1x7 Wide Range! Finally, the answer we have all needed for MTB restoration. Starring a GT Backwoods 

It's so awesome to see a great bike being brought back to life by a masterful restoration. Your restoration work is helping preserving the earths resources in contrast to rampant consumerism of buying everything new instead of repair and reuse. It's important to remember the better thing for the environment is not to buy the new "green" thing, but repair and reuse what we already created.

The triple triangle is just timeless. No other brand has such a single style along their range. 3X🔺️

I'm often a purist about vintage bikes but I like what you've done with this one. I love old GTs!

I wish Shimano would take advantage of the CUES system and make an 8 or maybe 9 speed cassette for a 7 speed hub using 11 speed spacing. It would be a huge game changer!

I always lean on the cranks so it cannot roll, of that makes sense. The peddle hooks around the pole, pole rests on crank arm. Works on vertical ans horizontal like a bench just by rotating crank to correct position. Also...1x7 wide range has been my go to drivetrain for over a decade.

Excellent result there. That bike looks great! 👍

Great work. Amazing how great and reasonably modern it looks when you're done.

That cleaned up VERY nice and had some nice brakes and wheels. Looks fantastic!

Great job, Todd, gorgeous bike. I love the old GT's!

I’ve been looking for ideas to omit the front derailleur and this is a good option.

Oh man, I wish I would have seen this a week ago, that looks like the perfect cassette for what I want to do! I ended up just with a 12-32 7sp, because it was cheap and available, but now I’m going to have to order one of these 13-40 ones! Great video!

Im surprised more people don't run 2x8 gearing. I've ran mine for two years so far and haven't seen any others. great for climbing. Great for speed.11-42, 24-36. My bike is still in the 24lb range, so weight isn't a issue.

Nice ride thru on the end. That really helps put into perspective the size of the bike and how a rider looks. I subbed to your channel. Great content!

Those hubs are indeed awesome

That’s good to know, thanks.

Very nice!

Nice built👌

Beautiful bike, man! Loved the wheelies🚴🏽‍♀🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I run a 3x6 with a customized cassette. Yes you heard me right a 6 speed cassette, from the factory (mongoose threshold) albeit the original freehub has since broken and been replaced by a 7 speed with extra spacers to allow for only 6 gears

Still have a 7 speed cassette on my 98 Marin DH FRS. V light use and stored in a heated garage 19yrs before it came my way.

Terça gorda cedo assistindo suas "restomods" maravilha como sempre. Obrigado, bom trabalho.

Nice, maybe a little more rise on the bars would make it even better, but thats an easy upgrade!

I've been a fan of the 1 by set ups... Just think it cleans things up.

very cool parts washer!

I love old GT's too and I have 16" 1998 GT Tempest ( ball burnished, 6061 HT frame) with yellow and blue decals. This is my BMX conversion set up: Shimano XT rear derailleur, Deore 9 speed shifter, 1x9 set up, 11-34 teeth XT cassette, XT chain, RSP blue 34 tooth chainring paired with XT Hollowtech cranks, with yellow DMR v11 pedals. DMR saddle with navy fabric edge, DMR navy BMX grips with shallow flange, Haro F4 chrome BMX handlebars, GT BMX stem, DMR Trailblade 9 forks, DMR Moto R tyres paired with Mavic rims, Deore hubs, Avid V brakes, borrowed from my GT Tequesta, a black micro adjust with two bolts seatpost (non branded). The only brand new parts bought for this build were a Cane Creek headset, grips and pedals and cables, all other parts were bought used. It's light and looks great, and it brings a smile on my face every time I go out riding it!

I was looking at doing the same with a wide range 7 spd cassette off Amazon. I am using an old 6 spd thumb shifter switched to friction mode to work with the 7 spd Alivio derailleur. I also am using my old 12 spd crankset, TruVativ Descendant, with a nw 30t chainring. The Power Spline BB is to wide, so I shimmed the right pedal to help with the Q-factor. Everything works perfectly, but whenever I do get a wide range cassette and derailleur hanger extension, I may swap out the front chainring to a 32t with a 6mm offset and just shim the BB on the drive side to keep the chain line properly set.

