After building this up using modern parts a few years ago, I used it for my first London to Brighton ride, and little else afterwards. I recently stripped it of most of the modern tat (XTR M970) and used this on my GT STS-2 build.
Now the RTS was the bike I wanted as a kid, and I was lucky enough (if you count having two bikes stolen in 24 hours lucky) to own the lesser RTS-2 as a result of the insurance money. When I was looking for advice about restoration (I discovered it was cracked in the usual place), I found RB and the rest as they say is history (pardon the pun). Now the Team RTS frame was NOS when I got my hands on it, and I had it shipped over from the states at great expense and built it up in it's first guise (XTR M970, Fox forks, carbon bars (oversize too ) etc), which I thought was a good idea at the time (and it was). However, after stripping it down and pillaging the parts for the STS, I felt sorry for it, sitting there all naked, bereft of components, so I decided to have a rummage in the stash and see what I had that could be put to good use.
The rummage was fruitful, and so I set to work polishing the frame after it had sat in the shed/garage for nearly 2 years unused The results were stunning (all manual labour, elbow grease and Peek) and so I was enthused and threw this little thing together.
I'm not 100% sure about the crank arms, but I am sure that the spider is great, as are the amber walls on black rims - I forgot just how good they can look when they are new (need to try and keep them that way - another 2 years of low miles should do the trick :roll: ), and the rest is none to shabby either, well in my opinion anyway. Spec as follows. Comments, feedback etc welcome, such as - is my chain too short (in the pics it is in the top ring and half way up the cassette), should I put on the controltech decals on the post and stem, or leave it stealthy? Should the creanks be polished up or powdercoated black?:
Frame: GT Team RTS
Fork: Rock Shox Judy FSX, Styff carbon brace, Englund air cartridges
Headset: Chris King in black, Woodman headlock.
Stem: Controltech in black
Handlebar: Controltech in black
Grips: GT
Barends: N/A
Brakes: Shimano XTR M950, carbon XTR booster on the rear
Brake Pads: Shimano ceramic
Brake Cables: Shimano XTR in grey
Cantilever cable hangers: N/A (rocker removed for use later)
Brake Levers: Shimano XTR M950
Shifters: Shimano XTR M952
Front Derailleur: Shimano XTR M953
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR M952
Derailleur Cables: Shimano XTR
Cassette: Shimano M770 XT
Chain: Sram PC991 cross-step
Cranks: Shimano XTR M952 with Hershey Racing 5 bolt 110BCD spider
Crank Bolts: Shimano XTR M952
Chainrings: TA Specialties in black
Chainring bolts: Tec in black
Bottom Bracket: Shimano XTR M952
Pedals: Crank Bros Candy 2 (silver)
Hub Skewers: Mavic Crossmax
Rims: Mavic Crossmax
Hubs: Mavic Crossmax
Nipples: Mavic Crossmax
Spokes: Mavic Crossmax
Tyres: Panaracer Dart up front and a Panaracer Smoke hardcore at the rear
Tubes: Specialized
Saddle: Flite Ti
Seatpost: Controltech in black
Seatpost Binder: GT standard
Weight: ??
Now the RTS was the bike I wanted as a kid, and I was lucky enough (if you count having two bikes stolen in 24 hours lucky) to own the lesser RTS-2 as a result of the insurance money. When I was looking for advice about restoration (I discovered it was cracked in the usual place), I found RB and the rest as they say is history (pardon the pun). Now the Team RTS frame was NOS when I got my hands on it, and I had it shipped over from the states at great expense and built it up in it's first guise (XTR M970, Fox forks, carbon bars (oversize too ) etc), which I thought was a good idea at the time (and it was). However, after stripping it down and pillaging the parts for the STS, I felt sorry for it, sitting there all naked, bereft of components, so I decided to have a rummage in the stash and see what I had that could be put to good use.
The rummage was fruitful, and so I set to work polishing the frame after it had sat in the shed/garage for nearly 2 years unused The results were stunning (all manual labour, elbow grease and Peek) and so I was enthused and threw this little thing together.
I'm not 100% sure about the crank arms, but I am sure that the spider is great, as are the amber walls on black rims - I forgot just how good they can look when they are new (need to try and keep them that way - another 2 years of low miles should do the trick :roll: ), and the rest is none to shabby either, well in my opinion anyway. Spec as follows. Comments, feedback etc welcome, such as - is my chain too short (in the pics it is in the top ring and half way up the cassette), should I put on the controltech decals on the post and stem, or leave it stealthy? Should the creanks be polished up or powdercoated black?:
Frame: GT Team RTS
Fork: Rock Shox Judy FSX, Styff carbon brace, Englund air cartridges
Headset: Chris King in black, Woodman headlock.
Stem: Controltech in black
Handlebar: Controltech in black
Grips: GT
Barends: N/A
Brakes: Shimano XTR M950, carbon XTR booster on the rear
Brake Pads: Shimano ceramic
Brake Cables: Shimano XTR in grey
Cantilever cable hangers: N/A (rocker removed for use later)
Brake Levers: Shimano XTR M950
Shifters: Shimano XTR M952
Front Derailleur: Shimano XTR M953
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR M952
Derailleur Cables: Shimano XTR
Cassette: Shimano M770 XT
Chain: Sram PC991 cross-step
Cranks: Shimano XTR M952 with Hershey Racing 5 bolt 110BCD spider
Crank Bolts: Shimano XTR M952
Chainrings: TA Specialties in black
Chainring bolts: Tec in black
Bottom Bracket: Shimano XTR M952
Pedals: Crank Bros Candy 2 (silver)
Hub Skewers: Mavic Crossmax
Rims: Mavic Crossmax
Hubs: Mavic Crossmax
Nipples: Mavic Crossmax
Spokes: Mavic Crossmax
Tyres: Panaracer Dart up front and a Panaracer Smoke hardcore at the rear
Tubes: Specialized
Saddle: Flite Ti
Seatpost: Controltech in black
Seatpost Binder: GT standard
Weight: ??