1992 GT Pantera Midnight Aurora... a repro attempt

[PhillB]

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.

Thanks, and you may be right! no-one seems to know for sure. Although I do recall someone saying they were special order in Midnight Aurora. Given it was over 30 years ago, I'm not surprised no-one remembers .

Overall, I think the Pantera's were underrated and understandably over shadowed by the Zaskar. Of course, they are fab bikes in their own right though (In any colour ;-))

 

[PhillB]

Not sure how I missed this.

Fantastic build and paint.

Cheers Dom.

 

[PhillB]

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.

Yes, I've tried to make it as close to spec as possible - RD/FD and Cranks are all 500LX, the rest is LX IIRC. Wheels are overspecced Ritchey Vantage. I have since found some NOS black LX pedals which have replaced the XP one in the photos.

After repainting and clear coating I tend to store the bike away for a few weeks to let the 2K clear coat properly harden. (It is rideable after a week, but still pretty soft for a couple of months) Other projects have taken over and this is sat quietly at the back of my storage. A ride is overdue!!!

 

[d8mok]

It could be a colour for a certain market.

GT were well known for having certain colours available in different parts of the world. Which means that some colours either don’t appear in brochures we have, or are rare for us to see.

 

[Black_puma]

Yes, I've tried to make it as close to spec as possible - RD/FD and Cranks are all 500LX, the rest is LX IIRC. Wheels are overspecced Ritchey Vantage. I have since found some NOS black LX pedals which have replaced the XP one in the photos.

After repainting and clear coating I tend to store the bike away for a few weeks to let the 2K clear coat properly harden. (It is rideable after a week, but still pretty soft for a couple of months) Other projects have taken over and this is sat quietly at the back of my storage. A ride is overdue!!!

My current Pantera AL is kitted out with Deore LX FD/RD, 500LX cranks, Exage hubs and Exage rear U brake, Ritchey Vantage Sport rims. Originally it should have come with Deore LX shifters, but when I bought it it came with Deore DX shifters/levers (sadly the 7 speed shifter turned out to be very stiff in the lower gears ) have now been replaced with Deore DX Thumbshifters/brake levers combo.

 

[mattbrown]

Thats a really great job you've done. I love the early GT paint jobs.

 

[PhillB]

Thats a really great job you've done. I love the early GT paint jobs.

Cheers, Yes, me too!!

 

[Black_puma]

One of my favourite builds over the last year was @Bart_75 re-imagining a GT Avalanche into Tequila Sunrise 2.0

Tequila Sunrise 2.0

Shortly afterwards, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a (rather neglected) 1991 GT Team Avalanche Midnight Aurora which I restored. While I was researching this bike, I saw a few photos of GT Pantera with the Midnight Aurora paintwork. From what I could glean, this was a special order paintwork from GT and no-one quite knows how many were made.....but not many... a handful perhaps.

I remember thinking how cool it would be to find one. @Bicisdelos90 in Argentina has one Pantera

View attachment 837565
But the likelihood of finding one was pretty low... So I thought I would follow Bart's idea and create my own...well have a go anyway...


First thing to do was buy a Pantera frame. I found one on eBay. In retrospect, it probably would have been easier to buy a complete bike... but I bought a frames for not very much.

(Amongst GT's, it seems that Panteras don't get a lot of love... always in the shadow of their more successful big brother Zaskar... I do think that they are underrated)

View attachment 837566

Well-used, but complete and with a U-brake and seat-tube cable thingy. I gave it a clean-up and left it the shed for months whilst I worked on other projects...

In the meantime, I was collecting components. LX Exage 500 parts are not very glam...so are refreshingly cheap-ish.

I also asked Ákos Szilvassy if he could make me some decals...which he did... you can find them on eBay now because of this experiment

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After a few other projects were completed, I was ready to start. First to strip the frame. This took ages and two cans of paint stripper...Pantera Paint is tough! I still had to sand large parts of it.

I've learned from experience though that you never regret time spent on prep... so it took a couple of weeks to get the frame ready to spray.

First two coats were Self Etching Primer paint for Aluminium

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Once that had dried, it was time for the base coat. Black. I used spray.bike paint. 3 coats.

View attachment 837572

Next I needed to apply the Aurora's.

I used Acrylic Metallic paint and a Sponge (Real Sponge by Seawhite of Brighton) and experimented on a piece of black guttering to get the right paint load and application method to match the pattern as closely as I could.

I'll admit I was anxious about starting it and f**king it up...but then I thought it's just an old Pantera frame, 'who cares?' and got on with it... it was actually quite enjoyable/

View attachment 837573

Once the Aurora's had dried I applied the decals. For the first time ever, I almost messed this up.. but salvaged it..

View attachment 837574

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Final stage was to clear coat it. I use SprayMax 2K, three coats.

The clear coat was done yesterday morning. right now it is drying/hardening for a week or two before I build the bike up...


To be continued....

I'm officially gobsmacked by the way that frame looks and your effort in making it it so, @PhillB

 

[PhillB]

I'm officially gobsmacked by the way that frame looks and your effort in making it it so, @PhillB

Thanks, reminds me I should get it out for a ride