mstateglfr 

This past spring, my wife asked about getting a different mountain bike. The one she has had for the last 8 years, a Scott Sandoa from 93-95ish, is a bit big and is a tank in weight and feel.

She mainly rides her road bike and the MTB is reserved for trips to local twisty river bottom singletrack with our kids, so she doesn't need anything super modern/expensive.

Covid prices and selection made for a long search process. Finally in August I bought a Trek 930 off ebay from that bike coop in Madison WI that prices high. They accepted a lower than asking offer.
It came to me with a broken rear derailleur and a non-functioning fork. Lame.

I had some older quality wheels with XT hubs and some tires already. Some new tektro vbrakes from a project 5 years ago that never happened were finally put into use.
I bought new generic bars off ebay for $10, a stem off Amazon for $10, a 1x 30t crank off ebay for $30, and a Microshift Advent 9 groupset on ebay for $110.

- YouTube showed how to disassemble the fork and after a lot of cleaning and grease, it moves freely again.
- The stem and bars were selected to help get the contact points in line with her current bike which is why so much rise was needed. The short cut steerer is annoying and unnecessary.
The ebay 1x crankset fit onto the existing bottom bracket and gave a nearly perfect chainline(off by 1mm I think?). Its fully aluminum and looks to be perfect for this sort of use. I couldn't wipe off the logo, unfortunately.
- Microshift came out with affordable 1x9 and 1x10 mtb and road drivetrains in the last couple years named Advent. You have to purchase the shifter and derailleur together, but the cassette isn't required, though I bought one for this bike. It sets up easily, the derailleur is clutched which is nice, and the stock cassette range is massive. There are a couple types of 9sp shifters, these are the higher level(it was like $2 difference).
Both my kids ride 1x9 for their MTBs that I kludged together with some older Shimano RDs and had Advent been around then, I would have used it for sure.


I posted this since refurbishing older MTBs is obviously popular here, and if anyone is wanting to try a simplified 1x setup, Advent is a well priced option if buying new.
30t up front with 11-42 in back. 26.4# fully built with pedals.






Excuse the dogs, they were waiting for their walk.

nlerner

Very nice!

fishboat

Very nice work.

So many refurb options for older mountain bikes..it's always a plus when someone saves one from a worse fate. I have several doing different jobs..and always keep my eye open for anything else interesting that comes along.

BFisher

Fantastic! Hope she enjoys the heck out of it.

My son wants a new bike soon and this setup is going on my list of options. Thanks for sharing.

bishoplaud

This is great! I just got an eBay Trek 930 and upon discovering that the cassette and chainrings are pretty worn I'm gravitating toward this sort of thing as well, and had been eyeing the Advent 1x9 deal. It'll mean a new wheel, but the bike could use some new wheels anyway!
Did you have to replace the bottom bracket, or did it work fine? Mine seems in good shape and and I'd rather not mess with it if I don't have to.

Cyclist0108

Coincidently, we are doing this on my wife's 3X9 (got an 11-42T Advent 9 speed cassette and the derailleur and shifter are on the way). We are still trying to decide on the crankset to get, so thanks also for including that in your post.

(I bought the cassette first to see if I could make it work with the current 9-speed XT derailleur. Close, but no cigar. In retrospect, maybe I should have made this a 1X10 with AdventX 11-48T cassette).

Also converting the kid's 1X12 to an Advent X, after trashing two Eagle and two Shimano derailleurs.

bikemig 

Nice work and cool bike. Yeah that coop in Madison has crazy prices on eBay.

LibertyFLS

That's a great looking build and I'm glad to see this thread. I have a '95 950 I got new back then in the Ice-Copper with purple graphics. I eventually even worked at the bike shop for a bit building and wrenching bikes. A few years later I had a major accident after moving to CA and spent a week in hospital and pretty much didn't touch the bike for at least 10 years. By that time I had no plans to going mountain biking again but I'd seen these mountain bikes in Japan with single speed conversions so thought I'll do that and just ride it to work sometimes, which I did but then the bike sat again for years and years. Sadly I lost all the STX parts along the way and lately I have thought about "bringing it back" and this is 100% the blueprint I would follow here, so thanks for sharing!!

