What's In The Box? (Brad Pitt Voice) An Early Bontrager OR! **Finished Photos Page 11**
- Thread starter pw_pw_la
- Start date
Prodigal Son
Senior Retro Guru
The salsa stem/handlebar combo is dreamy: perfect sweep on those bars. The top cap looks different from the usual rounded brass on the salsa stem.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
I'd better get off my a$$ and get mine done before you hit BOTM with this one
Looking good - you've got some quality swag to go on there
Like that you're keeping the original decals - esp as they are the older square, not slanted, type.
I'm not sure if this bike will have enough different about it from all the other Bontrager builds to warrant any BOTM action, but I guess we'll see!
As for decals: well, I'd always be keeping the square-sided ones, even if I was switching over to the repros Gil made me, but yeah, I think I'll run these red ones for a while at least.
I did buy one, very yellow component when I was still planning to do the yellow decals, in an attempt to match them:
That said, it still works well on the bike thanks to those Salsa logos and the rasta/jellybean skewers. Red, yellow, green and black is the vibe here. As I think it's nice for a build like this (so very black and silver), to have a few more playful pops of colour.
I'd wanted a yellow perforated Turbo forever, and this just seemed like the ideal bike for it. This one came from @Rod_Saetan. Cheers Roly! And it's in perfect condition...
Perfect for this build, I mean!
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Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Yellow for the win
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
So, with most of the fun stuff now out of the way, it's really just the nuts and bolts of the build left to cover.
Next up: Wheels!
I'd been loosely hunting for some Bontrager/Weinmann rims or wheelsets. But then I got to thinking that the bike needed just one more big hit of black, and as I usually go for silver rims on all my builds, maybe now was the time to branch out? So a nice, well-ridden set of RM-20s with M730 hubs front and rear were secured, cleaned up, and installed. Along with a new set of Humptulip Ridge's, my current preferred tire of choice:
Cleaned up alright!
These wheels have definitely seen better days, and while serviceable for now, I will look out for a nicer set to build-up at some point.
I've always liked RM-20s, but I recently found out they were a Charlie Cunningham design for Araya, which obviously makes them that much sweeter! ; ) What made me even happier, still, which I hadn't considered before purchasing them, was the little yellow and green match between the rim decal and those Salsa skewers I mentioned earlier:
Overall, I'm very happy with the hopefully not too heavy-handed yellow-red-green jellybean hits that are now dotted around what's otherwise a pretty straight forward black and silver build.
Next up: Wheels!
I'd been loosely hunting for some Bontrager/Weinmann rims or wheelsets. But then I got to thinking that the bike needed just one more big hit of black, and as I usually go for silver rims on all my builds, maybe now was the time to branch out? So a nice, well-ridden set of RM-20s with M730 hubs front and rear were secured, cleaned up, and installed. Along with a new set of Humptulip Ridge's, my current preferred tire of choice:
Cleaned up alright!
These wheels have definitely seen better days, and while serviceable for now, I will look out for a nicer set to build-up at some point.
I've always liked RM-20s, but I recently found out they were a Charlie Cunningham design for Araya, which obviously makes them that much sweeter! ; ) What made me even happier, still, which I hadn't considered before purchasing them, was the little yellow and green match between the rim decal and those Salsa skewers I mentioned earlier:
Overall, I'm very happy with the hopefully not too heavy-handed yellow-red-green jellybean hits that are now dotted around what's otherwise a pretty straight forward black and silver build.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
So as you can probably tell from the above, I chose to abandon my Suntour build plan.
I thought long and hard about it, but ultimately decided the group I have belongs on another bike.
I wanted this OR to feel exactly right, and in keeping with what the Race was designed for: a high quality, tough-as-nails XC machine from the early 90s. Which meant functional components instead of flair. Not that XC Pro isn't functional, just that if any bike is calling out for the classic XT treatment, it's this one.
So the usual M730/32/35 mix was sourced. All in good mechanical shape, with some pieces in more aesthetically pleasing condition than others! The highlight being this very low mileage crankset:
Brakes, levers and thumbies all quickly followed, most of those coming from John, the same guy that supplied the XXL frame. The brake calipers came from eBay, arriving in quite possibly the best packaging I've received yet:
Nicely done!
