I was interested in creating a single speed mountain bike from a vintage steel frame. After researching this site and others I knew what I wanted, a 1990’s steel frame with horizontal dropouts, get it stripped and powder coated in a single colour. Really liked the 1998 Orange GT Talera Single Speed featured on this site and fancied something similar.
A local charity shop had a rough looking old bike with two punctures and lots of free mud for only £15. The lady kindly blew up the tyres one remained inflated the other flat. I quite liked the look of the GT triple triangle frame and thought it might yield a frame and some other parts for my project. I therefore bought the bike and took it away as a parts bike. Once home, some soapy water and a hose had it resembling a reasonable looking bike. I repaired the puncture and took it for a short trial. Immediately obvious was that the gears would not change, no problems I want a single speed and I’ll scrap them. I then decided to get the bike running properly so that I could ride it and decide what gearings best suited me for single speed, I really had no idea as I haven’t ridden in years and gave my old racer away last year as I wasn’t using it.
Once I had stripped and cleaned the bike it appeared in much much better shape than initial inspection. The gears are all in good condition with little wear, the chain measures up as having very little wear and once the faded, damaged decals were removed the paintwork was in quite good condition. Someone had recently had new cables fitted for the gears but even once the shifters were ungummed with WD40 they were not able to use all the gears. I replaced the bottom bracket, repainted the cranks silver, stripped and cleaned everything reassembling with copper grease where appropriate. Purchased two new tyres, tubes and rim tape, new bearings for axles and a set of second hand MKS pedals which needed stripped and rebuilt.
The bike has grown on me and I finished it today getting the gears all to work correctly and finishing off with a T-cut and polish. Really not sure I’ll change it into a single speed as it looks pretty good as is. Weighs in at 14.8kg (32.6 lbs) not the lightest but I don’t think the worst either. Unfortunately the weather is not suitable for a test run today to see if all the work has been worth it or will I spend the next week sorting gears and squeaking brakes. Only real thing still to sort is the rear wheel which is slightly off true will need to order a suitable spoke spanner and have a go, don’t really want to take it to LBS as I want the satisfaction that it’s all my own work.
All in the bike has cost me about £60.
Below are some pictures of the GT Talera with Blue Nova paintwork.
A local charity shop had a rough looking old bike with two punctures and lots of free mud for only £15. The lady kindly blew up the tyres one remained inflated the other flat. I quite liked the look of the GT triple triangle frame and thought it might yield a frame and some other parts for my project. I therefore bought the bike and took it away as a parts bike. Once home, some soapy water and a hose had it resembling a reasonable looking bike. I repaired the puncture and took it for a short trial. Immediately obvious was that the gears would not change, no problems I want a single speed and I’ll scrap them. I then decided to get the bike running properly so that I could ride it and decide what gearings best suited me for single speed, I really had no idea as I haven’t ridden in years and gave my old racer away last year as I wasn’t using it.
Once I had stripped and cleaned the bike it appeared in much much better shape than initial inspection. The gears are all in good condition with little wear, the chain measures up as having very little wear and once the faded, damaged decals were removed the paintwork was in quite good condition. Someone had recently had new cables fitted for the gears but even once the shifters were ungummed with WD40 they were not able to use all the gears. I replaced the bottom bracket, repainted the cranks silver, stripped and cleaned everything reassembling with copper grease where appropriate. Purchased two new tyres, tubes and rim tape, new bearings for axles and a set of second hand MKS pedals which needed stripped and rebuilt.
The bike has grown on me and I finished it today getting the gears all to work correctly and finishing off with a T-cut and polish. Really not sure I’ll change it into a single speed as it looks pretty good as is. Weighs in at 14.8kg (32.6 lbs) not the lightest but I don’t think the worst either. Unfortunately the weather is not suitable for a test run today to see if all the work has been worth it or will I spend the next week sorting gears and squeaking brakes. Only real thing still to sort is the rear wheel which is slightly off true will need to order a suitable spoke spanner and have a go, don’t really want to take it to LBS as I want the satisfaction that it’s all my own work.
All in the bike has cost me about £60.
Below are some pictures of the GT Talera with Blue Nova paintwork.
