This is my good friend's bike. He bought it new back in '88 and he rode it around town for about a year or two. He stored it in his garage but his wife moved it out into his back yard when she cleaned up the garage. It sat out there, exposed to the elements, for about 12 years or so.
Recently, I asked him about getting his old bike back up and running since he is opening a restaurant within a mile of his home, which is a bit too far for him to walk and a bit too short for him to realistically drive his car to. His wife probably had something to do with his decision to fix this old bike up as she's always getting on his case about getting some exercise. He's not exactly overweight but he also hasn't done any exercise in the last 10 years or so.
Other than the Blackburn Mountain Rack and the Avocet Gel-Flex saddle, the bike is completely stock. The plan is for me to go over the bike, giving it a low-budget overhaul and cleaning. As you can see from the pictures there is some rust on a lot of the parts but most of it is surface rust. The frame appears to be sound. Since he's going to ride this bike on the road I'm going to install some mountain bike slicks that I happen to have a set of and I'm going to throw in an old saddle that I have. I'm also planning on changing the chain, cables, housing, and replacing all of the ballbearings.
I'll post pictures of the progress of this bike.
One sticking point that he has with this bike: he has seen Rapid Fire shifters and he wants them but I told him that upgrading would be expensive enough that he should just replace the entire bike. This may happen down the road (and I'm hoping that he will sell this bike to me if that happens) but his budget is stretched pretty thin right now getting the restaurant ready for its grand opening in the beginning of February.
Edited to change the date as the bike registration shows 1991 and we thought he registered it right after buying it but Googling the Suntour XCD6000 components shows that these parts are from '88 and from FirstFlightBikes it appears that this was from '88 as well.
I wonder how many of the last picture I ended bringing into my house in this bike? I guess it's better than the family of rats that a different friend inadvertently brought into his house with that '67 Mustang he had towed home one day...
I bought a white Chill about a year ago strictly for the group. I looked like the bike was never used. When I got it, the frame was so nice when I unpacked the bike, I couldn't bear to strip it for parts. So now it sits in the garage with my other projects.
To give you folks an idea how little usage this bike got, the brake pads look virtually brand new. I don't think this bike had been ridden for more than 100 miles!
How goes the build? I just found one of these sitting in a trash pile in my neighborhood. The one I have is slightly newer. It has Shimano LX cranks and Exage shifters, brakes, and rr der. The front der is LX also. This one is an Instinct and is red and black. Looks like it has seen very little riding by the condition of the parts. Just too many years sitting in somenoes garage getting neglect.
"There are those who would say there's something pathological about the need to ride, and they're probably on to something. I'd wager though that most of the society-approved compulsions leave deeper scars in the psyche than a need to go and ride a bicycle on a mountain." Cam McRea
I wonder how many of the last picture I ended bringing into my house in this bike? I guess it's better than the family of rats that a different friend inadvertently brought into his house with that '67 Mustang he had towed home one day...
You can keep it... I'm afraid of spiders bigger than a dime.
Authorities speculate that speed may have been a factor. They are also holding gravity and inertia for questioning.
Thanks for the link. From reading the info it looks like the bike is an '89 Killer Instinct, which makes sense as I bought my Stumpjumper Comp in '89 and my buddy would have followed suit with a mountain bike of his own in the same year.
I finished the bike after about a month of stripping it down, cleaning and lubing it up then reassembling it. I took pictures but since this thread appeared to have died I didn't follow up with posting them. I don't know if he has ridden the bike but I'm sure his wife would have something to say about it if he doesn't. I'll check with him this coming weekend and see how things are going.
Believe me, I had every intention of removing those items but it's not my bike and I don't want him to have an accident then his wife coming back to me saying that he was run over because I took the reflectors off. I checked that he was going to mount both a head and tail light on this bike for more visibility. The rack is needed because he may have occasion where he may have to bring some light weight items to work and he can just throw them on the rack and bungee them on. If he needs to carry more than that then he can drive.
I resisted the urge to strip the paint off of the cranks and polish them on the buffing wheel...
That's a pretty amazing transformation. The one that I found will not look that good when I'm done with it. The clear coat is coming off in too many places.
"There are those who would say there's something pathological about the need to ride, and they're probably on to something. I'd wager though that most of the society-approved compulsions leave deeper scars in the psyche than a need to go and ride a bicycle on a mountain." Cam McRea
I have a Technium Chill (which came with Shimano LX500 kit) which is silver and blue (with splatter on it) and an Instinct which is black and red and came with Suntour XCD.
How goes the build? I just found one of these sitting in a trash pile in my neighborhood. The one I have is slightly newer. It has Shimano LX cranks and Exage shifters, brakes, and rr der. The front der is LX also. This one is an Instinct and is red and black. Looks like it has seen very little riding by the condition of the parts. Just too many years sitting in somenoes garage getting neglect.
Mine did end up Peter out and on Ebay. I got around $75.00 for the parts I sold and the frame. I still have the wheeset, and the crankset/bottom bracket are in use on a SS roadie. Not a bad turnaround for a bike from the trashpile.
"There are those who would say there's something pathological about the need to ride, and they're probably on to something. I'd wager though that most of the society-approved compulsions leave deeper scars in the psyche than a need to go and ride a bicycle on a mountain." Cam McRea
I have a technium too. Fully restored and upgraded. I bought it in 1988 in Amsterdam and road approx 15000 km on it...
On the road as a Holliday bike and off road in the Dutch mountains on single track routes.
I will never sell the bike
Last edited by ton de rijcke; 12-27-2012 at 02:41 PM.
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Originally Posted by PCC
