

I feel like so many of these retro MTBs are being built up as comfy townies, tourers and budget gravel bikes, so few people would probably be bothered of building/finding a suitable rear wheel. Also most will have decent and versatile gears, brakes, etc

That’s probably it. If I only had one 26er, I’d definitely keep it geared. As I have a few though, I’m definitely tempted by the idea to try one fixed but the fact that 26inch wheels with fixed compatible hubs aren’t readily available is a bit of a hurdle and I’m not quite sure whether it’s worth the effort.

26inch wheels with fixed compatible hubs aren’t readily available

A Walker brother is still doing Fixxer clones to order. There must be millions of 26" MTB wheels out there with compatible Shimano freehubs.

If you don't mind losing the rear brake (or you already have rim brakes), a 135mm 6-bolt disc hub flipped over with a 6-bolt sprocket aligns reasonably well with the middle ring of the MTB triple crank found on most of these old bikes.

Yh me too, leastways my son did

Mh, that sounds very interesting. I’ll see if I come across a disc hub and might give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

Has someone converted a 1“ Fork to disc by brazing in the disc mounts?

Thinking about a 1991 Rockhopper 650b conversion but I might have chosen a harder project in this.

If some framebuilder has experience, that would be great.

I feel confident a Rockhoppper fork would be beefy enough to take the loads from a disc brake. But you might not find a framebuilder willing to do it.

I thought so too. Now I just have to find out if 650b even fits in the frame nicely. Unfortunately I can’t just test it :/

http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/trailcalc.php

Use this site to find the wheel radiuses.

If you have a 700c wheel with 35mm tyres that is the equivalent of a 650b with 2.2" tyre. 700mm diameter tyre included.

With the 700c wheel mounted you can measure the clearance to determine whether the 650b wheel you want will fit.

But I haven’t even got the frame yet! :o

Thanks, though!

Rode this abomination into work today to test what stem dimension I need to get something custom made after an ahead conversion.

Will also need a new custom made fork, as the v-brake pads barely fit between rim and fork, also clearance. Thinking Orlowski?

edit: can't seem to upload the most crappy phone pic ever

Maybe I should look for another Frame. Something that already got a 1 1/8 fork. Would make eveything so much easier since there'S a lot of affordable gravel/disc forks available.

But what to take, I hate to decide with what to start a new Project. I love the idea of an old Rockhopper converted but it might just not be worth the struggle. Most probably it will just end as a bad compromise.

Already thinking about getting a Brother Kepler but that'S just not the real Retro deal.

Tonnes of other vintage MTBs that came with 1.125" (including later steel rockhopper)

Yup already found a nice Diamondback. For some reason I don't really dig the later Rockhoppers. Found a nice looking Fuji Titanium but they used 1 1/4" and that again is not the easiest fork to find.

Fantastic transformation. Such a nice colour hiding under the grime.

Look for 1995-1998 Rockhopppers. They fit 2.3" knobbies and probably good size 650bs.

Here's mine https://www.flickr.com/photos/flapcrack/20709103393/in/album-72157696043572940/

There are adapter cups to fit 1 1/8" headsets into 1 1/4" headtubes (and also reducer headsets) available, might be worth a google. Did a similar thing a couple years ago.