JaccoW

Great build and this is absolutely what that 9-speed Advent or 10-speed Advent X is for. I have been toying with the idea to get my hands on an early 90's hybrid and turn it into a gravelbike like this.
I would be tempted to put a nice coloured bashguard on there like this one but I ride my bikes in regular trousers a lot of the time.

Darth Lefty 

Action!!!

Cyclist0108

I just got new Rene Herse Humtulips Ridge 26" treaded tires. They match her frame perfectly. She under-appreciates what I do for her.

mstateglfr 

The bottom bracket that came stock happened to give a good chainline with the ebay crank arms, so i kept it. I think it created a chainline thats 1mm closer than standard?

mstateglfr 

Seriously. I bought the arms figuring that junk would wipe right off with some acetone. Nope! Its like under some invisible clearcoat or something.
So cheesy, but it works since it seems like a good combo if cost, weight, and quality for how the bike will be ridden.

mstateglfr 

Huh, a new tire option? Interesting for sure.

bishoplaud

I impulse bought the parts last night, including the ACTION! cranks, so I'm excited to have a winter project! Thanks for posting this!

Darth Lefty 

When I did a similar drivetrain do-over on my wife's bike I wanted to user her stock crank but it was riveted. At first I was looking at Zee cranksets which go for $100 w/bb. For some reason I just couldn't see using a freeride crank on a townie, and put it off. Eventually I cannibalized a 104bcd crank from a prior project. It looks like they shook the sand off and took it right to the paint booth, but it's silver and that was nice. It was a bit too grabby at first and needed a ride to run in so it wouldn't derail in 1st or 11th back-pedaling. I don't know if it will last. And then the chain ring bolts were from Wolf Tooth and the most expensive part of the assembly!

The controls are SLX cassette, NX RD, SLX shifter; and Avid V-brake levers. I now have like three or four sets of 3x8 with ez-fires lying around. I actually love how they work and feel but no use for 3x8 any more.

Before the gray market was shut down, sellers like Chain Reaction had 10 and 11 speed conversion sets that had a four piece drivetrain groupset plus a 104 bcd NW ring. That window closed before my project, though.

mstateglfr 

Riveted chainrings are the worst. The STX crank that came on this bike was riveted. I hadnt seen an STX riveted crank before and was surprised. Ends up there are a handful of versions of STX(why?!) and Trek apparently spec'd a cheaper version for the crank.

I used some wolftoth bolts on a 1x9 mtb budget/parts bin build for one of my kids. Because the crank arms from SJS were 152mm, they were the most expensive thing, but the bolts were next up for cost. Ha, I remember thinking about if it made sense for a day or two before deciding to buy a couple other things from WTC to make the purchase and shipping 'make sense'.

ToledoTom

What kind of 9-speed shifters are you getting? I need to replace my XT 9-speed shifters (XT SL-M770) which I love, but doesn't seem to be available anywhere.

katsup

What's wrong with the M770 that you are replacing them? I just cleaned up and flushed all the dirt from mine.

ToledoTom

Actually nothing, I have a second bike which is on Alivio shifters and I'd like to upgrade those to something as smooth and nice as the XTs. Also looking down the road to when the XTs might actually fail - but you say clean and flush out the dirt. Does that entail taking them apart?

katsup

Yes, the levers in the rear felt gritty so I took the plastic covers off and flushed the mechanicals with triflow to clean it out.

Clang

I like that going 1X allowed you to use the FD's cable stop for the rear V-brake instead. The seat tube canti brake noodle is one of the things that makes the '94-'96 Treks slightly annoying for V-brake swaps.

thook

i have four bikes (not treks) with the seat tube noodle set up. as if a traditional stop didn't work well enough? i dunno. it is annoying...period

Santuri32

That came out really nice looking, how she rides?
Its actually better than aluminum IMO, True Temper OXII cro-moly was tough and really light for steel...enjoy!

mstateglfr 

You took 2 comments of mine from totally different points in the post and smashed em together, then commented. Odd.

Yes the frame is steel and the bike's setup is perfect for what was needed.
The crank arms and ring are aluminum and so far(little use, admittedly) they work as expected. The 1x ring retains the chain fine.