Cannibalize Junk Mountain Bike for Bianchi Grizzly Frame
02-24-19, 10:02 PM
#26
Senior Member
I had to replace a lot of parts on an old mongoose atb several years ago to get it back in the road. The 2 compatibility problems I recall were.
1- rear spacing. The frame was spaced at 126 and the first couple of replacement wheels I found were 130. It was hard to find a 26in mtb wheel spaced 126.
2- canti post spring holes. The bike came with dia comp 980s which require the spring hole to be on the side of the post opposite of modern cantis. This turned out to be a blessing bc it forced me to refurbish the 980s on it and they are b!tchin cool brakes. Way better looking than the black tektros I was going to swap them out for.
1- rear spacing. The frame was spaced at 126 and the first couple of replacement wheels I found were 130. It was hard to find a 26in mtb wheel spaced 126.
2- canti post spring holes. The bike came with dia comp 980s which require the spring hole to be on the side of the post opposite of modern cantis. This turned out to be a blessing bc it forced me to refurbish the 980s on it and they are b!tchin cool brakes. Way better looking than the black tektros I was going to swap them out for.
03-11-19, 06:54 PM
#29
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This idea may be anathema to many here, but I have a Bianchi Grizzly mountain bike frame that I want to rebuild on the cheap. I'm watching craigslist for a junk mountain bike that I can use for parts.
MY QUESTION. Can you tell me the most common problems I'll have with this plan? I.e. Older mountain bikes have a 1 inch bike fork steer tube and newer ones have 1 1/8 inch (I just came across this info and I'm wondering what else I might expect to find).
Again, my only real goal is to get the bike to a point that it can be ridden.
Other thoughts? Thanks!
MY QUESTION. Can you tell me the most common problems I'll have with this plan? I.e. Older mountain bikes have a 1 inch bike fork steer tube and newer ones have 1 1/8 inch (I just came across this info and I'm wondering what else I might expect to find).
Again, my only real goal is to get the bike to a point that it can be ridden.
Other thoughts? Thanks!
I've done a few all-up swaps, and you never get 100% of the components to swap over. Seatposts and FD clamps are the usual suspects. Also, the cables are always too short.
The other thing, since you're working from a bare frame, will be the head tube length. Early '80s MTBs ran a lot longer head tube than the bikes that came after them, so a fork from a newer bike, even if it's 1" may be too short. Fortunately 1" rigid forks are cheap.
As far as spotting good donors, most bikes with quill stems will be 1" headsets. 1-1/8" quills were around for a brief while around Y2K+/- before everything went threadless. If you're looking at sub-$100 bikes, an easy spotting mark is quick-releases on both wheels. Those are usually at least Acera grade bikes.
Avoid buying a partial (wrecked) bike, unless it's near-free. Usually, the front wheel and forks are bent/missing, maybe the bars are damaged too. Sourcing those parts individually might cost as much as buying a similar, complete bike.
I'm not sure what your intention is for this project, probably more of a path bike / townie than a 'trail ready' MTB. Acera and Alivio make good groups for that kind of use. A quick cruise through the RVA CL with the wheel size set to 26" and a max of $150 turned up a number of good candidates. Several of them were step-through 'comfort' bikes, from the big brands like Trek, GT, and Giant. Avoid Huffy, Magna, and approach Schwinns with caution.
Keep us posted and let us know how this project turns out!
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