Spring is here and after riding Pepe Le Peugeot all winter and being limited to roads and paved trails I decided it was high time to get to work on the GT (re)Build. But first we roll back to Spring of 2010:
What started as a 1990 GT Outpost “crossbike” is going to become a completely new animal. After sitting in my parents basement for nearly 16 years the Panaracer Smoke and Dart tires were completely dry rotted. Those were replaced with a set of Bontrager H2 slicks, new tubes and rim tape.
The derailleurs were either bent or broken and deemed unnecessary as the final project would be a single speed. The front derailleur was the first to go along with its shifter and cable. The rear was deemed somewhat important for the near future, at least as a chain tensioner. It’s cable and shifter were removed. A new chain was put on to replace the old, stretched out one.
So far the bike has lost about 4 pounds in parts and knobby tires. It’s shaping up to be a lean, mean, urban street fighting machine.
And now for the rest of the story:
So I spent the winter on this bike, “Pepe Le” Peugeot, and yes I know I’m mixing my Spanish and French.
A huge thanks to my friend Mike for hooking me up with it.
This is where and why the GT (re)Build was left to set for a few months.
You may notice the mismatched tires and wheels. The front wheel belongs with the bike. The rear wheel is borrowed from a NEXT Avalon full suspension beach cruiser. That bike is crap. Seriously, if you are going to spend $150 on a bike, please, do not go to your area big box superstore. Put an additional $50 with it and go to your local bike store and get a proper bike, not a hunk of aluminum with an assortment of plastic parts hung from it. <rant off>
The reason for the wonky rear wheel: a fine, upstanding gentleman in an oversized pickup truck spouted some polite words at me and threw a 20oz. bottle through my rear wheel. I gave him some choice words of my own. I would have gotten his license plate number but his “truck nutz” were blocking it. I had those spokes replaced and the wheel trued and about three weeks later was involved in an accident that pringled the front wheel, broke more spokes in the back, and broke both brake levers. All that by hitting a parking curb at less than 10 mph. I bounced and was very lucky because I bounced into a busy parking lot during business hours. My helmet and the extra layers of clothing saved my arse from a scraping. We now return you to “Teh (re)Build.”
On April 14th I got the itch to work on it. It might have been the ADD talking though. I got the GT out of storage, stole the wheels off the NEXT Avalon, put the Bontrager tires on the “good” NEXT wheels and gave them a basic true. Put them on the GT frameset and *poof* I find out that the handlebars and stem are bent.
--Look at that bend!
On a trip to the parts shed I remember that I have an old 90’s Dyno freestyle out there. I stole the headset and handlebars from it and put them on the GT and created what I call a “BigBMX” bike. But now the old brake cable won’t fit the Dyno’s brake lever. Back to the shed for the cable, swap it out, and after two hours of tinkering, removing the front cantilever brakes and general tuning the bike can go and stop. I was afraid the riser bars would be too tall but it makes for a rather pleasant riding position but I don’t expect to set any land speed records in this configuration
The only things really left to do are remove the extra chain rings on the front and get a rear wheel that is set up for single speed. So until next time, I leave you with these nearly complete photos of a 21 year old bike that has been beaten on trails, been a trusty companion for around town commuting and broke the 40mph mark:
May all your rides be downhill both ways,
NSM
