Gary Fisher Grateful Dead

everest30

Dirt Disciple
Gary Fisher Grateful Thread

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Well, Gary Fisher started it so we all must be grateful for the founder of Mountain Biking.

I remember my first MTB, a Raleigh Maverick, it was a cross between what i was riding then, a tracker as we used to call them and a road bike with 10 gears. The Maverick was heavy and Raleigh had really lost the lead when it came to bikes. My tracker in comparison was a road frame with straight bars and single gear.

I lost the 'bug' for cycling.

I had always been a raod cyclist, as instilled from my father from an early age.

I still have the road bug, but prefer more tradtional bikes, as you can see from this posting.

My first real bike was a Major Nicholls, and I still have one to this day although very rare to find one of these now.

Getting back to the MTB, I bought a second hand Muddy Fox Pathfinder. I live in the real world and top of the range bikes were well out of the pocket for real people. We are talking Raleigh, Falcon etc. My brother (who worked in a cycle shop at the time) had bought a Claud Butler with Diore groupset. My Muddy fox was the managers own bike which he had replaced every component with XT and as such represented a bargain for me.

As old road cyclists we knew of many places we could go off road on our new found machines. In those days, there was no such thing as suspension, justy good riding techinique.

Many, many years later and I lost MTB completely. I'm not a mad fan of full suspension, all singing, all dancing machines as I remember the pioneer of them all, Gary Fisher, who took a standard frame andd beefed it up to take trial on the mountains.

Which brings me to my current bike, the Gary Fisher Grateful Dead. Not everyones cup of teas, I agree. It was only basically a paint job on a Hoo Koo E Koo, but nevertheless I am finding increasingly rare.

My brother told me to lend it to a bike museum and forget about riding it, because where would you find another one ?? But I love it....

If I could find another Muddy Fox Pathfinder, I would love that too (as mine was stolen)
 

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Aye-welcome. :D

We had a few of these through John Atkins Cycles in Coventry when I worked there in the mid to late '90s. I actually thought at the time that this was a bike we should buy and leave in the box as a collectors piece.
We did'nt though :roll:

I sold a Pathfinder at the boot sale last year for £35-no-one wanted it on here! :LOL:
 
Photos haven't come out as well as I thought, but a fresh sprinkling of snow this morning so I'll take some more before it melts....

hmm...also need to post 5 times before I can submit URL's..
 
Just been and took some better photos and along with it took down all the specs.

Frame: Gary Fisher Grateful Dead (Hoo Koo E Koo) Cro-Moly

Fork: Rock Shock Quadra 21

Headset: Dia –Compe AHEADSET
Stem: System 2 Components
Handlebar: System 1 Components
Grips: Gary Fisher
Barends:

Brakes: Shimano STX
Brake Pads: Shimano M70
Brake Cables:
Cantilever cable hangers:
Brake Levers: Dia-Compe Power Control 7

Shifters: Gripshift
Front Derailleur: Shimano STX RC
Rear Derailleur: Shimano STX
Derailleur Cables:
Cassette: Shimano HG 7 Speed
Chain: Shimano IG30
Cranks: Shimano STX
Crank Bolts:
Chainrings: Shimano STX
Chainring bolts:
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Sealed Cartridge
Pedals: MKS ?

Hub Skewers:
Rims: Weinmann BCX 3
Hubs Front: System 2 Components
Hubs Rear Paralax
Nipples:
Spokes:
Tyres: Michelin Wildgripper (Originally Tioga Physco)
Tubes:

Saddle: Avocet Gelflex
Seatpost: System 1 Components
Seatpost Binder:

Weight:
 
Finally...PICS
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DSC00474.jpg
 
My favourite era too. I need to replace the tyres to ride off road though, because the Tioga Physco's and the Michelin Wildgrippers are just too hard to find now.

Looking back GF was way out of my price range then :LOL:
 
Looking at the picture of the crank, I can now see why the chain is slipping. I'm going to have to find an STX ring from somewhere.
 
:shock: :D I was wondering if I'd ever see one of these again. This brings back memories of when I was buying my first serious mountain bike. The local shop had Trek, GF, and Bontrager. It was between the grateful dead, the Bontrager privateer with a rigid fork, and a Trek 8500 with a manitou and full XT w/ v's. The Trek ultimately won out because it was the best deal, best fork and components. Paid $1200 and raced many seasons on it. Looking back I wish I had bought the Bonty, as you do. It was more expensive and had crappier components, but a way better frame. Not that the Trek really let me down, I just coveted the Bonty. I never listened to the Dead so that didn't factor in more than it had a kick ass paint job. Really liked those old Gary Fishers though. Where'd you come across it?
 
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