cudak888 

This is a story of N=(N-3)+(N+1), even though I plan to catch-and-release this one locally. And I hardly call it C&V, but since steel MTB's are a thing now, I decided to give it a go.

Short story long, last weekend, I dragged three framesets to the neighborhood scrap fellow. Before you ask: No, all three were past it. Now, thing is, there's two scrap fellows on the same street. And this other fellow had frames. Lots of MTB frames. Apparently, a local shop has been sending him their rough junk to help him out, and this rough junk included a really beat Gary Fisher Joshua, along with a "red thing with an XT rear derailer." I bought both.

This red thing turned out to be a 1994 Stumpjumper FS, under a surprisingly decent red paint job, free of overspray on everything except the inner chainring.



At any rate, it's clear someone loved this enough to take it apart to repaint, and - eventually - someone thought enough of it to try to bring it back to the original green paint. Then gave up.

I can't blame them; it's rough.



...but not rough enough.

I fully intended to pull the RD off and send it back to the Truck of the Great Beyond. Then the seatpost came out without issue, changing the entire fate of this thing.

Thing is, I have a 1990's Araya MTB wheelset kicking about right now. It came off a wrecked Schwinn Mesa SS, along with a Tange Struts GS fork that should also fit this. Said parts are not show quality, but they're usable. The prospect intrigued me, even though I know it'll always be a beater.

So I broke out the citrus stripper and some fine-grade scuff pads with a spritz of WD40 on them. I wasn't about to wetsand the red paint off (like one should if they really care about the bike), but just wanted to rip it off efficiently enough without taking off too much of the original green.



Not great, but already an improvement. We can see what it is now at least - an El Stumpyjunky.

Speaking of junk, here's the Tange fork. It's one of those elastomer jobs, and the elastomers are dead. Should be interesting to figure out how I can cheese a cheap workaround that won't cost an arm and a leg for a fork that's worth half of the price of the elastomers.



As I was stripping some more of the paint this evening, I got a great bad idea: Since some of the paint is through to the metal, why not rat rod it with a transparent paint similar to the original green to homage what it looked like when new?

Or, more accurately, "This thing looks like crap, I have some transparent green paint close to the original color - let's find out if this weird idea actually works." Note the Fisher Joshua in the back.



It's an arsty-fartsy look, but I think it works and should help protect a bit of the bare bits. At the end of the day, this is going to go on the Evilbook Marktplatz for far less than the time I put into it anyway, so any bottom feeder who just has to have a '94 Stumpy will probably be pleased enough.



This is where the project stands at the moment. Obviously, there's some more paint to remove before I can spray the whole thing. Will keep updating as it progresses.

-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

It's a horrid thing really, and I like it.


Far better than me, though, since my junky mtb project still has a stuck seatpost.

bboy314

Those Stumpjumpers are actually pretty great bikes. Here’s one I acquired as a bare frame and built up, I suspect this may be the original color of yours?




Sadly this one doesn’t fit me, so it got a parts bin build and awaits its new owner.

cudak888 

"He likes it...hey, Mikey!"

Well, that's just because frames like me better.



That's it; it's that "Dry Green" Stumpjumper FS color from '94 (not to be confused with the "Gray/Green" of the base no-suspension Stumpjumper).

Mine is the opposite; it's a big sucker; I'll have to measure it. Frame sizes per the catalog were 16.5, 18, 19, 20, and 21.5" - do you know if this was center-to-center, center-to-top, or center-to-midpoint-of-top-tube?

-Kurt

bboy314

Not sure but I think this was labeled 16.5. Next time I’m at the shop I can measure it and report back unless it gets sold before then.

If I was local to you I might make an offer to do you a favor and relieve you of yours, custom paint and all!

pastorbobnlnh 

I spy with my little eye a certain Raleigh Sports which immigrated from NH to FL.

