Dear Robert, I personally knew Gary back when I had onZa in the 90s. Knowing him he would love to give you a call and pay you a visit and find a way to produce a Retro-Mod based off your beautiful bike, paint decals and all. I would not doubt it would be the best selling Gravel bike for two years in a row. Everything on your beautiful restoration screams! ""BITCH... YOU WANT ME, YOU BUY ME, YOU RIDE ME"" Amazing, when I first saw your photo on the cover of your RU-vid vid, I thought WOW TREK & Gary are actually coming out with this amazing new retro Fisher bike. But was blown away when I saw it was a rescue bike... Utterly Fantastic Master Piece!
There’s a certain level of irony in saying “new parts are too expensive”, but using machining a single nut and brake mount with thousands of dollars of tools😂! Great work, very cool bike and insightful build!
But 142 and 135mm hubs are still the same from locknut to locknut as I understand it. I would have just found an old mtb fork and built up wheels with 100/135mm hubs.
I cringe when I hear someone say, "bike build", which usually means they've changed out some functional parts for fancy parts, but this is genius and absolutely amazing! Well, done sir.
Wow. Honestly the thru axle conversion blew my mind. That is such a good idea. I knew about cold setting, but I hadn't seen anyone do that thru axle stuff. Too bad you need some pretty crazy tooling to do this, what an amazing build. As a Gary Fisher owner, I love this build.
I use 10x 135 thru axile conversion on my dt swiss for aluminum full suspension mtb. And cut 142 endcaps to 135 on a aluminum hardtail and drilled the dropouts from 10mm to12mm . In case u don't have steel or ti , there's great options.. and 1° slacker headsets are available for 1 1/8. Not sure about 1" head tubes .
This is absolutely incredible. This is the most detailed and creative vintage bike conversion builds I've EVER SEEN. Usually most people just put on a new drivetrain, tires and bars and call it a day.
Wow, what a brilliant video! I was born in 1973, raced as a teenager on these type of frames in Poland in the late 1980s. I was shocked how easy this conversion went for you. And the Winamp part was great. Unforgettable times.
That sounds amazing. I'm a 1978 model, myself. These bikes were big for me in my late teens. I was in college dorms with a T1 line in 1998 and winamp was all the rage then. We would share files over the university network and make our own Winamp skins. I remember it fondly.
Props for this. For myself, I am perfectly happy with the way I typically 'gravelize' nineties mountain bikes: put faster rolling tires on it, swap the handlebars for a drop bar or a Surly Corner Bar type of handlebar, find a high and short stem to get the position right, and that's it. I like the snappy acceleration and the nimble steering of 26" wheels (and their strength), and well adjusted V-brakes work perfectly fine for me.. That said, I do like the concept and realization of this bike very much. Props also for the calm editing and talking us thru the build, including the mistakes. That's a breath of fresh air compared to most bike build video's here. Good job!
I have a Gary Fisher L' Aquila mountain bike. I bought it new in 1999 in Sydney. So it's now 25 years old! The front suspension forks gave up a couple of years ago and I replaced them with rigid forks. I've been running it on narrow road tyres for many years and predominantly using it on sealed roads, basically as a road bike. The bike has seen life in Vietnam for two years, Laos, Indonesia for several years, and Malawi, as well as here in New South Wales. It's still in nearly daily use, though I do alternate it with my full suspension bike depending on the ride. Still a lovely bike to ride. At 73, I now think my legs will retire before the bike!
Robert, good video! As a cyclist of 35 years, and a Machinist/Engineer of 45 years, I can appreciate what you've accomplished. I have an old Stumpjumper with 26" wheels, disc brakes, and Quick Release hubs. I converted the 26ers to thru axles in a similar fashion. I had to custom make the axles, modify the hubs, and modify the dropouts. Having machine tools is great!
Thank you for saving a Gary Fisher bike from the scrap yard.. as a collector of vintage Gary Fisher bikes I appreciate this video.. from the way the Gary Fisher logo is on the frame and head tube it looks like a 1999 - 2000 model.. my aquila 26er has the same writing. ❤
Man you just did the entire project a way way way better than anyone online here on youtube, So much precise on the measurement , then the disc mount and finding the used parts with the the frame stretching to fit the through axle, it was amazing.
Probably the most impressive 90s mtb to gravel conversion on RU-vid. Great ideas for anyone that’s handy too. Would’ve been cool to see those adapters brazed on but the flux core welder is a great budget solution
I've abandoned any idea of paying what Gravel Bikes are going for these days. Rediculous! NO MORE!! This is real inspiration. "Necessity is the mother of invention", all you bike Manufacturers..
This is the content I’ve been looking for all day! A restomod bike, truly modded to make it work with modern standards. Many may say it’s shameful to “destroy” another classic frame, but I say it’s better to do this and create a revised version of a bike that will get ridden a lot.
