GT Borrego - now completed.

st

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I’ve been lurking around on the RB forum since the end of last year trying to decide what to do to scratch an itch for a ‘new’ retro bike. The last one I built up was about 8 years ago and was a lovely mint Fat Chance Buckshaver that in the end was never ridden in anger as when I finished it looked too nice and in the end it made way for another new, new, bike.

Funds don’t allow another fancy bike so I decided to scale back my expectations and went back to my mtbing roots which all started in 1989 and quickly progressed from a heavily upgraded Raleigh Mustang to my first GT. It was a ‘91 inferno red Karakoram which got me into racing and riding properly, I then chopped this in for a ’93 Karakoram which fitted me a bit better and the rest is (my) history.

I’ve had countless bikes since these 2 GTs but have always had a soft spot for them so this time round it just had to be a GT.

After some trawling round the forum I decided that my one-time dream bike, a ’92 Bravado, was unlikely to happen in a hurry as they seem fairly scarce and would cost more than I wanted to spend given that I was looking for a full strip, respray and re-build route.

After picking up a ’90 Karakoram which I decided wasn’t right I came across a ’93 Borrego courtesy of charlieboy28 . A few quick checks and I decided this frame was the same as my ’93 Karakoram and I went for it.

The frame arrived and as described was well-used, I’d expected this and made a start on getting the frame prepped for a fresh powder coat. The pictures go some way to showing the marks from use and while I could have built it up as it was I really did want to get it looking just right.

So far then are the pictures of what it did look like, whilst I was dealing with rough bits I whipped the rack mounts off the back end and started contact with Gil m over some new stickers based on a different theme.

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A couple of months on and the build is all but complete. I decided not to go with any real in-progress pictures as it is only a modest build but the remaining parts should arrive this week and I’ll get it photographed and posted up

A word of warning though, it’s not a faithful replica. Using my past favourite bikes and Gil’s ability to alter the graphics I’ve come up with a new spin on the look which is based on what I liked most from early 90’s GTs rather than copying the Borrego. Likewise the build is based on parts I used / wanted back then rather than the full Suntour grouppo the bike would have originally had.

Full update to follow this week…
 
i will be interested to see howthis goes! i owned a borrego from new in 93. exact same as this one.

did you also cut the small rack mounts off the topof the seatstays i n the triple triangle area?
 
Yup, took the top mounts off the seartstays too. Left the fork drop out mounts on as it looked like this would eat into the structure of the dropout.
 
And now it's finished.

Will make purists shudder I guess, but it's exactly what I wanted to achieve.

Taking the yellow theme from the '92 Bravado and then a bit of inspiration form 1993's Team Scream effect to have Gil M produce a twist on the GT logo for both ends of the bike.

I'm too used to riding modern bikes so went for a short (by retro standards) Thomson stem and a slight rise on the bars to help ease my back, plus the wide bar feel that I've become used to.

Took it out for a short ride yesterday with my Son attached by his tag-along and it seemed fine, full ride today.

Not much to change at the moment apart from some nice self extracting crank bolts (silver or blue???) and I would like some Shimano rapidfires to replace the re-finished XTR levers and DX thumbies.

So enjoy or puke as you like ;o)

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Full album here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/34052411@N ... 819493157/
 
Yep really nice job, that. Shame to have to lose the metallic green but tbh, the yellow's really nice.

Only thing I'm not keen on (and it's only my own taste) is the riser bar.

:cool:
 
looks great! i was thnking you really were doing something crazy....but that's not really making me shudder at all :LOL:

nice to see some personalisation, but also very much in line with GT's original spirit.
 
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