However, I don't see the Joshua, just a Boulder ride share for the museum. EDIT: Oh, now I see the Joshua--- relegated to the floor under the bench in a dark corner of the shop! I didn't see it because it's one of those hideous V frames with a phallic extension!

I do like the clear green on the Stump Junker. Is it from a rattle can? What brand?

3speedslow

That fork is cooler then the frame.

AdventureManCO 

These old suspension forks from back in the heyday seem to have a curious ratio of ‘coolest then’ to ‘lamest now’.

AdventureManCO 

I think it’s just because all the stuck seatposts out there know you are just going to roll your eyes at them before breaking out a 20ft cheater bar that they give up as soon as they hit your workshop.

Iowegian

Yeah, that Boulder B cycle is a relic. It's mostly scooters now although there still are B cycles. They are white now and more modern and are usually ridden by people with absolutely no clue how to ride a bike in traffic. I mean Boulder has bike paths and bike lanes all over so why ride on the wrong side of the road or on the sidewalk, etc. [/curmudgeon mode]

cudak888 

The Stumpjunker has paint now. Too dark to show off the finished result, but here it is just before spraydown:



It probably has more FL miles on it than NH miles. I can't keep up with the amount of brake dust I generate with this thing.

For your hideous viewing pleasure. Honestly, it's not as bad as the Stumpjumper. It'd probably look really good stripped of paint and polished.



The paint is Duplicolor Metalcast - one of the experiments I tried on the Bianchi Competizione (which I have to strip and start over again). Think cromovelato, but metallic, and far less appealing when sprayed on the Stumpjunker.



Let me know if you do get a chance.

Incidentally, if it wasn't for the fact that the shipping cost would probably be the same as one of these frames in good shape, I wouldn't mind packing it up. However, now that it's painted, I'm pretty committed to seeing it through to a final build.

It has that laser-cut aluminum industrial look that's rather appealing. But I bet the frame performs better than the fork.

One of those 32" Genesis cruisers wound up here with a stuck stem in the steerer. Managed to get it out with the RJ impact wrench method: 27mm socket with a hole through it and the stem, and a box wrench below it pivoted on a clamp to push the socket upwards.

I know everybody says not to use impact wrenches on bike bits, but that 1/2" Ryobi impact driver has already saved my knuckles at least 6 times pulling stuck Shimano cartridge bottom brackets from the drive side. Not once has it damaged threads on the frame or BB, whether aluminum or steel.

The Boulder B was donated from B-Cycle for the Bike Share Museum. There's a bit to do on it as it's a bit rough.

The new B's are electric assist. I don't know enough about Boulder's bike infrastructure to know if the beautiful protected lanes that make the internet - and also make riding intuitive to even the most dense of people - is a large enough network to fix stupid. I've seen photos of North Broadway that certainly indicate their traffic engineers are willing to do boneheaded door-zone designs that'll result in people doing whatever they feel is safe at the moment to save their own skin.

-Kurt

cudak888 

It's ugly and its mother dresses it funny.





It's art...or a fart...or something.





I'll give it credit - as with most quality frames, it builds up very nicely. Everything fits as it should, braze-ons are square, and threads are excellent. It is genuinely satisfying to build one of these.

On the other hand, there is so much crud in the Tange fork that I may have to come up with a wirebrush extension.



Note the finish really isn't great. It is rough, not particularly smooth, and not uniform.

...I don't really care, it needs to earn the Junker in Stumpjunker.



This cheap Amazon chain doesn't perform well, but it's new and I have it on hand.



Meh crankset. But it'll work.



-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

I'm liking this one. There are so many older sleeper MTBs back when the 'rigid' and 'weight weenie' worlds overlapped. A lot of the older MTBs are boat anchors, though good quality. But then the double and triple butted stuff from the early to mid-90s started coming out and can make awesome rigs.

What's your plan w/ this one again, Kurt?

