Dear Robert, I personally knew Gary back when I had onZa in the 90s. Knowing him he would love to give you a call and pay you a visit and find a way to produce a Retro-Mod based off your beautiful bike, paint decals and all. I would not doubt it would be the best selling Gravel bike for two years in a row. Everything on your beautiful restoration screams! ""BITCH... YOU WANT ME, YOU BUY ME, YOU RIDE ME"" Amazing, when I first saw your photo on the cover of your TH-cam vid, I thought WOW TREK & Gary are actually coming out with this amazing new retro Fisher bike. But was blown away when I saw it was a rescue bike... Utterly Fantastic Master Piece!
But 142 and 135mm hubs are still the same from locknut to locknut as I understand it. I would have just found an old mtb fork and built up wheels with 100/135mm hubs.
I cringe when I hear someone say, "bike build", which usually means they've changed out some functional parts for fancy parts, but this is genius and absolutely amazing! Well, done sir.
There’s a certain level of irony in saying “new parts are too expensive”, but using machining a single nut and brake mount with thousands of dollars of tools😂! Great work, very cool bike and insightful build!
Wow. Honestly the thru axle conversion blew my mind. That is such a good idea. I knew about cold setting, but I hadn't seen anyone do that thru axle stuff. Too bad you need some pretty crazy tooling to do this, what an amazing build. As a Gary Fisher owner, I love this build.
I use 10x 135 thru axile conversion on my dt swiss for aluminum full suspension mtb. And cut 142 endcaps to 135 on a aluminum hardtail and drilled the dropouts from 10mm to12mm . In case u don't have steel or ti , there's great options.. and 1° slacker headsets are available for 1 1/8. Not sure about 1" head tubes .
This is absolutely incredible. This is the most detailed and creative vintage bike conversion builds I've EVER SEEN. Usually most people just put on a new drivetrain, tires and bars and call it a day.
Man you just did the entire project a way way way better than anyone online here on youtube, So much precise on the measurement , then the disc mount and finding the used parts with the the frame stretching to fit the through axle, it was amazing.
I've abandoned any idea of paying what Gravel Bikes are going for these days. Rediculous! NO MORE!! This is real inspiration. "Necessity is the mother of invention", all you bike Manufacturers..
I have a Gary Fisher L' Aquila mountain bike. I bought it new in 1999 in Sydney. So it's now 25 years old! The front suspension forks gave up a couple of years ago and I replaced them with rigid forks. I've been running it on narrow road tyres for many years and predominantly using it on sealed roads, basically as a road bike. The bike has seen life in Vietnam for two years, Laos, Indonesia for several years, and Malawi, as well as here in New South Wales. It's still in nearly daily use, though I do alternate it with my full suspension bike depending on the ride. Still a lovely bike to ride. At 73, I now think my legs will retire before the bike!
Probably the most impressive 90s mtb to gravel conversion on TH-cam. Great ideas for anyone that’s handy too. Would’ve been cool to see those adapters brazed on but the flux core welder is a great budget solution
I don't think you can properly do a 90's video without it. It was so big in the 90's and my old Pentium 90 ran it well. We were on T1 line in the early days of file sharing, prior to Napster. I remember Winamp fondly. It's a shame they don't make software anymore.
Wow, what a brilliant video! I was born in 1973, raced as a teenager on these type of frames in Poland in the late 1980s. I was shocked how easy this conversion went for you. And the Winamp part was great. Unforgettable times.
That sounds amazing. I'm a 1978 model, myself. These bikes were big for me in my late teens. I was in college dorms with a T1 line in 1998 and winamp was all the rage then. We would share files over the university network and make our own Winamp skins. I remember it fondly.
Robert, good video! As a cyclist of 35 years, and a Machinist/Engineer of 45 years, I can appreciate what you've accomplished. I have an old Stumpjumper with 26" wheels, disc brakes, and Quick Release hubs. I converted the 26ers to thru axles in a similar fashion. I had to custom make the axles, modify the hubs, and modify the dropouts. Having machine tools is great!
Props for this. For myself, I am perfectly happy with the way I typically 'gravelize' nineties mountain bikes: put faster rolling tires on it, swap the handlebars for a drop bar or a Surly Corner Bar type of handlebar, find a high and short stem to get the position right, and that's it. I like the snappy acceleration and the nimble steering of 26" wheels (and their strength), and well adjusted V-brakes work perfectly fine for me.. That said, I do like the concept and realization of this bike very much. Props also for the calm editing and talking us thru the build, including the mistakes. That's a breath of fresh air compared to most bike build video's here. Good job!