I made my own cassette from shimano 11-40 8speed, just missed the last cog. It works ok on my ghetto gravel bike.

It seems to be a good solution for someone with those specific needs. I have a 1X12, a 1X10, a 3X8 a 3X9 and don't have the need to convert. A fun project non the same. Regards 😊

I've wanted to do something like this with one of my bikes.. turning it into a 1x7 because I just use it for rides around the neighborhood. In my case, I have a retro-esque Tourney 7-speed thumb shifter 😁 I still like thumb shifters for their simplicity and the speed of shifting up and down the cassette

Nice Job have done a few 1 by conversions!!! doing one similar late 90 mtb. 😀

Excelente trabajo.

I actually have a sister bike to this one. An LTS, black with red graphics. Looks very close to this. I went through the whole bike and went 1x with a wolftooth front ring. Now 1x8. Looks really clean. I'm doing an old rat Pro Flex right now. It is all there but rough. Freehub was gummed up so it wouldn't peddle. Took the rear wheel apart and found bad bearings and a pitted cone. Took the freehub apart and the bearings were rusted black. Found one NOS on ebay for $20. The front hub was better but needs new balls so all that slowed me down. It's 3x8. I will 1x it if the front derailleur gives me any grief.

Im restoring a vintage 18 speed. Im thinking of buying a mega-range 6 speed freewheel. 14t-34t, instead of a 28t to climb mountains vs more gears new derailer n shifter🤔🍻

correct video.

I love my old GTs doing a resto-mod on a 98 Arrowhead.

1x7 is a many gears as most people need, and it greatly simplifies shifting for folks who want a non-complicated bike. I built up an '89 Centurion LeMans road bike frame with a 14-34 7-speed cassette. That let me use the old freewheel wheels. Works great, but you are right - you have to choose the right BB spindle length.

​ @DePuesshop , I really, really don't understand keeping this bike 7-speed given you bought a new shifter and cassette. That front GT hub is beautiful and had a decent Mavic double-wall rim on it. That rear hub was a bottom end Shimano and a non-matching rim, to the front, that looked to be single wall. If the rear wheel matched the front I'd understand staying 7 speeds. Surely you have a decent 8/9/10-speed 26" double-wall rim wheel in your parts bin. Or, you could find a used on for $20. An 8-speed shifter and 8-speed cassette would likely have been about the same cost as the 7sp parts.

I’ve only done 1x9 in the past, which previously were 3x7 speed. I didn’t know wide range 7 speed cassette were available but now I do, will bear in mind for any new projects I have coming up! 👍

Nice job! I like seeing an electric buffer/polisher in use :)...I do not see that hardly ever on all the bike restore channels that I watch. @10:34 My main concern with you using a metal tool like that is bending the very thin metal. I just did that on my latest restoration and now I am stuck trying to find replacements which is very very difficult. I should have known better as I do have a blind hole bearing puller but decided to use a screwdriver instead.

This bike was toast!

I use 3x7 mostly even when I 27.5 disc swapped.. they have better wheelspacing on the narrower cassette

Cool. This bike just need 2 more things: tubeless and a fork service. Optionally an spd pedal.

GT Hadley front hub….nice score

smart to run the chainring flipped to hide the ugly graphics! so simple and it never crossed my mind

This is the first time I ran across your channel and I really enjoyed this Build you really did a good job on this bike! I like the idea of the seven speed. The Sunrace nine speed derailer may work as a seven speed because the pull ratios, the same as Shimano, 2-1. if it does work it’s good for 11 to 50 teeth and it has a clutch. I do a lot of nine speed stuff on my channel

Its offensive how bad that bike was to begin with. But we get great deals and projects with those. Reminds me almost of both my mongoose tyax super and the specialized sworks m2 stumpjumper when i got them.

