Dr. Chippy
Retro Newbie
Ok, so I'm new here. I've been a huge fan of Retrobike for a long time but so horribly inept at forums that I never posted anything. You see, I'm a massive vintage GT nerd and have 10+/- in our active fleet. A few were possibly post-worthy but I didn't really have anything quite unusual enough to overcome my fear of forums... until now.
It all started a few years back when I found a 1985 GT Timberline. I had seen somewhere someone dressed one up in blue and I just had to do the same. It is so incredibly fun words cannot describe.
Around the same time I also found a completely stock 1992 GT "Twenty Four Hybrid." What an odd duck that thing was. 24" wheels, 18 speeds, a frame so large you'd need to be at least 5'2" to ride it AND it was featured in the BMX catalog, not MTB. Weird. It sat around stock and untouched until I finally started stealing parts for my other GT's. All that was left was drivetrain and wheelset. I should've taken a pic of it complete but I don't always plan well.
About a month ago, a frame comes up on Craigslist I had never seen before. A vintage GT I had never seen before. That's different. A GT Bullet it's called. I research and research but can hardly find anything on it. It's a youth ATB 18 speed 24" bike but most living specimens had been converted to the SS BMX bike they look like. BMX'ers shunned them as a mountain bike and most died a torturous death at the hands of unskilled mechanics unable to convert it to what they'd hoped. Not a BMX, not a MTB. Once again, I find it in the GT BMX catalog, not MTB. Weird. Fortunately, I have the drivetrain and wheelset from my Twenty Four Hybrid, plug it into the Bullet, add some blue bits and... voila! A 1993 GT Bullet.
A Retrobike first? An appropriate restoration? Sacrilege? You tell me.
Directed by Dr. Chippy
It all started a few years back when I found a 1985 GT Timberline. I had seen somewhere someone dressed one up in blue and I just had to do the same. It is so incredibly fun words cannot describe.
Around the same time I also found a completely stock 1992 GT "Twenty Four Hybrid." What an odd duck that thing was. 24" wheels, 18 speeds, a frame so large you'd need to be at least 5'2" to ride it AND it was featured in the BMX catalog, not MTB. Weird. It sat around stock and untouched until I finally started stealing parts for my other GT's. All that was left was drivetrain and wheelset. I should've taken a pic of it complete but I don't always plan well.
About a month ago, a frame comes up on Craigslist I had never seen before. A vintage GT I had never seen before. That's different. A GT Bullet it's called. I research and research but can hardly find anything on it. It's a youth ATB 18 speed 24" bike but most living specimens had been converted to the SS BMX bike they look like. BMX'ers shunned them as a mountain bike and most died a torturous death at the hands of unskilled mechanics unable to convert it to what they'd hoped. Not a BMX, not a MTB. Once again, I find it in the GT BMX catalog, not MTB. Weird. Fortunately, I have the drivetrain and wheelset from my Twenty Four Hybrid, plug it into the Bullet, add some blue bits and... voila! A 1993 GT Bullet.
A Retrobike first? An appropriate restoration? Sacrilege? You tell me.
Directed by Dr. Chippy
