GT Avalanche 1995

[beepbeep]

Just picked up this Avalanche in my size from an elderly gentleman. Bit of a spontaneous buy, never owned a GT and love this classic era, needs a thorough going over but it seems like a sound bike under the neglect. Looks pretty stock, cantis have been replaced by XT v-brakes along with a few minor changes that the owner had made over the years.
A fun little project that I want to quickly and inexpensively turn into a commuter, perhaps in the future build up as a single-speed play bike with Azonic and Racelines.

Replace
Forks - totally locked up
BB - bearings shot, replace with 24mm unit
Chainset - ok but want more modern system (see above)
Ugly heavy saddle
Wingnut solution on saddle clamp
No-name uncomfortable bars
Trashed pedals
Looooong stem - looks like the original that’s faded from black to brown(!)
Grips
Chain
Cassette

Mend
Front wheel - straighten
Rear wheel - straighten (a lot), axle wrongly mounted, cassette wobbly AF
General tune-up/service of gears, brakes, etc

As I found it (looks better in the pics):

 

[beepbeep]

After a few evenings of tearing down then building back up with parts-box bits I have my commuter
I'll start at the front, Specialized Direct Drive forks (rattle-canned matte black a few years ago) with a shortish no-name stem, Answer ProTaper risers and some Box bmx grips. Unfortunately I had to ditch the nice XT sti units because I discovered that they're for cantis, instead I used SRAM 9.0 v-brake levers coupled with some low-end Shimano 7-speed shifters, so I loose a gear (or 3 gears I suppose).

I actually had a suitable square-tapered BB so I kept the LX cranks, which was partly down to laziness of not wanting to swap them from my existing commuter. Binned the ugly chainguard The XT rear mech had seen batter days so an LX will make do instead.
The rear wheel was as I suspected, looks like someone tried to service the bearings (quite fresh grease) and then mounted the axel the wrong way round, which also explains the wobbly cassette, the lockring wasn't able to be tightened properly.

Not the lightest bike by any stretch of the imagination but it's solid and purposeful and glides along when up to speed. Love the ball burnished frame and the industrial design which nods to their bmx roots, the Mavic citron rims add a subtle splash of colour too.

 

[Nevilleblaze]

Nice find . I do love a GT . You have done a good job tidying it up , hope you enjoy some miles on it .

 

[beepbeep]

Nice find . I do love a GT . You have done a good job tidying it up , hope you enjoy some miles on it .

Cheers! It’ll be used daily come rain or shine

 

[beepbeep]

How did you remove the old stem? What type is it??

The stem has an internal clamp forward of the steerer tube rather like a Syncros Cattleprod. I was also curious to what it was and after some googling it looks like the original GT stem that has faded from black to this bronze colour over the years (it’s still black inside the clamping areas).

 

[tintin40]

New to me. Seeing yours has helped me with mine Thks

 

[MattiThundrrr]

The stem has an internal clamp forward of the steerer tube rather like a Syncros Cattleprod. I was also curious to what it was and after some googling it looks like the original GT stem that has faded from black to this bronze colour over the years (it’s still black inside the clamping areas).
View attachment 652517

The fade is actually quite nice. Call it "patina" and its worth increases

 

[beepbeep]

Haha like a bit of patina myself, but it's way too long for my needs unfortunately.

 

[beepbeep]

Still pleased with my Avalanche, made a few changes over the last couple of months:
– Found out that the freehub bearings were shot after various cassette tightening episodes and the sidewalls on rear rim were pretty worn too so I swapped the wheels to another pair of LX-hubbed Mavics from the same period.
– The mix-and-match drivetrain bugged me so it was replaced by a cheap 9-speed XT M570 group I found (matches the v-brakes too).
– The Direct Drive forks got transferred to a pub bike so on went a pair of Project 2s, also swapped the headset to a King copy I had laying around.
– A few additions to deal with Swedish winter; mudguards, lights/reflectors and studded tyres.

 

[beepbeep]

Two years on and I’m still loving my Avalanche, used almost daily, rain or shine (or snow ) It’s had a few parts swapped out for one reason or another but essentially it's the same.

It’s even seen a bit of action in a 50 km event. A temporary change of tyres, saddle and pedals saw it completing against carbon full-suspension 29ers. Let’s just say I didn’t come so high up in the rankings



But the real update is the change to 700c wheels. Something I’ve done before with my cool little Stumpy: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/baby-1997-stumpjumper-m2.126602/page-2 sadly however this got stolen a few years back.

This time it was a lot easier due the to combination of the iconic GT short seatstays and the gusset behind the seat tube, I made a simple adaptor plate that just bolts straight on. A couple of washers on the rear axle to space it out a bit was a quick fix for the conversion from 130mm to 135mm. To finish off a carbon Ritchey road fork I had laying around made the front end a no-brainer and Ultegra calipers on both wheels. Initially I was a little concerned how they would work with the v-brake levers but they’re actually not so bad so I’ll keep this set-up for now.

Have to say it turned out looking much cooler than I anticipated! Like the way the larger wheels give the frame a longer lower look too.