1992 GT Karakoram Rat bike, SS for now...

Hello, thought I would pull my finger out and post up the GT that I've been messing about with the last few months. It is sort of for sale ATM, but a) nobody has bought it yet and b) I'm still riding and evolving it, so thought it was worth a post on here.

If I'm not trying to keep my 8Freight in one piece I'm usually messing with Retro MTB, this was one of the more leftfield projects that I did for a bit of a laugh :D

It all started back in October last year. I was browsing Shpock and came across a masterpiece in the world of shitty photography skills...

As you can seen, there wasn't very much left! Literally frame only. I didn't even get the bath towel included. The mech hanger was also AWOL and these are hen's teeth to find. they're almost like a little extension piece joined to the frame with a tiny M4 bolt. So 1 gear it was then..

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Sick paint job. Love these bikes.

Fast forward a couple of months and it was in it's first incarnation, after sifting through various parts bin stuff. As the mech hanger was missing I rigged up a funny sort of axle mounted tensioner.

Cranks are an old Truvativ triple that I dremelled so that I could mount the outer ring inboard, then added a chainguard from the cargo bike parts bin to keep the chinos clean.

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After riding it as was I decided the tensioner was a bit of a pain in the arse, especially for wheel changes. I chanced on adding a 3/32" half link and bingo! Almost perfect chain tension, taking into account a bit of bedding in. Much better - and opening the creaky door for fixed later on down the line maybe :)

At this point I added the Magura Race Lite brake up front to save the soles of my shoes from total destruction. It's easy enough to lose if it does end up fixed and I want to make it brakeless. The Madison saddle was a bit too sofa so I pulled out a equally battered Specialized from the shed.

I was especially stoked to source the D521 wheels for a good price - I had to buy each separately from opposite ends of town via Facebook but I wanted a decent matching set. The forks are old Onza Tuf Guy trials, bought as slightly soiled but NOS from Ebay...

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Next step was to switch the yellow Magura to a Tomac Red version. I just liked the two finger lever a bit more, I guess.

I could have also modded the rear brake bosses to stick a Magura out back, but adding a rear brake seemed a bit pointless. I am still wondering if I should just hack them off and blank the holes. I've an original Shimano U-brake too that I could have fitted, but it catches on the fat Smart Sams that are fitted right now...

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And so on to right here and now. I am sitting thinking if I should cook some food in preparation for my little one tomorrow, or fit these bad boys that I picked up locally last night...

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I can only repeat myself on what I wrote in your classified thread, this is an awesome project, much potential. I have always lusted over these specific Karakorams, this colour scheme is so insanely rad.
I'd get those U-brake bosses converted to cantis if you're not afraid of spending some $$$ - or even better, maybe add a disc tab?