Shimano does make a rear derailleur to accommodate a wide range 7 speed cassette. I'm currently using one on my old mountain bike and it works great.

Great build, loved the video! My next bike to build up is a GT ricochet so pretty simmilar. Do you also have a link to the derailleur adapter? Cheers!

Why'd you put a new saddle on? That first one was just fine! 😀

That is an awesome build. The GT Hubs are spectacular. What brand or model headset press are you using?

So glad I stumbled across this video. Trying to turn a Trek Antelope and Specialized Hard Rock into single speeds but have been pulling my hair out sourcing used 26 inch wheels with freehubs that will fit an 8/9/10 cassette. The Soma cassette is a huge game changer for me, I can't thank you enough! I did have a question for you about the bottom bracket though. Can you tell me the size of the BB you installed on your bike? I have a Shimano BB-UN300 at 127mm for a triple chain ring and am wondering if I can use that for the 1 x setup or if I need to get myself a narrower BB. Thanks so much for helping me make my old bikes great again!

Your restoration came out awesome!!!! I have my 1997 gt Ricochet that I bought new & would like to put the 1x7 on it. Do you remember the mm you had to use for the bottom bracket?

fis isto na minha caloi vulcan do brasil fico top

Pedal backward on the 40t does the chain fall off? Did the shifting improve after tuning?

Bike was neglected and dying a slow death but hey! look at it now. Definitely worth bringing this bike back to life. Great job! I still don't see the advantage of going 1x on a bike like this, I would have kept the 3x7 for an even wider range combined with smaller jumps from gear to gear.

So would my old Alivio 7 speed shifter for my 21 speed MTB move the chain the right amount for those cogs?

I feel bad selling my 90s Pro Flex. 😢

I want a wide range cassete but i'm afraid of extenders. i think they are easy to bend.

instead of using a space on the drive side you could have just mounted the single chainring in the outer position. That is how most fixed gear and single speeds are setup.

Are those new cranks you put on there? If so, what kind are they?

the old Gt frames are nice for being different...do they come in different materials or they are all the same?

Why is this cassette an improvement? A range of 3.08:1 versus 4.7:1(13-32x22-42 assumed). What's your bottom gear again? Not 17.9? Or even close?

What size chainring did you use?

hello around 11:00 do you put the same balls back in?

Go Green!!!

what kind of bike hanger r u using?

I’ve been skipping through the video so I might have missed it, how many teeth for your front chain ring?

Were those dog bites out of the seat and parts when you originally received the bike?

Does anyone have a CUES 9-speed cassette that they can verify this with? The rear photos of the rear of a cs-lg400-9 cassette shows what looks like a spacer on the back (which also matches how I would understand Shimano puts 9-speeds in 11sp spacing on the freehub body. Remove that (likely have to grind out the 3 rivets [*]) and you should be good to go for a 7-speed body. [*]Sheldon Brown's website shows how to do this. Doing this is essentially Sheldon's 8 of 9 cassette setups.

What derailleur did you use

11-42t...

1x7, very limited range and good luck finding a the right gear for training 🤔

I love the vintage bikes. Just cant do the 3x or the old narrow handlebar set ups. Cant believe how bad they were back then. 😂

The bike frame was designed for someone 9 inches shorter than him.

The jumps are too big TBH. Would rather 7x2.

Triple triangle sets GT apart from all other brands. It's timeless.

That's not an optimal setup. You sacrifice fast gear and climbing gear. A more optimal 7 speed setup would be an 11-46t 7 speed cassette paired with a 36 or 38t chainring.

Were you riding it in Afghanistan?

i can see why you got your seat up high cause you got a long legs

Bike size too small 😂😂😂

1 🔺️ X 3 🔺️'s = Triple 🔺️ The one and only G.T.

I jave Gt Avalanche 3.0 GT aggressor 3.0 the aggressor I'm going to put 1x 7 my bike shops trying to sell my a trek for 680 hes like buy this one keeps trying to sell my bikes I do t want