Simple First Project that won't break the bank

Hi everyone,

New to the forum and have had a look through the forum but can't quite find the answers I'm after. Looking for a retro mountain bike to restore as a first project, something late 80s is ideal as I love the look of the skinny frames. Not looking to spend too much money, ideally £200 in total inc. parts (if at all possible!). Have a road bike at the moment so want something I can use for light trails/towpaths so nothing hardcore. Going to respray myself so don't want a classic that I will ruin and was hoping to find something that wasn't a PITA to find spares for, guessing some I will be able to use off the shelf and others I'll have to source second hand? Found this very local to me but guy doesn't want to go below £50 but have no idea what it's worth!

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/men- ... 1290480249

Like the look of it and looks like I can at least use the bike as it is until I source all the parts to upgrade.

Thanks for any advice and happy to be directed to any useful posts, found quite a few ones already.

Re:

That's a nice early GT frame, pre triple triangle too. They don't turn up very often.

looks to be in good condition from the photographs. Must be worth £50 of anybody's money as long as it has no major issues. You could do a lot worse for a first project.

EDIT: Looks to be a 1988 model from a quick search of the interweb.

Great, thanks cherrybomb. Will jump on that this weekend.

For a bike of this age would I be able to use brand new parts for pretty much everything?

Just found a useful site that will give me a good guide on parts:

http://velospace.org/node/48297

Re:

Judging by the photographs, it may simply need a good service. It doesn't look like its had a very hard life.

If it does need anything replacing, you shouldn't have any problem sourcing new modern parts to replace the originals. You can still get threaded headsets, square taper cranks & cantlever brakes. Nothing else has changed that much really.

Excellent, should do me for now until I find the time to upgrade.

Re:

Plenty of good replacement parts come up in the sale section, first thing for the chop in my book would be the chainset as it is acting as an anchor at the moment

That's a Steel n' Plastic 200GS group from around 1990. Functional but very heavy. I would suggest that from frame is later (1990 at least) too. The reason that is not Triple Triangle is that is was at the bottom of the range where they weren't TT, probably made from gaspipe too. I would say you can do far better than that for £50. I'd be looking for something like a 1989 Muddyfox Courier Comp, these often come up around £50 and have a Nice Tange MTB DB Cromo frame with some nice touches and some (not all, it's part Exage Country) Mountain LX parts.

Carl.

drcarlos":3m1slbox said:

That's a Steel n' Plastic 200GS group from around 1990. Functional but very heavy. I would suggest that from frame is later (1990 at least) too. The reason that is not Triple Triangle is that is was at the bottom of the range where they weren't TT, probably made from gaspipe too. I would say you can do far better than that for £50. I'd be looking for something like a 1989 Muddyfox Courier Comp, these often come up around £50 and have a Nice Tange MTB DB Cromo frame with some nice touches and some (not all, it's part Exage Country) Mountain LX parts.

Carl.

Click to expand...

What he said.

legrandefromage":2ih5h1ca said:

drcarlos":2ih5h1ca said:

That's a Steel n' Plastic 200GS group from around 1990. Functional but very heavy. I would suggest that from frame is later (1990 at least) too. The reason that is not Triple Triangle is that is was at the bottom of the range where they weren't TT, probably made from gaspipe too. I would say you can do far better than that for £50. I'd be looking for something like a 1989 Muddyfox Courier Comp, these often come up around £50 and have a Nice Tange MTB DB Cromo frame with some nice touches and some (not all, it's part Exage Country) Mountain LX parts.

Carl.

Click to expand...

What he said.

Click to expand...

Kirk ?



...........I'll get my coat