'92 Gary Fisher Aquila

[bren]

This frame, bars and forks was generously karma'd to me by Raidan73 yesterday. 

Its not in bad shape adter 20 years. I'm loving the colour! Would have been stunning in a showroom back in 1992! A few scrapes and the odd patch of surface rust now, but it'll suit my intended purpose well;  I intend to get it built up ASAP to pub bike spec with parts from my spares box (assuming I don't get carried away! ) 

First issue which Adrian pointed out as a possible stumbling block was the  seized BB. It's a fisher evolution pressed in jobbie. I haven't seen one since I worked in a trek dealers back in '92 so I had to dig through the memory bank sharpish! Forgotten how strange but simple they are, 

crazy 88mm shell! 

Funny decal "who you callin a dog?"

Despite water being the culprit for the BB locking up, it doesnt look tooooo bad down the seatpost. 

Nothing a splash of Altrans wont clean up.
But anyway, I don't "do" stumbling blocks so time for the big guns!
Out came the circlips easy enough.
Then I wanged it out at work on the 10 ton press. It didn't like it much  
There! First cartridge through didn't like the strain and exploded! Ha! 

Axle cleaned up OK, neat fisher logo!

BB shell is surprisingly clean and rust free too, should clean up well

New bearings are on order at the local bearing place. be with me in a day or two. then I can get some waxoil in the frame and press it all back together.
Sorted! 

Now what to do with that stem.... Respray and lose that logo or just rub it with the oily rag.....?!

 

[Antstark]

Getting new logos for that stem wont be much trouble...or..I have a slightly better one you can have cheap if you're not going down the full restore path ?

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225270&highlight=

 

[RustyGold]

I adore these early(ish...alright, early-90's ) Fishers! such a vibe about them. Can't wait to see it fully restored. That'll make a rather swish pub bike .

 

[bren]

I'm liking it more and more.
I know what you mean, even though this is midrange, it has a lot of nice touches.
The evolution BB for example gets a bad rep, but from an engineering point of view it's elegant in its simplicity.
The bearing dudes came through this morning and dropped off the new races. 15 minutes later:

Schweeeeeet!

 

[mattbrown]

I always like stories like these - always a good read, and looks a nice colour - look forward to reading more.

 

[SIMONFREESE]

I had to pass on this kind bit of Karma, really pleased I did now that you are doing such a good job of it!

Really interesting thread so far, this is going to look lovely I reckon

 

[BG]

Nothing wrong with early '90s Fishers, well the steel ones like yours anyway. Aluminium ones have a habit of cracked headtubes (which thankfully mine's avoided so far).

Nice work!

 

[bren]

Now reunited with its original mech, crankset and wheels!

 

[SIMONFREESE]

Nice work Bren, can't go wrong with original spec!

 

[classen]

crazy 88mm shell! 

That's interesting. It was about 1992 that Shimano introduced their disposable sealed bottom brackets. I've been browsing some old MBA magazines from the early eighties and one of the critiques of those early Shimano sealed bottom brackets was that the bearing were located too far inboard which resulted in spindle flex, premature bearing failure because of the excessive sideways loads on the bearing, etc.

Of course nowadays with modern outboard BBs we have solved this problem, but it looks like Gary Fisher was addressing this in his own way back in 1992.