Status:  In Progress
Made in USA
​Size: ​​18"/46cm
Frame: Tange Infinity MTB, Tapered & Double-Butted
Fork:  TBD (RockShox Magnesium is unrepairable) 
Groupset & Brakeset:  Shimano Deore LX
Wheelset:  Ritchey Vantage Sport rims with Shimano Exage hubs and Continental Race King​ 2.0 tires

 Who could forget the GT Tequesta with it's crazy white splash on black paint and its flattened stem with matching paint.  These were amazing bikes, made in California with high quality Tange infinity tubing.  At some point in its life, someone had upgraded the forks to a Rock Shox Mag but it was going to need a complete rebuild. 

Status:  Sold
Made in Canada
​Size: ​​17"/43cm
Frame & Fork: Tange MTB Double Butted
Groupset & Brakeset:  Shimano Deore
Wheelset:  Ukai rims with Shimano Deore hubs and Continental Race King​ 2.0 tires

The Rocky Mountain Hammer was a hot bike back in the 80s with it's lugged Tange double butted frame and beautiful fade paint.  This one was in pretty decent shape and the Shimano Deore groupset would polish up nicely. 

This was so much fun!  The paint had a lot of nicks but I just couldn't imagine painting it.  I loved the red to yellow fade and decided a deep restoration would be better.  I think the paint turned out pretty good. I carried the frame into the cosmetic department at the local Pharmasave and looked through all their nail polish trying to find the best match.  It wasn't perfect but I think it looks better than the nicks and scratches.  The Deore parts polished up so nicely!  The original pedals were missing so I found a used pair from the era and polished the aluminum, repainted the cage and repacked the bearings.  I think they turned out well.  The Wilderness Bikes saddle was in good shape but I thought it needed one that looked more vintage.  The seatpost had been cut but luckily I found one that fit.  It was deeply scratched but LOTS of sanding and polishing fixed it up.  I replaced the cables and usually replace the housing but instead I polished up the original red housing, cleaned them out and reused them.  I think black housing would have looked good but the red ones were original and really matched the paint well. The Ritchey grips and Continental Race Kings finished it up quite well.  I'm super happy with the way this Rocky Mountain turned out!

Status:  For Sale at $495
​Size: ​​18"/46cm
Frame & Fork: Norco Chromoly
Groupset:  Shimano 300 LX
Wheelset:  Araya VP20 rims with Shimano Exage Sport hubs on Kenda Small Block Eight 26x1.95 tires

At first glance, I thought this was a rather ugly bike that wasn't worth fixing. The "triple triangle" on this bike made me think it was a GT but it turns out that Norco made a triple triangle Bigfoot for a short period of time.  GT sued them and won so Norco had to stop production of their triple triangle bikes making this one rare.  That bit of cool factor, along with that wicked looking straight fork, a rare thing in 1990, made me think twice about the potential of this bike.   

I really didn't like the original paint job at all so I decided to paint this Norco Bigfoot the way that I thought it should have been painted originally.  I couldn't resist adding a 'big foot' to the Bigfoot logo.  I also used a more modern looking "Norco" for the headbadge and downtube decals.  I made every decal on the bike with Photoshop and cut them out with my Cricut.   The rebuild went well with only a couple complications.  The crankset and derailleurs were in excellent condition and cleaned up well.  They almost look new.  The shifter/brake lever combos, however, were shot.  All the 7 speed shifters I found had brake levers attached that were meant for V-Brakes.  In the end, I found this really cool set of aluminum brake levers and these nearly new Grip Shift shifters that ended up looking and working really well.  The other challenge was the seatpost.  It came with a rare sized 26.2mm seatpost that didn't have the seat clamps at the top so it could only be used with a cheap department store style saddle.  I found a proper MTB seatpost in that weird size at bikeInn.com out of Spain.  I love that store!  In the end I feel like I turned a dorky, ugly, dated looking bike into a really cool bike that anyone would be proud to ride on the trails or around town.