'91 GT Karakoram

Swansea_Dave

This is my 1991 GT Karakoram. 18" Tange chromoly frame, Deore thumbshifter, Deore LX chainset and derailleur, Deore DX front canti brakes, Shimano U brake rear, San Marco Rolls saddle, Araya CV-7 rims on Deore LX hubs, 1x7 gearing using 36 tooth chainring.

I bought it new in 1991 for £440. It was originally dark blue with light blue splats (!) I stripped it down and resprayed it last year, then used it single speed for a while with Schwalbe 1.5 slicks. Now its back to the knobblies and the forestry trails. It still feels great to ride, no squeaks and creaks.

I found that I still had some old tyres in storage - a Ritchey Megabite 2.1 rear and Specialized Ground Control 1.95 on the front. Phwoooarrrrr.

And, in case you are wondering, thats my garage not my kitchen!

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kdawg74

Nice bit of retro you have there man.

warpcow

Nice. My mate had one with the blue spatter-paint, and it/he is probably the reason I got into mountain-biking. No bike has ever come closer to killing me than that old Karakoram

jayson

I grew up lusting after GT mtbs, does yours have the flippable stem so you can have it high or low rise??

Ok today all stems will do that today but back in the day it was never heard of before lol

Swansea_Dave

jayson wrote:

I grew up lusting after GT mtbs, does yours have the flippable stem so you can have it high or low rise??

Ok today all stems will do that today but back in the day it was never heard of before lol

No, mine is from the year before the flip-flop stems (I think that was the GT name for them) came in. I remember thinking those stems were well trick when they first appeared.

The GT replaced a Muddy Fox Courier Comp in lime green with Exage 400 groupset and early STIs. Probably 1989ish. Like this one: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/files/my_pictures0003_456.jpg The stem was 150mm and quite flat - which put way too much weight forward and made the handling offroad quite odd. Descents weren't great.

jayson

I think it was about the same year they used adjustable dropouts on their front forks do u remember them too??

Never really seemed like a very good idea to me but then what do i know lol.

muddylegs

Wow it is great to see another Karakoram i was riding mine only yesterday i have the scary orange paint work on mine. it is fairly standard from when i brought it back in 92-93. i changed the handle bars on it but i can not find them anywhere. i have Pace 130 now which are pretty uncomfortable. riding it yesterday my wrists hurt. it normally has the tag-a-long bike on it. Still good to ride though.

Swansea_Dave

jayson wrote:

I think it was about the same year they used adjustable dropouts on their front forks do u remember them too??

Never really seemed like a very good idea to me but then what do i know lol.

I didn't remember them - my bike doesn't have them - but I Googled and found them on the rear end of a 92 Karakoram. And they had snapped in the example that I saw.....

jayson

Swansea_Dave wrote:

jayson wrote:

I think it was about the same year they used adjustable dropouts on their front forks do u remember them too??

Never really seemed like a very good idea to me but then what do i know lol.

I didn't remember them - my bike doesn't have them - but I Googled and found them on the rear end of a 92 Karakoram. And they had snapped in the example that I saw.....

Found this, have a looksie HERE. As you say it never seemed like a great idea but in those days everyone was looking for their own special gimmick errr... i mean selling point

Swansea_Dave

jayson wrote:

Found this, have a looksie HERE. As you say it never seemed like a great idea but in those days everyone was looking for their own special gimmick errr... i mean selling point

Thanks Jayson - that link is awesome. I had a hard copy of exactly the same catalogue back in the day - I remember poring over it for hours before I ordered my Karakoram. I also remember that I couldn't afford the black and white Avalanche as it was about £600 (vs £440) and I was a skint postgrad research student living on an annual grant of £2,975 courtesy of that nice Mrs Thatcher and her bird Mr Major (choke).

I didn't remember the adjustable fork dropouts but it looks like they were only on the high end GTs at the time.