GT DHi race (2001?)

[dimrub]

This is going to be interesting:

When I visited the bicycle museum recently, I told Alon the owner cum manager cum chief mechanic that I'm avaliable to help him with fixing up some of his bikes. Today he came back to me with a few photos, and this is what I chose. I've identified it as a GT DHi from circa 2005, maybe a bit earlier - things are a bit complicated by the fact that I was unable to find a single bike in this color scheme.

This is one of the bikes featuring the i-Drive suspention, they supposed to have made quite a splash back in the time, a real game changer. The reviews on the DHi are mixed: apparently, it was fast, but not very reliable.

I've never dealt with a full suspention bicycle as a mechanic, though I own one and I rode it quite a bit. I have no idea what to expect, but on the plus side, Alon claims he has pretty much any component I might need. It will be interesting to test the veracity of this claim (especially regarding tires and tubes). He mentioned that brakes need to be bleeded and I'm guessing shockers will need to be serviced - including oil replacement. I'll probably pick it up on the weekend, and then I'll know more.

 

[dimrub]

I visited the bicycle museum today, and picked up this bike. Easier said than done! There were the frame and what came with it:

The fork:

The headset, minus one of the bearings:

The rear shock and the stuff that came with it, one of the bolts quite chewed up:

Thats it. Then we, Alon and me, went hunting for the other stuff. And it did feel like a hunt, or maybe foraging in a giant forest. I called out the stuff I need and he rummaged the endless drawers, boxes, heaps of parts all over the huge warehouse. And thus, we came up with:

A mismatched wheelset:

The brakes:

The front axle:

Another headset, from which I hope to obtain the missing bearing:

A replacement rear hub:

Other bits of the drivetrain (SRAM chain with SHIMANO drivetrain? Hmmm):

The pedals:

A couple of mismatched 180 mil discs:

A tire (he gave me two, but upon getting home, I discovered that the other one is 29):

A couple of inner tubes:

 

[dimrub]

So let's sum up the situation:

- The frame - I don't see damage yet. The rear axle is of a strange kind, I haven't been able to figure out how to extract it. I also haven't measured the dropouts width yet, and I'm not sure about the rear hub (more on this later). The paint is ok for its age and use, maybe I'll touch up the white parts. Alon claims the golden paint was applied to cover a weld, I'm not sure about that. Definitely not going to repaint.
- The fork - it's stuck, needs servicing. The axle was stuck, so someone cut it, the remnants need to be extracted from one of the dropouts in order for the new axle to fit. That new axle is missing one of the caps.
- The wheels - the rear one needs to be rebuilt with the new hub - once I'm sure the hub is correct for the frame. I insisted on wheels being white, other than that they are mismatched. The front one is hopefully good as is.
- The rear shock needs to be serviced - it's completely dead - and reassembled.
- The headset needs to be reassembled - hopefully I can find the missing bearing.
- The stem is missing. I told Alon what to look for - it's a direct mount stem, and he said he'll look for it, but even his warehouse has its limits.
- I have a handlebar too, but no grips I think. Alon will get some for me, but there's time for that yet.
- In terms of the drivetrain. I forgot to take the photos above, but there are also 2 derailleurs to choose from - perhaps I forgot to ask Alon for a hanger, so that goes on the list of missing stuff.

So that's the TODO list more or less. I feel quite out of my comfort zone, which is nice. Oh and as we were rummaging through the stuff, Alon encountered another bike in a box. "Hey, wanna take this one as well?" Sure, I said. So I came in for one project, and came out with two.

 

[All uphill]

So let's sum up the situation:

- The frame - I don't see damage yet. The rear axle is of a strange kind, I haven't been able to figure out how to extract it. I also haven't measured the dropouts width yet, and I'm not sure about the rear hub (more on this later). The paint is ok for its age and use, maybe I'll touch up the white parts. Alon claims the golden paint was applied to cover a weld, I'm not sure about that. Definitely not going to repaint.
- The fork - it's stuck, needs servicing. The axle was stuck, so someone cut it, the remnants need to be extracted from one of the dropouts in order for the new axle to fit. That new axle is missing one of the caps.
- The wheels - the rear one needs to be rebuilt with the new hub - once I'm sure the hub is correct for the frame. I insisted on wheels being white, other than that they are mismatched. The front one is hopefully good as is.
- The rear shock needs to be serviced - it's completely dead - and reassembled.
- The headset needs to be reassembled - hopefully I can find the missing bearing.
- The stem is missing. I told Alon what to look for - it's a direct mount stem, and he said he'll look for it, but even his warehouse has its limits.
- I have a handlebar too, but no grips I think. Alon will get some for me, but there's time for that yet.
- In terms of the drivetrain. I forgot to take the photos above, but there are also 2 derailleurs to choose from - perhaps I forgot to ask Alon for a hanger, so that goes on the list of missing stuff.

So that's the TODO list more or less. I feel quite out of my comfort zone, which is nice. Oh and as we were rummaging through the stuff, Alon encountered another bike in a box. "Hey, wanna take this one as well?" Sure, I said. So I came in for one project, and came out with two.

Wow!

I like a challenge, but I take my hat off to you!

 

[dimrub]

I went over all the stuff today:

The situation is desperate, but not serious, as they used to say in Vienna circa 1915. The rear shock won't fit because of the amateur weld, but it can be filed down easily. The stem is missing, but Alon has already ordered one. The mech hanger is missing too, and Alon is on that as well, and missing grips and one tire is just routine.

I can start working on this, just one missing variable at this point is the headset.

