Old GT DHI, from Chile

tetopluz

Dirt Disciple
Hi everybody, I’m from Chile, South America, first of all I don’t speak English very well, so excuse me guys if I don’t write very well, specially technical bike related words.

Anyway, let’s make the long story short.
Over I year ago I sell my DH bike to pay some debts (a 2011 santa cruz v10), after that I focus on xc riding, enduro, ski and snowboard, for a while, but I needed gravity again, so after seeing a few projects on this site I decide to build an old school dh/fr bike. I had very little money to do this and a lot of spare parts from old dh and xc bikes.

Almost every old school dh frame on ebay, pinkbike, or any site was difficult to ship to Chile, or the seller don’t ship to another continent, or the shipping was to expensive, so after a few weeks I found and old GT DHI (maybe 2002-2003-2004 I don’t know), it was in perfect condition. I pay uss 300.

Well, this frame has only one problem, it has to use the specific custom MRP chain guide that comes whit the frame (it is attached to the “suspension axle”, I don’t know the word), luckily I found and old one in a bike shop here.
If you put a standard chain guide on this frame the lower and upper rollers will crash into the frame because the BB moves along with the suspension (the chain maintains its length). Very weird sh*t, but whatever, its nice the pedal.

Also I didn’t have any money to buy a cassette, rear derailleur and sifter, so SS it is!

This is the frame I bought (without all the components)



I Put on it an old Straitline wedge 50mm stem, and a Chromag 760mm handlebar from a enduro bike.



Crankbrothers new grips, and the cheapest brakes on the market here in chile, some avid juicy’s 3.5, they have a lot of stopping power for the price (uss 90 each w/o rotor). With blue and golden kcnc clamps. But the 2 brakes are rear, so there’s a lot of cable in front, im too lazy to cut and re bleed everything.



Some red KCNC bling for the handlebar



Cockpit, the casio watch is to take timed runs,.



Gravity moto x 175mm cranks, funn pedals. 36 thoot chainring



Rock shox domain fork (180mm travel) I bought very cheap from a friend, with only rebound regulation, so I change the oil and put some spacers inside to suit my weight (85 kgs). Put some stickers on it.
Transition 32 wheels laced to a hope pro II hub. The tire is a kenda telonix 2.6.



Very little room fro the 2.6 telonix, like 4mm on each side.



Hope hub



Code 203mm rotor, and a blue NSB adaptor



A Manitou 240mm swinger x6 with a Ti 450 lbs spring



A kore seat with sdg rails and a sdg seatpost with a hope clamp (the clamp its integrated on the frame)



The funn pedals has pins from everywere



Rear brake, and a fast opener axle i found (the original gt dhi rear axle its super heavy and difficult to open)



Prodigy pro spin headset



Front view



Here’s the inner bashguard original custom mrp, attached to the big bearing



A close up, behind the upper roller theres a black metal thing



A singlespeed tensor with a kcnc wheel, well, theorically with the idrive system there’s no chain slack, I mean the chain maintains its length, but I still put ot just in case.
There’s 2 positions to change wheelbase length, but in the shorter one the bike feels too nervous (its a M size).



Other view



Perfect chain line... it was a pain because the BB width is 73 mm and the rear axle is 12x150...
The rear cog is a shimano bmx (the dmx or dmr or something) 14 thoot, some artensanal work there to fit.



Another view



The left crankarm took a bit hit whit a rock so is a couple degrees bend , but still works



The idrive BB moves along with the suspension



clearance with the rear telonix 2.4 tire




the complete bike







The bike rides awesome, whit the big tires and setup, I even went to a couple of races with the SS system, but works only in very steep and technical courses.

Cheers.-


The final measurements;

Chain stay: 442 mm
Top tube 570 mm
Wheelbase: 1160 mm
Seat tube height: 470 mm

I don’t know how to measure the head angle or seat angle. Later.

Weight: 18,096 kilograms (39,895 lbs)
 
Great mish mash of 'spare' parts there.
(Some of your spares are better than my actual parts - hmmm).

Always wanted a dhi since peaty had one. I had an xcr around the time so was intersted in gt's.

I think you should put something on the stays to stop any more chain slap (although SS).

Does the mrp go onto the i drive unit? I knew they were custom but havent actually seen on in bits.

Oh and does your left crank bolt serve as preload only? If not you should sort that.


Good job.
 
yes, the mrp has a metal thing attached to te BB inside the inner bashguard, and a black metal plate that goes from the upper roller to the big bearing next to it.... or something, its difficult to explain I dont speak english very well,
the chainstays has some black velcro to prevente chain noise and that
 
ME!
Pm me your email, its very simple and somewhat threaputic.
Although not pdf but should be ok.
 
i love this bike. i love the build and your ability to accept that what you have got is what you need and are happy with the result.
this proves to me that the endless sourcing of parts is a game for others and i should follow what you do and be satisfied with what i already have.
thankyou for the inspiration.
 
thanks Chute55uk, thats exactly was I was doing, just putting the spare parts I have from other bikes, but im not happy with de headangle, its probably 66 or 67º, so I bought a shorter shock, an old school one, the stratos el jefe, its a 222mm instead of the 240mm swinger, gonna upload pics later
cheers
 
I always want to put an old school shock on this bike, maybe a risse or avalanche, anyway I found a Stratos El Jefe with remote reservoir, its 222 long, instead od the 240mm swinger, now the bikes has a proper headangle, and a low BB height.

The shock feels awesome, better that anything I've tried before (fox rc4, swingers, revox, roccos and CCDB), It really surprise me, such and old shock can perform this good, the bike pedals very efficiently and absorbs everything, from little rocks, to 10 feet drops. Maybe is the huge reservoir and the huge body, I dont know.

Well, this shock has a wider body than the main others so finding a Ti spring was difficult, and the bushings also are wider than stock.

the pics:





 

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