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The plan for the Valley Runner is as follows:
8 Speed Deore XT M739 Shifters
Silver Deore DX Rear Mech from the Terra Runner
Silver Bullmoose Bars
Silver Seatpost
New Chainrings - 110/74 bcd, any suggestions? As the current ones are BioPace.
New 8 speed Wheels
Remove Shit Mudguards
New tyres - also suggestions needed!
Shimano CX50 CantisI already have the XT shifters, yesterday I ordered the Bullmoose and a shim as the forks are 1 1/8 threaded.
I built a wheelset for it last week too:
Deore XT M750 Hubs
Kinlin ADHN Rims
for £77 thanks to JD Whisker!Any advice on Chainrings and Tyres especially is welcomed.
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The plan for the Terra Runner is pretty similar but as it's mine, it's going to have slightly more pointlessly expensive stuff on it.
8 Speed XTR M950 Shifters
8 Speed XTR or XT Rear Mech
New Wheels (Probably the same as above but with Black Rims)
Black A-Head Bullmoose and a converter
Potentially shim the seatpost (29.6mm) down to 27.2mm and get a nice retro MTB post in black.
The Black Deore XT cranks that came on it will stay on, again just new rings needed.Then they both just need the bikepacking kit finalising!
Today I'm going to fit the new CX50 cantis on the Valley Runner and see how well they work.
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8 Speed XTR M950 Shifters
I have a pair of these in very good, possibly new, condition. Pm me if you‘re interested.
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I appreciate the offer but have no need for them atm. Wouldn‘t it make sense to change the u-brake bosses to canti/v brake mounts when you‘re getting the seatstays replaced?
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Looking good! The narrow canti spacing which isn‘t compatible with v-brakes was abandoned in the late 80s afaik.
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Never updated this as life got too busy.
Now we're stuck in Argentina unable to cycle them anywhere, so here is what happened.
On the Valley Runner:
Put 3 new non-biopace rings on, granny and big ring are Middleburn, middle is shimano steel.
Maxxis Ikons replaced the Big Apples
Couple of horns out the front of the bars
These kogas ride really nicely loaded up.
The only downside I'd say is the tire width, they fit max 26x2.3" and I'd probably like to have closer to 2.7" for Argentina.
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The Valley Runner's a beast! I can't imagine how hectic and crazy it must be to be settling into a new place in a time like this, best of luck to you and your partner. Huge respect for choosing old Kogas to bikepack in Patagonia where most people would probably just use them to run to the pub or get internet points cough my Bridgestone cough. Ganbate!
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Yeah it has been all over the place, thank you!
Hopefully they prove my conviction that you shouldn't need to get a mad expensive frame etc to bikepack successfully(even somewhere like Argentina) - both of them would have been extremely cheap if I hadn't have had to go through the process of having the Terra Runner repaired.
Love the Bridgestone, rode an MB-3 for a while and it was super sweet, think it's still sitting around unsold at my old shop... -
Here are some close ups of the Terra Runner
Wild paint, sadly lost some of it in the accident
A lot of XTR, shifters are as well.
Left the cranks though as I didn't want M950 Octalink and these look good with some NOS purple ano specialized chainrings I had. Again middle ring is steel Shimano.
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Oh man, retro MTB gear porn... Envy!
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Should I buy these for the Terra Runner, to go with the ano purple chainrings
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One word no the price is too high
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@Zebra_Cyclist Not much more than m730 cranks go for normally, and these are one offs (for better or worse)
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The Terra Runner shredded through a pair of pads in 3 days in The Gower last week, and was barely braking on steep wet descents even with XTR m950 V-Brakes, which are very reliable in the dry (suffice to say it was a deluge).
Every time I take it bikepacking I am amazed at how well it copes with gnarly, chunky descents. However I think if I am to keep it I need to weld on a disc brake mount to the rear of the frame and get a new disc-compatible fork.
I am also fed up with the terrible shifting of the bottom pull to top pull converted front mech, and generally prefer using the 1x11 setups on my hardtail or cargo bike.
This would mean a pretty hefty overhaul of the Terra Runner:
Brakes, Drivetrain, Wheels, Fork.The other option would be to buy a more modern burly bikepacking frame (Kona Unit X, Big Bro etc) and build it up. This would have the benefit of a more modern geometry which will be better for descending, bigger tyre clearances (Koga juuuuust fits 2.25") and more bolt ons for cages etc.
So what should I do, stick or twist?
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As you currently enjoy riding the frame, I'd give it the full treatment with a disc tab on the rear as well as a Stridsland Barnacle fork. You could have a number of new bolt ons added while you getting the disc tab fitted as well.
Sig_Arlecchino
Matisse
rawmeat
platypus
kjlem
vpCogworks
Zebra_Cyclist
MisterMikkel-
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About
Two Kogas (Hakuna Miyata)
Posted by
@wintyDono
I'm moving to Argentina and these are the bikes that are coming too.
The first Koga, a '91 Valley Runner, came from the eBay thread here for £50 and has had almost nothing done to it since (changed the rear tyre for another used one, changed the grips). It's slightly too small for me and the perfect size for my partner. 7 Speed Deore LX/DX but the shifters and bars had been changed in the past for standard Shimano 7 Speed and some faded yellow Tranz-X.
The second Koga, a 91' Terra Runner, took a long time to find, and when I finally got it in the post from Germany it had been packed awfully and the rear spacing was 90mm. The frame was in almost perfect condition paint wise and it's now with Geoff Roberts having two new seatstays put on. It also came 7 speed with Deore DX.
The plan is to build them both as everyday bikes that can be used for bikepacking in Patagonia/the Andes at some point in the next couple of years.
If you don't know about these early 90's Koga MTBs. They're fucking wicked, so many braze-ons including lowrider mounts on the fork, bottle mount under the downtube and a bottle dynamo mount(???).
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