1991 Alpinestars Cro-Mega DX Rebuild/Restoration

[sinnett177]

Fantastic work, i'm so glad Gil's decals have been of use once more. Hope you love it as much as I do my cro-mega SS.

 

[johnnypie13]

awesome i love my Cro-Mega DX and think she needs a respray youve really inspired me

 

[tufftimes]

awesome i love my Cro-Mega DX and think she needs a respray youve really inspired me

Lovely reproduction.

I look back at my white Cro-Mega LX fondly. Despite going through 2 sets of the rigid forks (mine was a 92 so *I think* it had non tapered forks and they bent very easily) and a frame.
Your seat stay and chainstay meet at the drop out. On the later model, the chain stay met the seat stay about 1.5" above the drop out. On the drive side, over time the act of pedalling would bend the whole bottom 1.5" of seat stay forward, putting the wheel and sprockets all to cock. I took a look at as many as I could one year at the Malvern Hills Classic and found a couple more the same.

BITD though, it did look the tits. Especially with gum-wall Panaracer Smoke 1.9s on and some silver X-lite barends.

 

[stubbsy]

great job

count me in for the whole build

wish i hadnt sold mine :cry:

stubbsy

 

[AK74]

Update: 5 February 2012

Thanks everyone, once again, for the positive feedback. I should also have conveyed my gratitude, in a MUCH earlier post, to Mrs AK74 for the use of her studio and for taking the photos.

I've made a bit more progress on the component-gathering front, and the following items are now residing (or will soon reside) at AK74 towers:

- Mavic rims (in what is probably heresy, I went for 'modern' XM719s)
- NOS DX rear hub x 2
- Control Tech stem (while there is nothing wrong with my original, I fancied picking this up for potential use in the future)
- Syncros seat post (not sure if this is going to look right: if it doesn't expect to see it advertised in the For Sale section very shortly)
- Panaracer tires
- Selle Italia Flite saddle (the 1990 reissue, if that's the best way to describe it)
- Shimano bottom bracket (thanks to the guys at Rayment Cycles)

I've also taken the Megalite handlebars to A1 Anodising in Crawley to be - would you believe - (re)anodised black. I'll be collecting them next Friday, but if their workmanship is as good as their excellent customer service I'll be delighted with the result. I'll naturally post pictures in due course of the 'before' and 'after'.

Closing thoughts (for now):

- I need to find a suitable front brake cable hanger to fit a 1 1/4" stem. Original fitment would be nice (naturally), but as I presume these are hard to come by an alternative will need to be found. Again, all suggestions gratefully received!
- I've gone square-eyed looking at seat post collars, and I've yet to decide on a new one (I've not seen an original A'stars one for sale either).
- My Syncros seat post (27.2mm) will need shimming to 29.4mm: a Problem Solvers or USE item I <think> should do the job here.
- Once the hubs arrive, I've got the joyous task of calculating spoke lengths (I'm leaning towards the DT Swiss ones) using one of the online tools. I predict this might be painful.
- The final items to obtain include the all-important control cables, a pair of pedals, inner tubes and handlebar grips (plus whatever else I've omitted in my eagerness to get building).

For those interested, the spec is as follows (with some items subject to change!):

Frame: 1991 Alpinestars Cro-Mega DX (size: 48cm / 19in)

Fork: 1991 Alpinestars Cro-Mo blades

Headset: Shimano Deore XT (was fitted to the bike when I bought it)
Stem: Alpinestars Megalite 130mm (with option of Control Tech item)
Handlebar: Alpinestars Megalite
Grips: TBC
Bar-ends: N/A

Brakes: Shimano DX BR-M651
Brake pads: Shimano
Brake cables: TBC
Cantilever cable hangers: TBC
Brake levers: Shimano DX ST-M071

Shifters: Shimano DX ST-M071
Front derailleur: Shimano DX FD-M650
Rear derailleur: Shimano DX RD-M650
Derailleur cables: TBC
Cassette: Shimano Hyperglide 7-speed
Chain: TBC
Cranks: Shimano DX FC-MT60-SG (length: 170mm and 175mm...I've got two sets to decide upon)
Crank bolts: TBC
Chainrings: Middleburn / Shimano / Stronglight (various rings to choose from for the final build)
Chain-ring bolts: TBC
Bottom bracket: Shimano BB-UN26 (size: 68x122mm)
Pedals: TBC

Hub skewers: Shimano
Rims: Mavic XM719
Hubs: Shimano DX HB-M650-F (front) / Shimano DX FH-M650 (rear)
Nipples: DT Swiss
Spokes: DT Swiss
Tyres: Panaracer Fire XC Pro (size: 26x2.1)
Tubes: TBC

Saddle: Selle Italia Flite 1990
Seat post: Syncros (size: 27.2mm shimmed for 29.4mm)
Seat post binder: TBC

Weight: TBC

Further updates to follow in due course (so please bear with me while I get everything ready for assembly). I know there are probably some glaring errors in my component list (i.e. parts which aren't period-correct or go against the true spirit of retro MTB'ing), but I'm going to refine things as I go until I'm happy.

Cheers

Alex

 

[We_are_Stevo]

You could always get one of these from SJS Cyles...

...for you front brake hanger dilema; have them on three of my bikes...

Yeah, I know that's just two but you get the idea .................Much neater, and more robust.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

(Note to Moderators - under the "Retrobike" logo on the homepage, please replace "if it's old school, it's in" with "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." :twisted: )

 

[parkey]

Cro-mega decals

Hi,

What a fantastic job.

You've inspired me to finish my Cro-mega LX project ASAP.

How much did Gil do the decals for and do you have his contact details?
Thanks
Dave

 

[dallas95]

Gil's email is gil@thecycleshed.co.uk. If you tell him what you need he will send you a proof and a quote.

 

[superstu]

Great bike, great story, great job.