Help me re-purpose my old MTBs!!!

Indulge me - I have a problem of my own making.

I have acquired in the last 3 months 3 90s MTBs. I bought the first so I could stop beating up my road bike commuting, but acquired a taste for how versatile and durable they are - steel frames, 1 1/8th head tubes, standard BSA bottom brackets. And even though they're fairly low-mid end, I like how they have cool little features like internal cable routing and stamped logos on the dropouts that you might not see on modern entry level bikes.

I know this is a forum where people like to preserve great bikes in their original form, but the bikes are either too tatty to be collectible (the GTs) or probably not particularly. collectable (The Trek).

I have various other parts already lying around to add to them to give them their own 'specialism', but I can't decide which bike/frame to use, for which purpose, so I need help!

The frame sets:
- Trek 830 1997, 18 inch with rack mounts. Fairly long and low position. Paintwork still pretty good.

- GT Timberline 1992, 17 inch. Fairly short top tube. Paintwork pretty chipped and worn. Stem matches paintwork... No rack mounts. U brake rear. Have all original components.

- GT Tequesta 1992(?). 17 inch. Fairly short top tube. Paintwork - original owner seems to have sanded off the GT logos in some mad belief that GTs aren't cool. No rack mounts. U brake rear.

The parts:
- Surly Forks (425mm A-C)
- An Avid BB7 disc brake and matching Avid lever
- A pair of wheels built by myself, 19mm inner rim width to accept wider tyres, 8-10 speed Deore disc hubs
- A pair of wheels built by myself, 17mm inner rim with 2nd hand 90s 7 speed XT/LX hubs
- An Avid Shorty canti brake
- Some Planet X Fast Bar riser bars
- Some On-One Midge bars and high-rise stem, plus quill adaptor
- Cane Creek SCR5 drop bar levers
- A set of 2nd hand Sugino MTB cranks (Sq taper). 44-34. missing granny ring.
- A modern set of Shimano MTB cranks, 22, 32, 42 (Sq taper)
- An 8 speed cassette and chain
- A 7 speed cassette and chain
- A couple of 7-8 speed Shimano rear mechs
- 90s Deore 7 speed Friction Shifters
- All the original kit off the Timberline, inc a Biopace crankset, Exage rear mech and hubs, Plasticky shifters.
- 2 Deore U brakes which need to stay on the GTs
- Various saddles, stems and seatposts, 90s canti brakes and flat bar canti-brake levers. Various BBs to get good chain line. 1 1/8th threaded and threadless headsets

Any suggestions as to possible combinations of these bits to make 3 'distinct' bikes much appreciated - I have a few ideas below but feel free to suggest different ones.
At the moment the Trek is set up as the 'proper' MTB due to it's longer, lower position, but it's the only one with rack mounts... The Timberline is the commuter due to it's worn appearance and plasticky levers = less theft-worthy. The Tequesta is about to be the dirt-drop bar bike unless persuaded otherwise.
I know none of these are high-end modern bikes, so don't expect them to perform as such, and I don't do any serious MTB-ing (just dirt tracks in Peak District) but they're cool bikes and it's a project. But should I expect one to be better than the other at certain stuff due to geometry, age, etc? Should I avoid using any of the bikes for a particular purposes? Should the one with rack mounts be the commuter?

The ideas:
- A 'proper' MTB with: Surly forks, Avid BB7 front disc, 8 speed cassette on wide rim wheels with disc hubs built by myself, 2.1 inch knobbly tyres, Planet X fast bar risers, 8 speed STI shifters.

- A dirt drop MTB / 26 inch CX type thing, with: On-One Midge bars, Cane Creek SCR-5 drop levers, 90s Deore friction shifters made to fit bars somehow (bendable clamp...), narrow knobbly-ish tyres. Something I can use for longer mixed terrain rides in winter / if road bike is broken.

- A commuter with slick-ish tyres. Mary bars, nothing too thieve able. With racks...

Trek with stem converter and the Midges, bar end shifters some big ol smoothies (Maxxis DTH's 26 X 2.3) at high pressure will give you a commuter that will take anything you can throw at it, and I do mean anything, Schwalbe Road cruiser 26 X 1.75 are an awesome cheaper option, and this is what I use on my Marin commuter, I love em, nice amount of puncture protection.

The GTs is where the mad Scientist stuff comes into place one can be a really nice flat track rider while other can be a complete frankenbike bike either clear coating it in it messed up paint job brilliance, this could also be your rattle can beater pub/dairy/lock up in the dodgy part of town bike.

I love this sort of thing the mankier the better, also keep in mind a lot of the low to mid range componentry still work well esp with all the pivot points lubed with a nice fine oil.
I use Morris Lubricants motor cycle fork oil, great penetration ability, does not get washed away, does not catch a whole lot of dirt/grime as heavier oils can do, it is good with water contamination, and it's excess rubs away nicely, I use in on everything and it is the only oil I use, period.

Excuse my childlike excitement , I love the early 90's stuff.

"Paul go and sit in the corner until you calm down " . Away Paul walks.

Thanks for your enthusiasm! On another forum I received a reply along the lines of "you'd struggle to make 1 decent bike from that lot, let alone 3", despite specifically asking such attitudes to refrain from posting!

At the moment the Trek has Surly forks and a disc brake, which seems like overkill, but I set that up as the 'dedicated MTB' because it's longer and low than the GTs, so wouldn't suit the drop bars. The GTs have the same effective top tube as my road bike and a quick set up of the Midges on the Timberline felt like a reasonably comfortable reach.

So what I know so far:

Making a commuter, MTB and Dirt Drop bike

The Trek has to be either the commuter or the MTB (not suitable for drop bars)
The GTs could be anything they want...

Currently the Trek set up as MTB with Surly forks, disc brake, riser bar, and the GTs waiting to find their fate.

I'm off work today, so have some decisions to make!

Pics pics pics

Pics on the way...

sb88":29k5d0x9 said:

Thanks for your enthusiasm! On another forum I received a reply along the lines of "you'd struggle to make 1 decent bike from that lot, let alone 3", despite specifically asking such attitudes to refrain from posting!

Click to expand...

To be fair, that was only RMSC and he's a bit of a heroic type. If you can't do million foot gap jumps you are not worth the space.

ps I got my pictures working over there, finally. Different name obviously - I don't want them tracking me down.

I see you already saw.

I'm beginning to think there might only be about 6 people in the world on these forums, just with different aliases!

Re:

Just for practical reasons the Trek has to be the 'Proper' bike. As putting 425mm front forks on the 92' GT's will change the handling as they are designed for 395mm forks.

As for the GT's dirt drop the Tequesta as this was the higher end bike and will ride better and rat the Timberline.

All of the above are just my opinions

Just added the Mary Bars to the Timberline - think I love them. And indexed the gears finally. Surprisingly easy despite the mushy plastic shifters.