1992 GT Pantera Midnight Aurora... a repro attempt

[PhillB]

How did I miss this Phill??? I definitely need to plan a work trip up to London sometime to have a look at all these amazing GT's you're amassing. Where are you putting them all??? Amazing paint job on that, and a nice 16" frame too? Love the lower end groupset too!

Heh, this was a project I planned last summer, whilst i was restoring my '91 Team Avalanche... I found a few photos of the Pantera Midnight Aurora online which I thought looked amazing, but, because they were so rare, I thought the chances of ever finding one for sale (and I could afford) were zero so I thought, why not make one?..., I've spent faaaar too much time thinking about and researching this, but it turned out better than I ever could have hoped for. As I was building from scratch, it had to be a 16 inch and Exage 500 LX for the win . Despite all the planning I forgot to get a seatpost, which finally came today, so some complete bike pics in the next few days hopefully.

I think I have 10 GT's now, There's probably 2 I still am looking for... a Psyclone and an '89 Team Avalanche.

They are all stored securely (not in my shed!)

 

[27motorhead]

Great stuff Phill. Only 10 GT's then?!* Psyclone's are lovely. As for the 89 Team Avalanche one of those would be uber rare in the UK. Although here's some inspiration for you!
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/1989-gt-team-avalanche.317981/Never seen one in the flesh! Love the old GT All Terra logo and BMX shaped GT logo on the top tube end cap.

 

[PhillB]

Great stuff Phill. Only 10 GT's then?!* Psyclone's are lovely. As for the 89 Team Avalanche one of those would be uber rare in the UK. Although here's some inspiration for you!
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/1989-gt-team-avalanche.317981/Never seen one in the flesh! Love the old GT All Terra logo and BMX shaped GT logo on the top tube end cap.

Yes, almost got a Psyclone frame recently... but it didn't work out... The '89 Team Avalanche is more in hope than expectation tbh! But you never know what might turn up... I have a '90 Karakoram to do next

 

[slackboy]

You'll probably be wanting some nice toe clips to go with those Phil...

 

[PhillB]

You'll probably be wanting some nice toe clips to go with those Phil...

Me and Toe clips don't get on... I have a box of them I've taken off bikes These pedals might not stay long term...

 

[Black_puma]

That paintwork is amazing, what else can I say? You certainly have more patience than I would have!

 

[PhillB]

I finally managed to finish this today. Some photos of the final build. Took it out for a short ride this evening. Some minor adjustments, but pretty happy overall.

 

[minor_LEGEND]

Utterly awesome job as has been said. The paint looks factory perfect & I also applaud the spec of lesser-loved 500LX drivetrain parts.

I might add that I doubt a Pantera was custom painted from GT, it's a mass-produced Taiwanese frame so I would suggest an Aurora painted Pantera is a model spec for an overseas market, not seen in a UK catalogue. I do like the bright Orange Panteras myself, though a bit vanilla compared with this stunner.

 

[d8mok]

Not sure how I missed this.

Fantastic build and paint.

 

[Black_puma]

Utterly awesome job as has been said. The paint looks factory perfect & I also applaud the spec of lesser-loved 500LX drivetrain parts.

I might add that I doubt a Pantera was custom painted from GT, it's a mass-produced Taiwanese frame so I would suggest an Aurora painted Pantera is a model spec for an overseas market, not seen in a UK catalogue. I do like the bright Orange Panteras myself, though a bit vanilla compared with this stunner.

It was actually a mix of Deore LX and 500LX, although some variations can occur depending on the market.
The bright red of the Pantera looks even brighter in daylight, whilst not as nice as PhillB's paint job on his bike, it still appealed to me enough to me that I had to have this bike again after losing my original Pantera in '93.
However if the 'special' paint job had been available at the time in '92/93 I would definitely have chosen it over the other colours, no question about that.