1993 GT Corrado > Richter 8.0 - Tioga build

[kingoffootball]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

I've decided that putting a longer axle in would feel like a bodge (I'm weird on things like that) so I'm hurriedly looking for a replacement rear wheel. I found one an M732 one on ebay that would have worked ok, but it went for £50, which was more than I was willing to pay for it.

I'm now wondering whether to expand my search beyond an M732 wheel, because although the drive train and brakes are M73* the front wheel has a Tioga hub, so if I could find anything that went well with that I'd be tempted by that instead.

I figure what is most likely is that I'll resort to looking for a wheel I can use temporarily so that I have a bike to take on holiday and then replace it when I can find something that's a better match. Unfortunately, I have a few decent spare front wheels, but no rears, so I might end up having to swap my Nukeproof or Hope front wheel.

[edit] Any suggestions as to whether to go with M732 or any possible alternatives gratefully received, as at the moment I can't settle on a solution.

 

[kingoffootball]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

Finally put the frame and forks together:

Hoping to achieve some more progress today.

(Jill Sandwich in the background, I love how this picture turned out).

 

[kingoffootball]

Re:

Well, the plan was to build this up to take to Arran last summer. I had it half built and in the rush to get it finished stupidly managed to shear off a bolt in the rear brake boss where it had been poorly masked for powdercoating. I was pretty annoyed with myself, but after it became clear I wasn't going to be able to get it removed in time for the holiday the frameset got hung back up on a rack in the garage and has remained there since. Over a year later, I'm going down south to visit family and will have the tools at my disposal to remove it, so as long as I remember to take it with me the frame should be usable again in a week's time.

All the other components are still sat on the shelf ready and waiting, so assuming I can sort out the frame it should just be a case of building it up.

The silver-lining is that I've solved my quandary over what to do about a rear wheel. Although a M732 hubbed wheel would fit the rest of the XT build, it still bugged me a little to pair it up with the Tioga front hub for some reason. Last autumn, a GT hubbed rear wheel came up for sale on Singletrack and I decided that would look much better with the Tioga. Unfortunately, it's laced to a black Mavic F519, which negates all the effort of finding a good colour grey rim for the front wheel, but I'll live with the mismatched rims.

The GT wheel was a bit of a state when I got it, but I've given it a bit of a clean up and it came up quite well. Just needs a little tensioning and truing now:

Fingers crossed I might actually be able to ride this in September!

 

[kingoffootball]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

This has been sat in a state of near completion for a long time, but I wasn't happy with the smoothness of the headset and bottom bracket, so it's just been sat there.

I'm going to strip and check the headset, but I decided to buy a new bottom bracket for it:

 

[kingoffootball]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

Closer to completion than ever. I've rebuilt the headset again and although it's not perfect it will serve for now. I've also fitted the Syncros bottom bracket, so now just need to cable and fit the chain and pedals.

 

[26er]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

Was looking for a way to remove a seized up seat post on youtube... and all of a sudden ended up here. Funny how this internet works sometimes. This whole thread reminds me of my own Karakoram...

Really weird.

 

[k-rod]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

wow - if I had a frame out for finishing, and it came back dinged ... the painter or powder-coating outfit would most certainly be hearing from me about it!

 

[kingoffootball]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

I was somewhat unhappy at first, but before I got to calling them about it it struck me that however much I vented my anger it wouldn't un-ding the tube, so there just didn't seem much point. At least it's not too noticeable.

The bike is still in the condition pictured above - you've reminded me I should try to find time today to cable it etc, assuming I have enough cable.

 

[kingoffootball]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

A quick recap:

O I bought the bike in 2012 in a very poor state, mainly on the basis I paid about the same for it as the XT rear mech was worth.

O I took it for a quick spin and liked the feel of it, despite the fact it was in a barely rideable state so decided I'd see what could do with it.

O Stripping it down, the instant concern was the sheared off seat post. On the plus side, this gave me a chance to try out the caustic soda method of removal, made even easier by the fact it required repainting anyway.

O Next it went to the powdercoaters. Maybe I should have masked it myself, but they were recommended and had done loads of bikes. Anyway, it wasn't great and I had to clean out some of them threads.

O Even worse, a ding had appeared in the top tube. It's barely noticeable, but I was (and still am) very unhappy about it.

O Getting over that, I decided it would be great to take on holiday to the Isle of Arran a month before I went.

O Quickly solving a few build issues (XT wheel was 130mm, so ended up replacing it with a GT Hadley rear) I was on course to finish it about a week before I was due to leave when disaster struck - I sheared off a canti bolt in one of the studs that had some powdercoat in the thread. I tried to remove it with the techniques suggested with the tools I had at hand, but got nowhere and instead quickly built up the Zaskar to take to Arran.

O So it got shelved for a year until I was going to visit my mum, who lives at a vehicle dismantlers, when I took it with me and my step-father kindly removed the sheared bolt.

O I started building it up, but wasn't happy with the smoothness of the rebuilt bottom bracket, so it got shelved again whilst I looked for another.

O A nice Syncros bottom bracket added and by September 2015 it was all built bar cabling and chain.

O Due to how rarely I have time to work on the bikes and the priority going to work on the ones I need for everyday transport, it remained that was until today, when (after giving up on unsuccessful attempts to get things done on my house) I can finally say it is completed!

A quick photo before a late lunch. I'll try to take it for a quick test ride up the road to see how well setup it is and take some better photos in a bit.

 

[26er]

Re: 1993 GT Richter 8.0

Looks very nice. What front forks is that?