Building the bike nobody wanted. 1991 RidgeRunner.

[Spankyfart]

Well here goes, today (just now) a package arrived and it should contain the bike I always wanted.
In 1991 I had money to buy one bike, the choice was between the RidgeRunner and the Terraliner CBL.
Being the responsible boy I was back then I bought the Koga Miyata Terraliner Carbolite and never looked back.
I never regretted the choice and it served me well for at least 12 years and then... that's a story for another day perhaps.

My g/f wasn't riding her TerralinerAlloy anymore because with the small 700c wheels she got caught a few times in the Amsterdam tramline rails. So at the start of 2022 I started building an MTB Commuter for her, it needed a diamond shape and have a relax seating position and fat tires. After finishing her bike from scratch I wanted one too, not a commuter but a "real" MTB.

Being a lurker here for a long time I made an account somewhere last year looking for a GT in a larger size. Being 6,2" / 1.90m old school MTB's are fairly hard to find in a large size so old farts can ride them comfortably.
The search for the GT went no where really so I settled for a 20.5" Indian Fire Trial and yeah that didn't really work out as planned.
Months later I found a '96 Pallisades, not the bike I wanted but at that point I already had scrounged up bits and bobs and I just wanted something. I built it up with the bits I had and it is a real nice bike, nice.. like just nice.

Then two weeks a go this popped up.

 

[Spankyfart]

The bike I never bought, the Miyata that got away. It's in size 57 so it's the largest ever made, these just don't pop up often, if ever.
Quickly made a deal for asking, I didn't care. I had to have it.
Impuls buys like these rarely work out, especially with old aluminum frames (IFT anyone?) but I bought it regardless.

The frame was somewhere else so it couldn't be posted right away which was fine, I asked if he would have a look at all the threads and paint and see if there are any cracks. I already paid the man, so yeah..
Anyways, here are the pics provided in the ad.




It looked good enough, but you can't see everything on a picture.
Since I didn't have the frame yet, I wanted to figure out what the colour was so I could powdercoat it and get new decals on it.
And then I stumbled on a post from 2009. Lo and behold, it's the same frame with an earlier owner.
It has all the scuffs, faded decals and then some. So alarm bells rang, as the post never ended in a proud owner with a pretty bike.
But the story ends with me buying the frame from a 3d owner who had (also) done nothing to the bike it seems.
What is wrong with this bike.. It's in the box. What's in the box? What's in the box?

I don't have the heart to open it, and be dissapointed..
Everything in my head tell's me it's a wallhanger.

 

[Spankyfart]

Since this "might" be a build thread, here are the original specs.

 

[Spankyfart]

It's out of the box, and yay.. no heads were found.
Degreased the frame, looks in good working order although I might have found one issue.
The seatpost collar has a sus spot, I need to remove some paint to see what exactly it is.
Let's hope it's nothing.

Finding a fork will be another thing, the stererer size is huge, 167MM.
The broken seatpost collar is from the internet, it's not this frame. But I dread to find a start like that under the paint.
But that's for tomorrow.

 

[grantoury]

Watching this one, hope the seat cluster will be in one piece...

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Ahhh!

Will you have this welded!? Else you can DIY with JB-Weld and some sand paper. Can be painted too. You may be able to get away with a DIY repair since the seat post is inserted much deeper into the seat tube where it is more supported. Maybe something like a Thomson post? Those are thick as heck on the wall and may not flex too much.

 

[Spankyfart]

Well, "if" it's a beginning crack, the wisest thing would be to grind of the collar clamp rails/notches/holder thingy.
Make it round and use a nice hope seatclamp, I say wisest but I have no idea if that will work.
It sounds like the logical thing to do.
But for now, it's not broken. Schroedingers seatcollar.

 

[MuchAlohaNui]

Ah ok. I saw the picture of the broken piece and thought that was yours. I have a 1992 Al-megaXT in a similar situation. I don’t know how to weld and don’t want to pay someone to do it. I have had really good experiences with JB-weld that is available with the bits of metal mixed in the epoxy. This is moreso an unofficial endorsement of the product and less about my beat Alpinestars. I’ll be watching this thread to see what you end up doing!

 

[mk one]

Well here goes, today (just now) a package arrived and it should contain the bike I always wanted.
In 1991 I had money to buy one bike, the choice was between the RidgeRunner and the Terraliner CBL.
Being the responsible boy I was back then I bought the Koga Miyata Terraliner Carbolite and never looked back.
I never regretted the choice and it served me well for at least 12 years and then... that's a story for another day perhaps.

And an interesting story, as you would have been 3 when you bought the Koga

 

[Spankyfart]

I was 24, and making too much money at the time.
Clearly never saved a penny of it.