80’s Mystery mtb Klunker thing

sparkybhp

Senior Retro Guru
As part of the deal when I bought my Dawes Ranger, I picked this random old mtb up too.
IMG_5469.webp
Not sure what it is and I welcome any thoughts. More pics will follow as I get round to fettling it, it looks like a half decent frame to be fair, and fairly light too. Obviously someone’s put this together themselves, it has a natty 7 speed Sachs hub (and redundantly two chainrings!). Check out the mad pedals and yep - XT 4 finger m700 brake levers (tidy condition too):
IMG_5470.webp IMG_5471.webp IMG_5472.webp IMG_5473.webp IMG_5474.webp
Not 100% sure on what direction to go with this, I quite like the idea of a respray and keeping the 7 speed setup, maybe keep/sell on the brake levers and make it a budget friendly klunker. Front rack, that sort of deal..
I think the Dawes will take priority but I’ll keep this thread updated as I make progress on this one.
 
Nitto stem? Looks like an old road builder with the cable guides, forks are replacements.
Not sure on the stem yet, I agree the forks are probably not original. When you say old road builder - do you mean road bike? It has 26” wheels, so wouldn’t the brake bosses be in the wrong place for 700c/27” wheels?
I’m learning with this one.. :) 👍
 
Couldn’t quite decide what to do with this, I started stripping it down and then decided on a course of action. I didn’t want to get to far into it without knowing if I liked riding it, I was intrigued by the 7 speed hub gears too.
Decided to give it a good clean, basic service and make sure it was safe to ride and then go from there.
I added new brake/straddle cables, new tyres and tubes as well as the copy bullmoose bars, brooks saddle and lee chi brake levers. Chucked my Basil front rack on it too.
I’ve kept the Nitto bars/stem (polished up nicely) and the deerhead brake levers, either for another project or to sell on.
IMG_5547.webp
Took it on a 15mile or so round trip this morning.
IMG_5541.webp
First impressions are: the frame is nothing particularly special - weird that it has over bb cable guides but isn’t lugged? It’s not overly light or heavy but it isn’t 531 or anything, you feel the pot holes on this one!
Having said that, it’s comfortable enough and a good size/fit for me. The hub gears took a bit of getting used to, the bike has obviously been laid up awhile and the further into the ride the more precise the shifting became. All seven are in there, it’s just finding them! I think the plastic thumb shifter doesn’t help, it doesn’t engage very positively - a bit of finessing and it’s rideable.
IMG_5544.webp IMG_5545.webp
The chrome on the forks polished up well, I thought they were shot tbh but a bit of fine wire wool and some autosol has got them looking good.
I think I’ll do a bit more tweaking and put some more miles on it and see how it goes.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top