I love all those old Gary Fisher's. They had such cool names and paint jobs. My first real mtb was a GF Kaitai and it had this awesome sparkly yellow paint job.
Well done, the conversion was totally captivating and your finished bike is gorgeous! You've finished with a very beautiful bike! Something to cherish and be proud to ride!
Excellent video….i just did this with an older all carbon 2011 Ridley x-Fire CX bike. Found it dirty and neglected in a pawn shop. I added a SRAM 1X drivetrain, Fulcrum Racing wheels, Ritchey seat post and pedals. Came with Avid shorty ultimate cantilever brakes and Swisstop pads. Great gravel rider/ fun ride coffee stop bike that turns heads.
Everyone else - "Let's build a gravel bike" - proceeds to clean the frame and put a brand new groupset and drop bar on. This guy - "Let's build a gravel bike" - proceeds to make his own thru-axles and disc mounts! You have a new subscriber.
This is my first watch amongst your video's, it was amazing. I have seen lots of conversation video's so far this one is the best. End part you says about the wrong/mistakes/things that goes imperfect was something very much new, and those are the learning that helps a lot. I'm an amature cyclist, I made a gravel from a 90's trek singletrack. Those 90's frames are perfect for gravel/touring bike build. Apprciate your video's. nice works
Did the same thing with my early-90's Gary Fisher Cronus (didn't go thru axle though, that's great!). Have disc brake boss welded on, carbon fork. It's a dream to ride. Bottom bracket/crankset took some creativity, but now that it's all sorted it's become one of my favorite bikes to ride.
Gitche Gumee bikes are a lot of fun to ride. As a teen, I would go blasting through all the farmers fields and abandoned railway paths around my house. Spent my summer riding everywhere on that bike. Great conversion.
I was and actually still am huge Gary Fisher I was devastated when Gary Fisher went under Trek name and slowly dissapeared!Had a Big Sur from 1998 and sold it to but Hoo Koo E Koo from 2000.I wish I kept a Big Sur.Over the years I got other bikes and end up restoring Hoo Koo E Koo and glad I did!Gar Fisher fan forever!!Probably you could join forces with Old Shovel channel.He likes restoring old mtbs.
Amazing and inspirational. And hats off for showing people that paint solvents are no joke (Full skin coverage, and full face respirator with fresh air supply.) The only way to do it properly . Central nervous system damage is not to be taken lightly... ask anyone who's experienced it.
I made the same conversion,from a 1993 Raleigh mtb 26" ,to a 28" (700) Gravel bike (but with caliper brake ) works great,the only complaint is the increase of height of the center of gravity,not only for the stability,but also for the saddle height. With the same distance i use on normal bike,it's difficult touch the ground with feet...
Good looking build. I really enjoy building a bike from the frame up, and converting the type of bike as well. Great job with the frame modifications, and the through axle conversion.
Robert that's an awesome build and a incredible show of craftsmanship, the amount of detail and the skillset required to do this is mind blown.. I want to know if the rear brake adapter that you make doesnt need a reinforce bar between the top and the bottom rear stay. I bet that you have the right answer to this hahaha but when I see the adapter made I was thinking that you were going to make a reinforcement of some type. Enjoy the new ride!
Wow, the dropout thru axle conversion is really genius, first time seeing this solution, hats of!!! pleasant to watch, beautiful build, always great to see old frames being repurposed, love it
I own a Gary Fischer Explosif from 90something. Great frame and I always thought about how to get the most out of it - what you did here is really amazing! Congratulation!
Thank you for sharing, these old Gary Fisher chromoly frames are my go-to they're so highly versatile for modifications, The geometry setup on most of these frames are incredible I should not be thrown out
what a setup! This is exactly what I'd love to do and convert old steel MTB frames to 700c gravel bikes. Surely I'm not the only one, and this is a business opportunity for you. Wish I was state side!
The nostalgia part of your video made me kinda sad and long for the early days of mtb's. How we used to geek out at all the new tech at the time. Got my first mtb in 85 and still have it. Remember buddies showing up with Fisher's and thinking, gotta get one of those. Those were the days. Now I'm officially old and just bought my first e-mtb. It has renewed my love of the sport. Now I'm looking at all the old bikes in my barn and wondering, which one will make a good gravel bike. Never say die.
This is it. This is it 😮 recently got an old giant rock 4000. Can fit 700wheela. Wow. Really appreciate for the video. Please don't stop making these bikes 🙏 ❤
Wow, and wow, about thru axle! You even made your own brackets for disc brakes. 90's soul is still alive with black and green stuff on Winamp. Well done sir!
Regarding the cable pulley, i used one intended for a folding bike, fitted to the seat tube with a 28.6mm bottle cage adapter. Its a relatively solid piece of aluminium and has held up just fine.
I really enjoyed watching this. I converted my c.2009 Gary Fisher Ferrous into my main gravel rig and never looked back. Thru axle conversion was awesome. Nice work. Thanks!