Hi all.
Out at my local reclamation center a while back, looking for an old hack to use as a winter runaround, i found an old GT.
Despite it having been resprayed, (reddy orange to blue), but still then badly scratched over time. The presence of the "Tange" steel sticker visible on the seat tube where respray had fallen off, meant it was likely a quality bike in its day. And thou most of the components fitted were also pretty much at end of days, the asking price of £7 for a decent frame at least seemed a bargain
Having gotten it home i found it impossible to shift the old seat post, so a local garage did it for me, at the cost of burning off the existing paint around the top of the seat tube. As a temp stop gap, a quick coat of hammerite was applied all over just to stop all the exposed areas from rusting,especially with the damp weather of late.
Its been rebuilt using the spare bits i had in my shed, plus i had to get a new seat post which incidentally is 26.2mm diameter.
The thing is it is actually a very nice ride for road use, in many ways better than my normal bike, so i will probably get it resprayed properly when funds allow.
Having searched online for similar bikes, going mostly on the length of head tube, id say it looks to be an original "avalanche all terra". (Early ones of which seem very well regarded on here.)
It has a 1" steerer, and original drive was mostly Suntour accushift. A frame number found underside of bottom bracket looks to read H1D9 3079.
So anybody out there who can shed some more light on the origins of this bike, where and when made, and best paint for respray etc, i would be very grateful for any advice. It also has the old u-brake still fitted and working, is it possible to get rust free replacements still?
Many thanks all.
Pils
Out at my local reclamation center a while back, looking for an old hack to use as a winter runaround, i found an old GT.
Despite it having been resprayed, (reddy orange to blue), but still then badly scratched over time. The presence of the "Tange" steel sticker visible on the seat tube where respray had fallen off, meant it was likely a quality bike in its day. And thou most of the components fitted were also pretty much at end of days, the asking price of £7 for a decent frame at least seemed a bargain
Having gotten it home i found it impossible to shift the old seat post, so a local garage did it for me, at the cost of burning off the existing paint around the top of the seat tube. As a temp stop gap, a quick coat of hammerite was applied all over just to stop all the exposed areas from rusting,especially with the damp weather of late.Its been rebuilt using the spare bits i had in my shed, plus i had to get a new seat post which incidentally is 26.2mm diameter.
The thing is it is actually a very nice ride for road use, in many ways better than my normal bike, so i will probably get it resprayed properly when funds allow.
Having searched online for similar bikes, going mostly on the length of head tube, id say it looks to be an original "avalanche all terra". (Early ones of which seem very well regarded on here.)
It has a 1" steerer, and original drive was mostly Suntour accushift. A frame number found underside of bottom bracket looks to read H1D9 3079.
So anybody out there who can shed some more light on the origins of this bike, where and when made, and best paint for respray etc, i would be very grateful for any advice. It also has the old u-brake still fitted and working, is it possible to get rust free replacements still?
Many thanks all.
Pils
