'92 Mountain Cycle San Andreas resurrection

[foxb13]

Dear RBers,

My 4th completed project, the end of a 5-year journey. Or rather, the beginning of a new one, now that this fantastic bike has come back to life. Sure, this Mountain Cycle San Andreas wasn't ridden by Jake "Earthquake" Watson. But hey! It nevertheless was a Ferrari at a time . For the impatient, the before/after pictures, with technical details below.






Frame: Mountain Cycle San Andreas delta box/monocoque frame with dual-position subframe, 16-21" size

Fork: Mountain Cycle Suspenders System II, 1 1/4" (160mm) threaded steerer

Headset: onZa Mongo II, 1 1/4"
Stem: Answer A-Tac, 135mm 17.5° rise
Handlebar: Answer Hyperlite, 5° bend
Grips: WTB Trail Grips
Barends: None

Brakes: Mountain Cycle Pro-Stop Hydraulic Disk Brakes, single piston, cable-actuated
Brake Rotors: Mountain Cycle Pro-Stop hard coated alloy floating rotors, 9" front, 8" rear
Brake Pads: Mountain Cycle Pro-Stop (Abruzzo ABR07 now on the rear)
Brake Cables: Shimano SLR
Cantilever cable hangers: N/A
Brake Levers: Shimano XTR ST-M900

Shifters: Shimano XTR ST-M900 Rapidfire Plus
Front Derailleur: Shimano XTR FD-M900, 31.8mm
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR RD-M900 (Middle Cage)
Derailleur Cables: Shimano SIS
Cassette: Shimano XTR CS-M900-8P (8-Speed, P-Group, 12-32 cogs)
Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace CN-7401, 108 links
Cranks: Shimano XTR FC-M900, 175mm
Crank bolts: Shimano XTR FC-M900
Chainrings: Shimano SG F-26/36/46
Bottom Bracket: Shimano XTR BB-UN90, 73 x 113mm English thread
Pedals: onZa High Output BPD-1401, stainless steel spindles

Hub Skewers: Mountain Cycle Posi-Lock front, Ringlé Camtwist 135mm rear
Rims: Mavic M 231, 32-hole
Hubs: Mountain Cycle SSI (Pulstar System "X"), 32 holes
Nipples: DT Swiss, brass standard, 2.0 x 12mm
Spokes: DT Swiss Pulstar (Competition), straightpull, double-butted, 14/15g x 273/272mm (disc side) front, 14/15g x 273/271mm (drive side) rear
Tyres: Panaracer Smoke/Dart Classic, 26 x 2.10
Tubes: Depend on flats...

Saddle: Odyssey SveLte-Ti Kevlar
Seatpost: 2nd gen. Syncros Propost Ti 31.6mm x 330mm
Seatpost Binder: Mountain Cycle S-Series (MCS Lite), 1 3/8"

Weight: 13.1kg, including pedals

PS: As English is not my mother tongue, don't hesitate to correct my sentences, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, etc.

 

[foxb13]

Back in 2017, I was still green RetroBike and just started working on my first rebuild [1]. This lead me to plenty of interesting readings, eventually digging out four words deeply hidden in my teenage memories for years: Mountain Cycle San Andreas. A blast from the past! While I was still busy rebuilding my Cirrus, I nevertheless was haunted everyday by the idea of putting my hands on an early San Andreas.

 

[foxb13]

Months of hunting followed. At some time, I think that I was aware of all the Mountain Cycle San Andreas threads/posts/pictures on the Internet. BTW, no thanks to the GTA San Andreas video game that really polluted my search results . But in June of 2017, pictures I hadn't seen before popped up on Google Images.

 

[foxb13]

Sadly, they were referring to a Yahoo! JAPAN Auction item that ended a couple days ago:

 

[foxb13]

After so many unsuccessful searches, I was really disappointed having missed this rare opportunity for a complete original San Andreas, dressed in a strange manner, I recognize. Albeit not a '91 model like @Baulz immaculate one [1], as the water bottle cage mounts were already located at the top of the monocoque frame and the swingarm already had the rounded ends of the later models. But all the other traits of an early specimen were present: disc-only swingarm, bent front mech post, subframe with uncut seat tube, After Shock elastomer rear shock, onZa Mongo II headset, Suspenders System II upside-down fork, Mountain Cycle SSI straightpull spoke hubs and Pro-Stop Hydraulic cable-actuated disk brakes. So probably a '92 or early '93 model, as canti bosses were welded on the swingarm by then.

 

[foxb13]

 

[foxb13]

 

[foxb13]

 

[foxb13]

I thus added Yahoo! JAPAN Auction to my retro MTB searches. In September of 2017, the exact same bike surfaced again, with a lowered price tag . As I was the only bidder, the seller early-terminated the auction and I won it. Unfortunately, the S/H fees from Japan to France and the proxy (Buyee) commission weren't free. So weren't the custom fees, even for a 30-year old bike . But overall, the total amount remained reasonable.

 

[foxb13]

It took roughly three weeks for the bike to be delivered.

Once the seatpost height was correctly set to fit my size (and no more hitting the swingarm, BTW), I was delighted to discover that the After Shock elastomer rear shock was still compressing fine.



Sadly, I didn't watched carefully enough at the posted pictures, as one revealed that the through-axle handle was cracked .



Besides this, the Suspenders fork failed to achieve its full travel on rough impacts, but was working OK-ish when compressed slowly, with a noticeable friction on the lowers though.

The Pro-Stop brakes were operating correctly, but on closer inspection, the calipers raised concerns that I immediately shared with you [1].




Lastly, a strange noise was heard each time that the bike mas moved here and there. I initially incriminated the rear rotor as the lockring wasn't tightened enough, to no avail.

Huh yes, speed shifting wasn't working at all.