1991 GT Team Avalanche Midnight Aurora - Restoration

[PhillB]

Earlier this year I did a restoration of a pretty crusty 1990 Team Avalanche Blue Widow. My aim was to stop the corrosion and preserve the paint work and make into a rider. I managed that, and it came out better than I expected. I also learned a lot from doing it (and from feedback on here ). as much as I love that bike, (one of) my unicorn bikes was a 1991 Team Avalanche in Midnight Aurora....and in August, I managed to pick one up.

It was 'well loved'. In better condition than my 1990 was when I got it, but had some surface and internal rust and clearly had not been serviced for a long time.





I stripped the bike right down... In a change from my recent restorations, the seat post and the stem came out easily.

The bottom bracket though, was a saga and took 3 weeks to remove. I tried all the familiar methods and I failed. I took it to my Local Bike Shop. 2 days later, they told me they couldn't get it out either !!!

So, I scoured the internet for ideas that would enable me to remove it, but that would not damage the frame or paint work.

I decided to drill it out. I drilled a series of holes in the face plate of the drive side of the bottom bracket using tungsten carbide drill bits... three of them! Then I emptied half a can of WD40 into the BB and left it for 24 hours.

The next day I used a metre long ratchet with the BB tool bolted in... after much wrenching, there was a crack. and it came loose... No damage to frame of BB threads! Result!

Delighted, as this meant I was going to be able to restore this bike...

 

[PhillB]

The next step was cleaning up and restoring the paint work.

Rubbing down, treating rust and reapplying clear coat worked really well (IMO) on my 1990 Team Avalanche, so I decided to do exactly the same thing.



As many of you will know, this is a laborious and time-consuming process, but totally worth it to get a result that makes that 30 year old paint work really shine again. It also makes removing the old, damaged, decals easier too.

My approached is 800, then 1200 grit wet and dry. Jenolite to treat the rust, and then a really good clean to remove the Jenolite and clear cut residue.

New decals came from a chap in Hungary and were applied...

Interestingly, the original decals were in some different places on this bike, (For example tubing decal on the down tube rather than seat tube) so I replaced them in the same way. Don't know why, just, did

I use SprayMax 2K Clear Coat. It's nasty stuff apparently, so I spray outdoors and use a proper filtered facemark and googles... this means I have to wait for a day when they temperature and humidity is just right.... In the UK, this is a summer activity only :-D and, in early September, I am running out of time... thankfully, last Saturday was spot on...




Clear Coat went on quite well... now I have to leave it for at least a week in the shed to cure....

 

[PhillB]

After a week of clear coat curing, I am now able to start rebuilding (carefully, as I like to wait a couple of weeks or more for the Clear Coat to harden properly).

This bike had a non standard stem for some reason... luckily, I had a GT flip flop stem in my parts bin... a black one, not a Midnight Aurora one, but more accurate than the one that was on it...

I replaced the headset and the Wellgo plastic pedals with some period XT replacements.

I've been looking for the GT riveted seats for while, but not seen any. It seems to me that they are a GT branded version of the Selle San Marco Regal (?) Maybe someone could confirm, either way, pretty similar, so I got one of those in stead.

Otherwise, it was, treating corrosion, cleaning and polishing the rest of the components.




This is where I am up to... quite a lot still to do, including lacing it up...

 

[JCS]

Impressed with your methodical approach.

That’s a really cool paint option. These early GT’s and the Kona splatter paint effect bikes look so distinctive

 

[jimmy-s3]

I actually had a flip flop stem in Midnight Aurora. But sold it last year

 

[PhillB]

I actually had a flip flop stem in Midnight Aurora. But sold it last year

Ahhh!.... they do come up very occasionally, for example, there is a blue widow quill stem on eBay atm...

 

[27motorhead]

Lovely work Phill! So glad that seatpost came out! when you see an old frame with the seatpost sitting that low, alarm bells inside my head always start to ring!

Looks like you've done a cracking job resurrecting the gleam back into the paint finish! And good luck hunting down a saddle, I'll keep a mental note that you're looking for one, should one appear when I'm looking at stuff for sale I shouldn't be buying!

 

[mynchiboy]

Looking nice! Having owned a Quatrefoil in the same finish I can vouch for how cool Midnight Aurora is in the flesh

There are these saddles going really cheap if you need something similar in the meantime, not a million miles away from the GT riveted ones:

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-classic-saddle-black/

 

[PhillB]

Looking nice! Having owned a Quatrefoil in the same finish I can vouch for how cool Midnight Aurora is in the flesh

There are these saddles going really cheap if you need something similar in the meantime, not a million miles away from the GT riveted ones:

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-classic-saddle-black/

I've often looked at the Quatrefoil, I'd love one... As you've owned one... here's a dumb question , can one person ride one? I presume so ?

Thanks for the link to the saddle, they look quite good!! I did end up getting a Selle San Marco Regal.... but might pick up one of those for another bike....

 

[elite504]

It seems to me that they are a GT branded version of the Selle San Marco Regal (?) Maybe someone could confirm

It is indeed, GT branded Regal. Nice saddle. The Ribble one looks like a bargain though.
Great job, as a former '91 TA owner, I'm liking what you're doing.