I was told this sub might like this. (details in description)

Finally got this to about 99% of what I want to do with it. (Details in description)

Diamondback Apex 26” Rigid from \~1996 (not sure of the year, but it’s around the 90s)

Tires – Continental Mountain King 26×2.3”

Oval narrow wide chain ring

Box 3 Prime 9 (1×9 with a clutch)

RaceFace Chester pedals (by far my favorite budget pedals, definitely will rip your shins if you aren’t careful)

PNW XL lock-on grips

Shimano V-brakes instead of the original cantilever (the original brakes were rusted beyond repair and I didn’t feel like trying to find cantilever brakes when I could get V brakes for like $20)

And a random luggage rack from target, because I also use this for commuting.

The total cost is probably around $400-$500.

This is not my primary mountain bike, but I do take it out to the trails sometimes, and it is so much fun. If there was one thing I could change that I actually can’t realistically change, it would be switching to disc brakes. these rim brakes struggle quite a lot when they start to get a little bit wet.

And just for fun, here’s some things I would like to do eventually if I am able to just throw obscene amounts of money at it:

BERD spokes (this would cost probably $600 in spokes alone, but it would be a very interesting experiment)

2-piece crankset

New hubs to fit shimano 12-speed (the Box 9 speed has an of narrow cassette that can fit the 7 speed hub, shimano 12-speed wouldn’t)

But anything else I could do to this would be very minor, especially since the seat tube is some weird like 26.8 mm size or something, so they’re basically is no dropper post in existence, and the travel would be limited on a dropper anyways.

I cannot wait to get it out on the trails when it starts to dry a little bit, it’s been raining for the past few days and it’s supposed to rain for another week.