Bikedued

Yeah, I have been knee deep in guitars and old cars. Have not built a bike since October of 2016, or ridden since December of the same year. I was at a pawn shop today, and there sat a VERY clean for it's age GT Karakoram K2 with Suntour XC 9000 group. black U brakes up top in back, and black canti's in front Brakes are both Dia Compe. Battleship grey paint with blue pearl clear, and blue splattered graphics. Mostly black components Can anyone guess a year? Has to be pre 93-94 eh, since it still has Suntour?

For the price, there's no way I was going to pass it up. I have a thing for triple triangles anyhow.

clubman 

Good to see you still abide. Pics when your can!

3speedslow

Hey Dude! Great bike to bring back to the fold!

wrk101

You know the drill. All the Suntour bits will have date codes, I would guess 1989 +/-.

stardognine

Welcome back, & congrats. I have an XC9000 rear derailleator, and love it. From what I read at Disraeli, it's beefed up Superbe Pro. 😎

T-Mar

The subject GT Karakoram K2 is a 1989 model. The K2 version of the Karakoram was only produced in 1989 & 1990. The 1989 edition was SunTour/Dia-Compe/SR equipped while the 1990 model was outfitted with Shimano Deore DX.

2cam16

Ttiwwop!!!!

Bikedued

Man you are a wealth of info! Thank you sir, for the many times you have helped me out over the years!,,,,BD

Bikedued

And horrible pics, but I was at the shop sending them to a friend. I was asking if I should buy it, knowing full well I was probably going to.,,,,BD

Bikedued

Tange seamless DB tubes. Still not the lightest bike, but still nice enough to catch my eye immediately, as I walked to the door. It still has a
Farmer John's Cousin skinwall on the front, though dry rotted.,,,,BD

T-Mar

..and in the alternate colour scheme, from the GT catalogue photo shoot.

T-Mar

Slightly on the heavy side for it's price range but rigid and as close to bombproof as you'll get in an ATB frame of the era, thanks to the tubeset, tube profiling and triple triangle design. It's essentially the same frame as my 1988 Karakoram, which I actually preferred over the much lighter 1990 Xizang LE. The K2 (and subsequent 1991 Karakoram Elite) took the place of the standard Karakoram in the lineup, with the standard Karakoram actually being downgraded for 1989-1991.

Bikedued

So were the Suntour indexing issues sorted out by 1989? I remember trying to make a Mangusta (Mongoose) road bike function correctly. It was horrible, and drove me nuts. I had to back out of selling it because it refused to work correctly.,,,,BD

stardognine

Tough to comment on that, I've only used this rear with alpha 3000 thumbies, for awhile, then went to shimano. This rear works great with my Tri-color downtube levers. Still need a 31.8mm front, for my c'dale. 😎

T-Mar

Suntour started redesigning AccuShift for the 1988 model year. Unfortunately, they didn't have the resources to re-engineer the complete ATB line at the same time. It wasn't 1990 that all the original AccuShift deralleurs systems were replaced and unfortunately top of the line XC 9000 was the last to receive attention, still being in the line for 1989.

Murray Missile 

I like it but I might be a little biased. My '89 Karakoram (non-K2) was already far from original when I got it as a trade in a couple years ago. As received it was rather uninspiring to ride. It did have some cool pieces though like a TA Specialties crankset, a Phil Woods BB, 5500 Series 105 long cage RD and a wheel set consisting of a set of very nice Araya MTB hoops laced to Utegra road hubs but the combination just didn't ride well. It took me a few attempts to find a combination I liked but now it is one of my favorite rides. Great conversation starter too, I'd kind of like to find another in all original condition.

As received:


Final answer:

Bikedued

Better pics. Needs cables and everything lubed as usual. I thought it would be too small, but for actual mountain bike use it's just about right. I don't think it's ever been offroad in it's life. None of the usual wear on the crank arms, cables rubbing on the paint etc.,,,,BD

Bikedued

Weirdest thing is the chainrings. None of them look to have been swapped, but it has ovals on the small rings and round on the big ring.,,,,BD

The Golden Boy 

That makes the most sense- the oval idea is to lengthen the power stroke- on the big ring you don't need that "power" in the little bursts like you do going up a steep hill or in mud.

BTW- nice to see you in these parts.

I'm still looking for a reverse Firebird III.

AustinFitz

That's pretty nice! I can dig it. Love the battleship grey paint, and the components are pretty cool too. Very nice score!

Bikedued

And of course, the grey paint has blue pearl in the clearcoat. It looks pretty wild in the sun, which we got a whole 20-30 minutes of an hour ago. It's all grey again now.,,,,BD

Bikedued

Hey there! Been a while eh?


Want to buy a VII? It's an Epi, but pretty awesome sounding nonetheless.

Murray Missile 

Damn is that clean!

9volt 

That DC 994 rear caliper is nice. Bat wing brake levers are $$. Worth at least what you paid for the bike.

I'm working on wrapping up a Karakoram today. Just need to find the correct size seat post.



Not sure what makes it Elite. It's basically identical to another Karakoram here that my son rides.

Bikedued

Finally got a little more sunlight at the end of the day.,,,,BD