I thought long and hard about really committing to the all black Johnny Cash build and sourcing the black XT calipers, rings and cranks, and I still may switch over to some of those at some point, but my gut told me to stick with classic silver components. They always work so nicely against a black frame and fork, and the Suntour seatpost would stick out a little without them there to balance everything out.
On the subject of...
I found a cheap, cheerful and very, very thrashed pair of Suntour XC-II's at the Marin swap the other week. And they felt like the perfect addition to this build. Well-worn, hard-ridden, and, hopefully, right at home:
Now, I think most other bikes would suffer from having something this beat-up on them, but for me they just add to the charm of this particular build's overall vibe. I want it to feel like it's been raced! Although, admittedly, I won't think twice if I can source another set in better shape at a similarly reasonable price. ($25!)
I'm not sure anyone needs to see another photo of an old XT cockpit, or the matching brakes, but just in case...
And that's most of the bike covered, except for a few small finishing touches.
Those I'll save for the "final" update, with photos of the finished build and the accompanying spec sheet.
Mainly because I also forgot to really take any photos during the finishing stages! Other than these two during cabling up:
It was pretty fun figuring out all the correct lengths of housing and getting the Bontrager approved cable routing just right.
Anyway, the bike was completed last week and went in for a tuneup at the LBS on Monday. I always like to have them checkover my work, and I'm pleased to report that this time there was very little at all to be done.
I'm getting better at this, I guess!
I thought long and hard about it, but ultimately decided the group I have belongs on another bike.
I wanted this OR to feel exactly right, and in keeping with what the Race was designed for: a high quality, tough-as-nails XC machine from the early 90s. Which meant functional components instead of flair. Not that XC Pro isn't functional, just that if any bike is calling out for the classic XT treatment, it's this one.
So the usual M730/32/35 mix was sourced. All in good mechanical shape, with some pieces in more aesthetically pleasing condition than others! The highlight being this very low mileage crankset:
Brakes, levers and thumbies all quickly followed, most of those coming from John, the same guy that supplied the XXL frame. The brake calipers came from eBay, arriving in quite possibly the best packaging I've received yet:
Nicely done!
I thought long and hard about really committing to the all black Johnny Cash build and sourcing the black XT calipers, rings and cranks, and I still may switch over to some of those at some point, but my gut told me to stick with classic silver components. They always work so nicely against a black frame and fork, and the Suntour seatpost would stick out a little without them there to balance everything out.
On the subject of...
I found a cheap, cheerful and very, very thrashed pair of Suntour XC-II's at the Marin swap the other week. And they felt like the perfect addition to this build. Well-worn, hard-ridden, and, hopefully, right at home:
Now, I think most other bikes would suffer from having something this beat-up on them, but for me they just add to the charm of this particular build's overall vibe. I want it to feel like it's been raced! Although, admittedly, I won't think twice if I can source another set in better shape at a similarly reasonable price. ($25!)
I'm not sure anyone needs to see another photo of an old XT cockpit, or the matching brakes, but just in case...
And that's most of the bike covered, except for a few small finishing touches.
Those I'll save for the "final" update, with photos of the finished build and the accompanying spec sheet.
Mainly because I also forgot to really take any photos during the finishing stages! Other than these two during cabling up:
It was pretty fun figuring out all the correct lengths of housing and getting the Bontrager approved cable routing just right.
Anyway, the bike was completed last week and went in for a tuneup at the LBS on Monday. I always like to have them checkover my work, and I'm pleased to report that this time there was very little at all to be done.
I'm getting better at this, I guess!
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pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Criticism more than fair, and thus accepted!
That said, I don't like the wider M732 cantilever even half as much. And I figure this is an acceptable and reasonable upgrade!
I mean, if I was racing this bike back in the day (LOL!) I would have made the same change whatever season these ones first became available.
It's got some M735 on it, too, after all!
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Mmmmmm hhhmmm. Carry on
