Looking to attempt a restomod on an old MTB. Turning it into an xbike for trail riding and bikepacking. Is this the kind of thing I should be looking at? How easy would it be for a total novice to restore it and modify it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
by AangTheTriangle
9 Comments
In that colorway? Yeah that’s a good price
Seems pretty good. Check for any serious rust or frame damage. Also calculate how much of the components you will be able to keep. But certainly seems like a good start.
Consider you’ll also need to invest in about $100-200 in tools if this is your first bike resto. Not just in tools to take the old stuff off, but tools to put any new stuff on. Things like bottom bracket wrenches and crank pullers don’t use the same standards now.
In terms of ease to do it? Anyone who’s ever worked with nuts and screws before should be able to handle it. The biggest issue is figuring out which pieces are reverse threaded. If you’ve ever managed to put together IKEA furniture or a PC before, you’re basically a doctoral candidate in bike building.
But yeah, I’d take that bike at that price in a heartbeat.
I’ve paid more for less
If it’s within your budget then yes.
As a project bike for trails/bike packing it’s great.
That 105 isn’t stock is it? Great derailleur
Go check out how worn out everything is. Mention how much you’re going to have to replace and work on. They’ve already come down in price once, which means no real bites. Plus they didn’t even bother to clean it before listing, which means they want it gone more than they want to put time into it.
Not a bad price, but decide if you can live with the limitations of the rear brake being on the chain stay instead of the seat stay.
Check that the seatpost isn’t seized. Join r/rockhopper and get more opinions there, though most of those people are probably also here. Two things to note, the rear spacing is 130mm so not easy to cram in an 8-9-10-11-12 freehub for 1x purposes. Also the rear brakes are U-brakes which don’t lend themselves to v-brake swaps. I bought, stripped and rebuilt one of these last year and it’s a great ride. Kept it stock including 3×6 drivetrain. Got modern tires and it was good to go.