'90 Bontrager OR

[mk one]

And these I took today now that the bike is with me at home in LA ( @pw_pw_la )

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The deer head shifters weren't working for me. They shifted fine though after shifting to lower gears I'd take my hand off the shifter and the tension from the 952 rear mech would pull the chain back to the tallest gear so I was having to hold my thumb on the shifter to climb. Rather than try and figure out what was wrong I decided they were too chunky and swapped them for the XC pro thumbies that are working great.

Still a work in progress. There is a frightening front fork jitter that I don't know the cause of. I raised the straddle cable and it maybe helped a little. I still need a pulley and a front mech and everything needs to be dialed and the cables trimmed.

At the very least I want to switch the chain and dust caps for silver which is what I initially wanted but the crank seller shipped the wrong color and my buddy lent me the chain while mine was still in transit. Maybe a black seatpost. Halfway toying with the idea of putting an XC Pro group on it but everything on it is really nice and works great so I think I'll just enjoy it like this for now.

A varied mix of parts, does look fun to ride though. The bullmoose definitely adds to it

 

[mynchiboy]

Always good to see another early Bonty!

Echoing other comments, I also ran a set of 987's on these forks and they flexed like crazy. My current OR has a P2 fork and feels much better up front

 

[br0qn]

That's gorgeous. I need to get myself an XL bonty.

Thank you! Or just find an early enough OR, they have flat top tubes, if that is what you're after.

A varied mix of parts, does look fun to ride though. The bullmoose definitely adds to it

Complete hodge podge. Most of the parts were collected with next to zero knowledge about bicycles of any kind, let alone retro MTB. I like the result though, and it's a blast to ride.

these forks and they flexed like crazy. My current OR has a P2 fork and feels much better up front

Hopefully I can work out a way to make the flex manageable, can't bear the thought of separating the frame from the fork.

I would try a brake stiffener arch and see if the jitter goes away.

There was a Gorilla booster on there when I got it, I should dig that up and give it shot

 

[br0qn]

And I can confirm first hand that that fork chatter is the most frightening of any bike I've ever ridden!

It's pretty gnarly

I would definitely make sure that headset is airtight, the stem too, and all the bolts on the Composite crown.

I can't find any faults here

Anyway, definitely get that roller and a front mech on, that 2x9 setup working and all those cable ends shortened up!

been swapping by hand ;D big ring gearing works on the flats but as soon as the climb / trails start I gotta move down. But yes, I need to get the remaining parts stash with my front mech from my buddy.

As I've said before, I really love this bike. It's unexpected and all kinds of awesome, in my opinion. I'm stoked for you that you have it.

aye, thanks for helping talk me into keeping it.

 

[STX-RC]

Great bike.
And trails.
And a fantastic luxury in my eyes building a Team Issue or this as a commuter bike.
These kind of things hardly appear on our market anymore. Really lucky to live at the birthplace of mountainbiking.
Are there still any great barn finds or bargains atm with a chance of finding these top of the line machines? Or any good ones?

 

[br0qn]

Great bike.
And trails.
And a fantastic luxury in my eyes building a Team Issue or this as a commuter bike.
These kind of things hardly appear on our market anymore. Really lucky to live at the birthplace of mountainbiking.
Are there still any great barn finds or bargains atm with a chance of finding these top of the line machines? Or any good ones?

Thanks. Certainly lucky to live in California, the vintage bike market in the Bay Area is pretty nuts. Lots of bikes for sale always and I've seen some great deals though I've not had any lucky "barn finds." I didn't realize the pool at first which is why when I became obsessed my first two purchases (now moved on) were both from ebay.

The Bontragers all came from in/around San Francisco, my BRG Race Lite was a smokin deal I believe but just a frameset and not dirt cheap. The Race I have was nearly as good a deal and was fully built albeit not really anything worth keeping apart from the frame/stem/bars. This OR was the only one that came with a fork and given how hard it is to come by one of these early inch-sized ORs I'd say I got the better end of it.

The Merlin I got here in LA and I paid for it though it had a bunch of parts worth keeping or worth $$ to move on.

A buddy recently picked up an early OR that was pretty loaded with Comp fork, Phil wheelset with AC skewers, full XT kit and a Salsa P10. He sold the p10 for $600 which more than covered what he paid for the bike... so they are out there.

 

[Tedgey]

That is bloody lovely

 

[br0qn]

Some hallmarks of an early OR -

This bike predates the XS, S, M, L etc sizing

Flat top tube / brazed on rear stop with a pump peg below.




-Before the "B" logo dropped the cog around the paw which is a mountain lion paw
-Head tube - "Keith always raised the down tube junction, in order to get the portion of the head tube that holds the lower head set cup away from the heat affected area. This preserved hoop strength of the tube to prevent it being ovalized by the loads put on it by the head set cup..." quote from Tom Clark
-Hand made gussets - cut from the TT 4130 frame tubes before they started ordering them laser cut and ready to weld.
"You can spot them because they were longer and where the half moon is cut into them to break up the weld zone, it looks like it was cut with a carbide bur in a hand grinder and the two sides probably don't match exactly. We simply cut top and down tube remnants into lengths and then split each one into two with a diagonal saw cut and then cut the weld reliefs and deburred them with a carbide bur. The later ones we're much more refined as they were laser cut out of flat sheet and then stamped into a round profile in our stamping machine." - Tom Clark

Early or late, they're there to make the joint behave as if you didn't lose any of the strength normally lost with welding. Scalloped areas left un welded on the sides and the one end so there is less heat affected area thus making the gussets more effective.



-Bonded & riveted aluminum cable guides - "Our bonded and riveted cable guides allow us to install these parts without heating the tubes. It is not very clever to make ultra strong main triangle joints only to weaken the tubes just behind these joins with braze ons. My tests show that braze ons near the down tube or top tube joints weaken the frame. Our bonded parts don't." Quote from KB from ~90 Frameset manual

Later on, after Race / Race Lite designations, the Race guides were welded steel and the Race Lite bonded.

 

[slackboy]

Later on, after Race / Race Lite designations, the Race guides were welded steel and the Race Lite bonded

I do like that bike.

Any idea when that distinction stopped? My race lite was '94ish and had welded guides

 

[br0qn]

I do like that bike

thanks man, I love it.

Any idea when that distinction stopped? My race lite was '94ish and had welded guides

Good question. My `94/7 Race Lite guides are steel too. '92 I think was first year for the Race Lite, so I'm going to guess somewhere in that 2 year span.