I still feel dumb for passing on a local online auction in which a completely pristine 1992 hot pink Specialized Stumpjumper (w/ original rigid fork) went for about $55. But it would have just taken up space and gotten scraped up and stuff. I still want a pink bike.

bboy314

Great color. Don’t underestimate the quality of this frame, even with that paint job. The one I built is really well made, great welds and dropouts and pretty light too!

Got a chance to measure that one today. 16” from center of BB to top of seat tube.

bboy314

Imagine if this was the FSR version - that’d be a true “why me?” find.

cudak888 

Late night tonight thanks to the local bike/ped advocacy committee, but came home to find a piece of the puzzle in the mailbox.

For $5, an ugly, but functional Tourney FD from Amazon completes the drivetrain and allowed me to close up the chain. Both the RD and FD appear to work flawlessly. Unfortunately, I don't have any more of that funky lime green housing, so the RD loop alone will have to do while the rest of the bike gets basic black.









It's a catch-and-release - a.k.a. a flip that probably won't make me a cent. Nobody would buy it locally as the spraybombed frame, I don't want it, and I know that sending it to scrap would be to commit the very sin that people 50 years ago did with many of the C&V bikes we love today.

Plus, even though this is the last type of bike I like to ride - I vehemently despise the old MTB riding position where one's upper body is entirely supported by wrists on flat bars (strangely enough, I don't mind it at all on road drops) - I'm getting great satisfaction out of using spare bits and bobs to make this thing a lot cooler looking than it has any right to be.

I know it's a good machine; that's why I couldn't send it back, and spent way too much elbow grease stripping the red off without nicking too much of the green.

Will measure this one next time I'm in the shop.

The FSR is bizarre enough that I'd keep it.

-Kurt

cudak888 

It took an OA bath followed by a wire brush on three extensions, then the 5mm Allen socket, but the bolts were finally freed on this thing.

Then the lowers didn't want to budge any more than this and kept hemorrhaging mud.



After a trip to the hydraulic press, the mess came apart, shooting rusty water here, there, and wherever. This is after I cleaned it up (too bad I haven't cleaned the workbench).

I found no washers or elastomers at all in the blades. Someone was here here before me.



I'm going the boring route and throwing a pair of springs in it, per the thread at MTBR.com (https://www.mtbr.com/threads/tange-s...s-dead.711381/).

I really should put the crown/stanchion assembly in OA tonight, but I can't find a container that'll fit it.

From what I can see, it's missing every elastomer, every washer, the lower bushing, and the lower leg seal. Only the upper bushing remains. The missing lower bushing isn't a welcome discovery; the upper leg centers itself with both the upper and lower bushings. It's omission will probably result in rocking.




-Kurt

cudak888 

Good news: Turns out the lower bushings are in the blades. I don't have to 3D print them.

Bad news: They won't come out for anything and the base of my slide hammer is way too big to fit. I may have to come up with some kind of long grabber or expander - anything to get a purchase on them - and then attempt to yank them up.

I'd love to run a 3/4" expansion plug down there, but even if I drop one down and manage to use some socket extenders to tighten it, I still won't be able to pull it up - unless I put a cable on it or some other form of Rube Goldberg contraption.

EDIT: Ooh. Just found the perfect thing, provided they make them long enough:



-Kurt

AdventureManCO 

Your dedication to having your time sucked away by a heavy, rusty object that could be easily replaced by one of better quality is an admirable trait! It reminds me of someone else...

cudak888 

Oh, but wait, there's more.

After trying to pick these shims out of the bottom, I started to ask myself whether they were the shims, or whether the fork has nylon guides at the bottom for the elastomers. I came to the conclusion that it does, and I mistook these guides for the sleeves.

Fortunately, I had the benefit of this picture (from https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzei...556-217-2930):




I ran a bore gauge down the fork, and a bit of CAD work later, I had this:



I sent it out for 3D printing in MJF nylon. $13 and change, shipped.

Should be interesting to see how well they work.

-Kurt