So I have the two cups, one of the two bearings, the top cap and whatever that thingy second from the right is called, but I seem to be missing the other bearing, and the compression rings. I'll have to figure out how this all comes together, maybe even undertake another trip to Alon's warehouse.

Other than that, I can start working on this, cleaning everything up, filing down the weld, possibly painting over said weld etc.

 

[dimrub]

Some successes, some frustrations.

Success: I managed to extract the remnants of the axle out of the fork. Sawed it with the little saw in my multitool, then pulled it out with pliers.

I also went over the frame and took stock of the numbers and stickers on it.
The numbers under BB are: AS40100739 BI 1313. The first one is supposed to be the serial number, I have no idea what the second one is about (model code?) I think, judging by some posts I've seen, AS designates the factory (I'm not sure which is it), 4 stands for the month (April), 01 is the year (2001) and 00739 is the number of frame produced by that factory during that year. I was assuming it's 2001, so sounds about right. I was able to find this model on bikepedia, here - so I have the full specs, if I need them.

There are quite a few stickers on the bike:
- DHi race - several of those
- Free Agent
- Race Face
- A maltese cross
- Jagwire

I don't know what does it all signify. Could it be that the bike was used in competitions?
I also found a sticker of a bike shop in Afula - a rather dingy town in the North of Israel. I wonder how the bike ended up there.

Another success is that I was able to remove the rear axle, and put there the hub that Alon gave me in order to rebuild the rear wheel. The good news is that the hub fits there. The bad news is that it's a 36 hole, and the rim is 32 hole. So Alon is now on a hunt for either a 36-hole rim, or a 32-hole hub.

Next I want to clean the frame and prep it for painting, including filing off that awful weld. For that I wanted to remove the cranks, but my shitty tool just wasn't cutting it. Need to apply more force - or else buy a better crank removal tool.

 

[dimrub]

Change of plans. The obstacles are piling up. Turns out the fork is stuck - and is missing components too. That must have been one serious crash, what with the welded triangle, the stuck front axle, and the utterly destroyed fork. At this point it seems unreasonable to strive towards returning this bicycle to a riding shape, so I'm scoping down this project to just make it exhibition worthy (and I think it deserves that - there aren't many DH bikes in the museum, and none by GT). That simplifies things a lot. No need to service the fork, rebuild the wheel and bleed the brakes. Just clean it up and put it all back together.

 

[AndyRM]

Love the "exploded" style picture. And think you've come up with a great solution.

 

[dimrub]

I've visited Alon today and he passed on a few of the missing parts - the derailleur hanger, the grips, and a whole bunch of caliper adapters. We couldn't find a 26" tire that would be wide enough to look on a DH bike, but he said he'll take a look at home. The troublesome bits right now, aside from the tire, are the front axle and the brake adapters. As for the axle, it's an old 20x165 one, and apparently they don't make those anymore. The annoying thing is that just one cap is missing. I'm thinking of devising a cap out of a rubber plug or something - it's not going to be ridden. The brake adapters are an enigma for me. How do I figure out the proper kind? I guess I'll put the wheels on and just try everything Alon gave me, one by one, hoping to find a fit.

 

[dimrub]

I've managed to 3D-print the missing axle cap, and the calipers are on too. The only major remaining obstacle is spokes for the rear wheel. The one Alon gave me was not a good fit - wrong for the thru-axle the bike has. Alon gave me another hub, which is good for this axle, and a wheel to take apart, but the spokes on that wheel are too long (and even if not, they're pretty much done for), so I need a set of spokes to rebuild the wheel. Then it's the chain, the cables and the cockpit - and we're done.

 

[dimrub]

There was an unexpected delay with this project: my wife decided she needs to turn my workshop back into a bomb shelter urgently. She has a point, but the way she approached it, all the parts tools and unifinished bicycles ended up spread thin all over the house, some - misplaced. So when I finally rebuilt the rear wheel and was ready to install it, I was in for a nasty surprise: no rear axle. I searched everywhere - gone. And then during a routine cleaning I found the Turner's fork and handlebar - at a place I least expected to find it, behind a shoes rack in my home office, so I realized "everywhere" needs to be redefined. Lo and behold, axle was found. So GT is whole again.

The keen eyed among you will probably be able to find several issues with it, which would make it unridable. I think it's as good as I can make it for the wall. So back to Alon's it goes.

 

[AndyRM]

There was an unexpected delay with this project: my wife decided she needs to turn my workshop back into a bomb shelter urgently. She has a point, but the way she approached it, all the parts tools and unifinished bicycles ended up spread thin all over the house, some - misplaced. So when I finally rebuilt the rear wheel and was ready to install it, I was in for a nasty surprise: no rear axle. I searched everywhere - gone. And then during a routine cleaning I found the Turner's fork and handlebar - at a place I least expected to find it, behind a shoes rack in my home office, so I realized "everywhere" needs to be redefined. Lo and behold, axle was found. So GT is whole again.

View attachment 732573
The keen eyed among you will probably be able to find several issues with it, which would make it unridable. I think it's as good as I can make it for the wall. So back to Alon's it goes.

That does look very cool, but staying safe is a bit more of a priority!

 

[dimrub]

A couple more at Alon's, just to wrap this up.

 

[dimrub]

I thought this story was done with, but it's not. Once I brought the bike over to Alon, he put some photos on FB, and was contacted by the previous owner of this bike, who used to shred the hills of Manara on this bike 20 years ago.

I called him, and he told me a few things about the bike. His brother is an artist, studying at an arts shool at the time, so the special paintjob that I saw no similar to in my research is due to him. He couldn't tell me anything about the broken rear triangle and the botched weld job - it must have happened after he passed the bike on (so the trace goes cold there).

I hope he'll send more photos.