Eh Gringo... The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

[KermitGKona88]

Just bought a 1999 Orange Gringo, my very first one, Mango, STX RC, RST 461 forks, the bonus was the wheels WTB speedmaster rims stainless spokes and Ritchey hubs the tyres had been changed to Schwalbe marathon plus, all original Orange fittings included. I have had to change out the Bina Fide stem to a shorter higher RaceFace.

Anyhoo what are peoples thoughts on these thinking of upgrading to Sram X0 9 speed, and M600 LX brakes, Sram 9.0 sl brake levers, and a few other parts I have lying around...

Is the frame worth the upgrades ?

Cheers

Mark

 

[Magpiegifts]

Let's have a look

 

[ishaw]

I built one for my son, kitted with 1x10 x9 and some other nice parts (crossmax, hope bits etc). Turned out really nice, was rigid with original segmented forks. Was a tad big for him so ended up with a modern spesh frame and discs etc.

He liked the gringo more.

 

[KermitGKona88]

These are the sellers pictures as it is persisting down outside at the moment, and I am still wet from doing the shopping...

 

[KermitGKona88]

I built one for my son, kitted with 1x10 x9 and some other nice parts (crossmax, hope bits etc). Turned out really nice, was rigid with original segmented forks. Was a tad big for him so ended up with a modern spesh frame and discs etc.

He liked the gringo more.

That is great input thank you, I would dearly love a pair of the segmented rigid forks, not very keen on all this newfangled suspension stuff...

 

[ishaw]

I do regret selling it, it was the yellow colour. Had s few scrapes but still looked good and was nice and light too. He'd fit it now as he's grown really fast.

 

[markoc]

Forks won't be much kop, as they were pretty rubbish out of the box - but it's a very useable frame with good functional kit. Swap in some period Pace/Judies/Bombers and it'll make all the difference. Angry Orange saddles are pretty sought after if it disagrees with your sit-upon.

Probably got low end Avid brakes, which I've never got on with, so swapping out for shimano makes sense. I wouldn't rush to do too much, just get it out and ridden!

Even with the fatter alu tubes, that stem looks comedically out of place even as OE kit

 

[Mickeyspinn]

Interesting derailleur hanger positioning!

 

[KermitGKona88]

I felt like Graeme Obree on his superman bike riding it home yesterday, The stem is going to be up for aale soon...

 

[Carge]

The Gringo is under-loved. I've had one as a commuter/towpath/hack bike for ages.

Had RC31s on for a while - XT M750 cranks and rear mech running 1x9 - Exotic seatpost as the orange logo matched the frame.
Hope Mini - were they the simple silver ones? Not sure I've ever had suspension forks on it - Mavic XM317 and Conti tribute-angular tread tyres that were rapid on tarmac and towpath.

It's being given a 700c make-over at the mo