I decided to create this thread to document the restoration process of my 1986 Rocky Mountain Blizzard. It won't be a real-time thread; I restored it about 3 years ago and have made some small modifications to it from time to time up until very recently.
It all started with this ad, consisting of a single picture and a 3 words description :
The guy bought it the first year Rocky Mountain bikes became more easily available outside of British Columbia to the rest of Canada in 1986. He used it thoroughly over the years, eventually replacing almost every single part. He felt bad about throwing it away, so he sold it for cheap in the hope it would end up in a good home (which I like to think it did!).
At first glance, I knew it needed a lot of work just to make it trail-worthy again. I also wanted to replace the more "modern" Deore DX group and bring it closer to the original specs.
Taking the bike apart was surprisingly easy. There was a considerable amount of rust in the frame, nothing ruining it though. I sprayed some Frame Saver in to stop it from progressing. In the end, it cleaned up nicely.
Luckily, I quickly found a perfect donor bike, (if I recall correctly, it was an old MT Racing that looked almost new but had a nasty top tube dent). It had an almost complete Deore XT "Deerhead" group and chainstay-mounted Suntour Roller Cam brakes, exactly what I needed! After a 4-hour car ride, it was mine!
That was the first iteration of my Blizzard:
After, over the years, I replaced some components as I found them. The Deore crankset was replaced by a Sakae CR (not as high-end as what was originally on the bike, but I just love how they look)!
I also replaced the Tioga T-Bone stem with some chromoly bullmoose handlebars I picked up on an old Norco Bigfoot. Very recently, I installed a pair of Tioga Farmer John's Cousin in good shape instead of the lower-end Hutchinson Chameleon tires, which were just awful in every way!
Here's the final result, as of now:
I might make some small changes in the future. I find the bullmoose bars to be a bit too short, so it might get swapped when I find a suitable replacement. Same goes for the SR Laprade seatpost; it is so short that I can't bring it quite high enough.
Thanks for reading!
It all started with this ad, consisting of a single picture and a 3 words description :
The guy bought it the first year Rocky Mountain bikes became more easily available outside of British Columbia to the rest of Canada in 1986. He used it thoroughly over the years, eventually replacing almost every single part. He felt bad about throwing it away, so he sold it for cheap in the hope it would end up in a good home (which I like to think it did!).
At first glance, I knew it needed a lot of work just to make it trail-worthy again. I also wanted to replace the more "modern" Deore DX group and bring it closer to the original specs.
Taking the bike apart was surprisingly easy. There was a considerable amount of rust in the frame, nothing ruining it though. I sprayed some Frame Saver in to stop it from progressing. In the end, it cleaned up nicely.
Luckily, I quickly found a perfect donor bike, (if I recall correctly, it was an old MT Racing that looked almost new but had a nasty top tube dent). It had an almost complete Deore XT "Deerhead" group and chainstay-mounted Suntour Roller Cam brakes, exactly what I needed! After a 4-hour car ride, it was mine!
That was the first iteration of my Blizzard:
After, over the years, I replaced some components as I found them. The Deore crankset was replaced by a Sakae CR (not as high-end as what was originally on the bike, but I just love how they look)!
I also replaced the Tioga T-Bone stem with some chromoly bullmoose handlebars I picked up on an old Norco Bigfoot. Very recently, I installed a pair of Tioga Farmer John's Cousin in good shape instead of the lower-end Hutchinson Chameleon tires, which were just awful in every way!
Here's the final result, as of now:
I might make some small changes in the future. I find the bullmoose bars to be a bit too short, so it might get swapped when I find a suitable replacement. Same goes for the SR Laprade seatpost; it is so short that I can't bring it quite high enough.
Thanks for reading!
