Hi folks,
I recently picked up this 1998 Gary Fisher Ziggurat, fully original as far as I can tell - even the original WTB Velociraptor tyres have survived. I picked it up simply because my dad has an early noughties Ziggurat - it’s the one he was riding when he first introduced me to MTB and it remains his favourite bike.
As you can see from the pictures, it was filthy and it seemed in need of some TLC (especially the drivetrain) but I was fairly confident I could get it in good shape again.
I got to stripping it down straight away and after removing all the components I was able to inspect the frame properly. In doing so I noticed a pretty hefty dent / bash / chip on the bottom of the down tube, where (I imagine) the bike has come into contact with a sizeable rock at some point in its past. GAH.
Naturally I was pretty gutted when I found it. I did do a general check when I picked it up but the down tube was covered in dirt so I wouldn’t have spotted it.
You can see from the pictures that it’s not an insignificant bit of damage but my question is, with this being an aluminium frame, how bad actually is it? Could it render the frame useless? How concerned should I be about the structural integrity of the bike? The picture from the side shows that it’s not a proper dent as such, it’s almost more of a large chip. It’s obviously a bad place to have any damage though, and I don’t want to risk taking this thing out and getting a face full of mud (or worse).
My gut tells me that it's probably fine, but I'm used to dealing with steel frames so I'm not inclined to trust my judgement here without seeking advice. Any thoughts from the retrobike community would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
I recently picked up this 1998 Gary Fisher Ziggurat, fully original as far as I can tell - even the original WTB Velociraptor tyres have survived. I picked it up simply because my dad has an early noughties Ziggurat - it’s the one he was riding when he first introduced me to MTB and it remains his favourite bike.
As you can see from the pictures, it was filthy and it seemed in need of some TLC (especially the drivetrain) but I was fairly confident I could get it in good shape again.
I got to stripping it down straight away and after removing all the components I was able to inspect the frame properly. In doing so I noticed a pretty hefty dent / bash / chip on the bottom of the down tube, where (I imagine) the bike has come into contact with a sizeable rock at some point in its past. GAH.
Naturally I was pretty gutted when I found it. I did do a general check when I picked it up but the down tube was covered in dirt so I wouldn’t have spotted it.
You can see from the pictures that it’s not an insignificant bit of damage but my question is, with this being an aluminium frame, how bad actually is it? Could it render the frame useless? How concerned should I be about the structural integrity of the bike? The picture from the side shows that it’s not a proper dent as such, it’s almost more of a large chip. It’s obviously a bad place to have any damage though, and I don’t want to risk taking this thing out and getting a face full of mud (or worse).
My gut tells me that it's probably fine, but I'm used to dealing with steel frames so I'm not inclined to trust my judgement here without seeking advice. Any thoughts from the retrobike community would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
