1996 GT Avalanche on FB Marketplace - Had to save it!

[27motorhead]

Amazing you have photos of your first MTB, I don't. I barely have any of my second MTB either. Just rose tinted memories!

That was still a GT despite no triple triangle, but had their trademark overshot ovalised top tube/seat tube intersection with branded end cap. Love the bottle cage mounted to the underside of the top tube. How the hell did you fit a lock in there between x2 bottles?

Love you riding through the water, that's what I use to do, especially when you first got into MTBing, you head for the deepest, wettest, dirtiest thing you could find, just because, but you soon realise, cleaning bikes is a pain in the arse!

Hope they don't ever introduce mandatory helmet wearing to the UK, shame Australia and NZ have it. Retro helmet will be cool, plus some Eyeshades like your friend had, although so many glasses these days have Eyeshade DNA in them...

 

[JustinFox]

I hunted down some Rock Shox Mag 21’s. They look damn clean, but as expected they don’t work too well. Definitely more plush than what I had on there originally, but they don’t bounce back to where they should (they need air? Probably a lot more than just air). I swapped out to a shorter stem and a super beat up $10 SDG Bel Air DH saddle I found on eBay. Also a silver Chris King style headset (the old was one crunchy as) and silver seatpost clamp and Acor front brake booster.

I’m thinking I’ve done a bit too much all at the same time, but that’s how I like to work! I’ll most likely get a longer stem back on there, put the slimmer and lighter Tioga saddle back on and I’ll start looking into what it’ll take to get the fork working smoother.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I’m thinking I’ve done a bit too much all at the same time

Naw man, bike is looking FINE! I adore the smaller gt frames, angles are so good

 

[zonoskar]

Turned out very nice. I like the RST fork better. Like you said, the MAGs don't really work very well. But this reminds me I really need to get a ball burnished hardtail GT for my stable...

 

[JustinFox]

Cheers guys, lots more trial and error to come as I'm having way too much fun.

Lots of purple bits came in the mail today from ImprovePart who make improved retro MTB parts no longer available new. I always dreamed of owning Ringle stuff, could never afford it. I found some bits on eBay but most of it's aged really badly (and commanding quite high prices).

Ringle style Zooka stem.

Ringle style Ti Stix skewers. Unfortunately one side of the Mag 21 forks won't hold air (the other is fine). I've ordered some bits off eBay to see if I can service the fork myself, otherwise it's not working any worse with one leg than the RST forks I had on there before.

Ringle Moby style seatpost. Not sure how these guys improved this design, it's super annoying to get a saddle on there and even more annoying to adjust the saddle tilt, but it looks rad!

Have a purple King headset, might need to get that one there now. Still waiting on purple bars, a crankset and some other bits too lol.

Ordered Gravel King tyres in tan wall. Looked a LOT lighter on the site, but these are more like gum walls. 200g heavier than the Schwalbe Billy Bonkers too, but I'll leave them on for now.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Justin Fox in da house!

Long time my man, last time I saw you was at the garage at Leichhardt. Still have a picture of the models draped over my Merckx in front of some kitted out Lexus.

Good to see you still tinkering with bikes and still a weapon behind the camera lens. Hope all's well for you.

 

[JustinFox]

Justin Fox in da house!

Long time my man, last time I saw you was at the garage at Leichhardt. Still have a picture of the models draped over my Merckx in front of some kitted out Lexus.

Good to see you still tinkering with bikes and still a weapon behind the camera lens. Hope all's well for you.

Oh man! Long time! Cheers, life's great now that I'm back on bikes and YES that photo! I literally brought it up to post it on the Weight Weenies Discord a few weeks ago haha!

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Lol, that's the one! I remembered you grabbed the bike, handed it to the girls, and without a word from anyone, the girls and the photographer knew what to do.

It was the wallpaper on my PC at work back when I was in government. Got told to change it by Human Resources and I asked "don't like bicycles, huh?" and got met with a scowl.

I still have the bike. Literally EVERYTHING in that photo was too fast for me then, and as for now... man I'm gettin' old...

 

[JustinFox]

Jen's amazing custom painted rim brake SL6 Tarmac.

Riding the GT through the city at night to Jen's place was insanely fun, ripping home was even more rad!

Good company, good tunes. Good night!

Jen's helmet.

Caught up for drinks with Sydney cyclist and MAAP Ambassador Jen Kay the other night (I've shot her a few times, you can find my photos here) and thought it would be fun to ride the GT in, and man... too right! This bike is just so damn fun in an urban environment. Whilst I might not ever convince Jen to get into mountain biking I have managed to convince my BFAM to start building up an old MTB (he's in the photo with me from 1990 on page 1), and we've tempted another mate of ours to also start looking for one too.

I've got 3 wheelsets for this bike now. The original red Velocity wheels, the lighter silver Ritchey wheels (which are a bit out of true), and the even lighter Mavic Crossride style wheels made by a Chinese brand called XINC (found them on AliExpress). I actually don't like the black rim but silver brake track look, but these wheels are light, and they're perfectly true and the hub makes a decent noise too so I'm happy to use them for now.

I did buy a cheap square taper AliExpress crankset that looks similar to some vintage cranks of the 90's, but turns out they were road bike cranks and the crank arms do not clear the chainstays. I figure whilst I was at it I'd try all sorts of different setups from my parts bin, and after a full night of trial and error with SRAM Red, Dura-Ace and Rockbros cranks, BB's and spacers I went back to the TruVative/GXP setup as it just works.

I do now have a HUGE ZTTO 10-Speed 11-46T cassette on the bike, it's massive and at 330g lighter than the Shimano Deore 10-Speed 11-36T at 365g. With the SRAM Red crankset the bike dropped to 10kg flat, but with the TruVativ it's back up to 10.5kg.

I've got some purple 5DEV style cranks on order from AliExpress, and some Ultralight Rene Herse tan walls on the way too, but in reality the bike is "done" and whilst it might not be the bike that gets me back out on the trails, it'll always be my weapon of choice for urban/city blats from now on!