GT STS-2 (1997)

[ishaw]

Nice build, I like it... and no tri spoke wheels either, excellent stuff.

Thanks, I got bullied into selling my Spins, then offered them back for £100 more - nice.

Anyway, the build has changed a little recently. I was never happy with the forks, so finally decided to end my procrastinating on transplanting new lowers and respraying the CSU, and buy some new forks instead. I ended up getting a new set of Fox Float 100 RLCs with disc lowers and swapping them out for some new v brake lowers I sourced - luckily they were the exact same finish so was a simple job (though I am sure I made it more complicated than it needed to be).

I also hit issues with my planned Jekyll trunnion shock swap. I bought an LTS with a trunnion mounted fox shock, so thought it would be a straight swap for the trunnion mount and in slips the Jekyll shock, but Doh! The shock body was wider. Thankfully the shock that came with the LTS was in great shape and I have used that instead. Toying with whether I should still persevere with the Jekyll shock, as it is newer and has propedal, but time will tell on that one.

Other changes I have made are the bars/stem and bar ends. In all honesty I didn't think that the hyper-ends looked that good, so no more bar ends for this build. Bars are now FSA K-Force XC carbon risers, and the stem a nice 'USE' one. I've also swapped out the front mech for one in better nic, and had to rerun some cabling due to the risers (pics taken before I did this).

Plans to properly finish it are:

New decals in red (it was not my intention to do this originally, as the decals are OK, but the build would look better with red decals now that I have added a bit of red up front).

Decals for the forks. I have been toying with trying to remove the ones on the disc only lowers and refit to the v lowers, but I think I will probably just ruin the and end up with none, so I am looking for a source for decals. I have seen a few custom versions and I could add some red to the forks as well to tie it all in.

Saddle. The USE saddle is really nice and comfy, but it has blue stitching so will not go with the new red decals. I do have a Flite (one of the crazy light modern ones) with red detailing that would work, but not sure I recall it being that comfy - what to do?

Here are some pics of progress so far, as highlighted, a few small steps to finish it all off now.

 

[cherrybomb]

Oh man I like that a lot.

I think the LTS & STS are odd looking frames which quite often don't look very balanced, but that seems to work really well aesthetically.

The big question is: what does it ride like with the modern Fox up front? I'd love to find a retro full sus frame that can still cut it. I could justify getting rid of my modern bike then.

I reckon you need a bit of blue somewhere. Maybe a blue seat clamp. That's the problem with Fox forks, the've got red AND blue bits on them.

 

[ishaw]

I agree. I've a hope one somewhere but I think it's too big.

 

[xam1]

Hi Ian! That bike looks nice! Actually I had my first short test drive with my own STS -98 last night... (btw, your old RS shock seem to work ok) It's amazingly fun bike to drive! Little bit more tinkering and it's ready.

 

[ishaw]

I reckon you need a bit of blue somewhere. Maybe a blue seat clamp. That's the problem with Fox forks, the've got red AND blue bits on them.

Blue seat clamp you say.......

Not sure if it will go once I have the red decal set on there though?

What colour bottle boss bolts should I go for? Blue, Red? Red and blue or just plain silver?

 

[ishaw]

Hi Ian! That bike looks nice! Actually I had my first short test drive with my own STS -98 last night... (btw, your old RS shock seem to work ok) It's amazingly fun bike to drive! Little bit more tinkering and it's ready.

Glad to hear that. I took it for a spin around the garden (no, sadly I don't live in a country mansion, it is just about big enough to pedal around in) and it felt really good. I must admit I read a few things about setting sag in the rear shock, something it seems a lot of people don't do and then thing the ride is terrible (Sadly I can admit that I read the manual before use). I can't say how much better it is with the air shock at the back as a) I'm not sure what pressure I need (more research required) and b) I didn't get to do much riding before I swapped the Coupe Deluxe over for a NOS Super Deluxe, and I hadn't ridden it with the super deluxe fitted, it never left the garage)

 

[cherrybomb]

Blue seat clamp you say.......

Not sure if it will go once I have the red decal set on there though?

What colour bottle boss bolts should I go for? Blue, Red? Red and blue or just plain silver?

Seat clamp looks cool. Might just have to get one myself now for the modern ride.

Not sure about bottle bolts. Think I'd wait until the new decals are fitted and see then. If there's red in the decals, then maybe blue bolts would look cool??

 

[Bollox64]

Nice build, and agree 100% with below - Tri-spokes ruin many an STS/LTS IMHO.

Nice build, I like it... and no tri spoke wheels either, excellent stuff.

 

[ishaw]

Now with added betterment. Enjoy!