I personally knew Gary back when I had onZa in the 90s. Knowing him he would love to give you a call and pay you a visit and find a way to produce a Retro-Mod based off your beautiful bike, paint decals and all. I would not doubt it would be the best selling Gravel bike for two years in a row. Everything on your beautiful restoration screams! ""BITCH... YOU WANT ME, YOU BUY ME, YOU RIDE ME"" Amazing, when I first saw your photo on the cover of your TH-cam vid, I thought WOW TREK & Gary are actually coming out with this amazing new retro Fisher bike. But was blown away when I saw it was a rescue bike... Utterly Fantastic Master Piece!
Did the same thing with my early-90's Gary Fisher Cronus (didn't go thru axle though, that's great!). Have disc brake boss welded on, carbon fork. It's a dream to ride. Bottom bracket/crankset took some creativity, but now that it's all sorted it's become one of my favorite bikes to ride.
Amazing and inspirational. And hats off for showing people that paint solvents are no joke (Full skin coverage, and full face respirator with fresh air supply.) The only way to do it properly . Central nervous system damage is not to be taken lightly... ask anyone who's experienced it.
Wow! Love the milling a chunk o steel into a rear disc brake mount. Serious skills(and tools!) Im just gonna throw drop bars on my old Tange tubed Nishiki and call it a day😂
I love all those old Gary Fisher's. They had such cool names and paint jobs. My first real mtb was a GF Kaitai and it had this awesome sparkly yellow paint job.
I was and actually still am huge Gary Fisher I was devastated when Gary Fisher went under Trek name and slowly dissapeared!Had a Big Sur from 1998 and sold it to but Hoo Koo E Koo from 2000.I wish I kept a Big Sur.Over the years I got other bikes and end up restoring Hoo Koo E Koo and glad I did!Gar Fisher fan forever!!Probably you could join forces with Old Shovel channel.He likes restoring old mtbs.
Thank you for saving a Gary Fisher bike from the scrap yard.. as a collector of vintage Gary Fisher bikes I appreciate this video.. from the way the Gary Fisher logo is on the frame and head tube it looks like a 1999 - 2000 model.. my aquila 26er has the same writing. ❤
I need a little commuter bike, so ive atarted a similar but less detailed build on my old 2009 alloy Gary Fisher, excalibre. Imagine my surprise to have a Gary Fisher gravel bike build pop up in my algorithm. Job very well done sir. Very nice. I hope mine turns out half as nice.
For your next one, you might do a gravel bike with inverted front shocks, adding one of your wicked paint schemes and bringing it to market. You possess a great innovative talent for building these bikes.
Everyone else - "Let's build a gravel bike" - proceeds to clean the frame and put a brand new groupset and drop bar on. This guy - "Let's build a gravel bike" - proceeds to make his own thru-axles and disc mounts! You have a new subscriber.
Gitche Gumee bikes are a lot of fun to ride. As a teen, I would go blasting through all the farmers fields and abandoned railway paths around my house. Spent my summer riding everywhere on that bike. Great conversion.
This is the content I’ve been looking for all day! A restomod bike, truly modded to make it work with modern standards. Many may say it’s shameful to “destroy” another classic frame, but I say it’s better to do this and create a revised version of a bike that will get ridden a lot.
what a setup! This is exactly what I'd love to do and convert old steel MTB frames to 700c gravel bikes. Surely I'm not the only one, and this is a business opportunity for you. Wish I was state side!
The nostalgia part of your video made me kinda sad and long for the early days of mtb's. How we used to geek out at all the new tech at the time. Got my first mtb in 85 and still have it. Remember buddies showing up with Fisher's and thinking, gotta get one of those. Those were the days. Now I'm officially old and just bought my first e-mtb. It has renewed my love of the sport. Now I'm looking at all the old bikes in my barn and wondering, which one will make a good gravel bike. Never say die.
Good looking build. I really enjoy building a bike from the frame up, and converting the type of bike as well. Great job with the frame modifications, and the through axle conversion.
Funny, I worked at the studio that designed all the stuff for GF in the 90s... funny to see all the old graphics on the frames, i forgot all about that stuff. Nice build!
before watching the video , I thought it would be another budge "retro to modern" build, but as a mécanique this is gold. The true axles conversions it really the best part.
That´s real a Beaut, even for me as a MTB-junky! Love that you kept the paint mostly as it was....i would have left it like that for the swordfish-man alone XD the black stays accommodate the look, don´t mess it up👍👍👍
The hardest part of the whole project was getting Winamp to work on that Windows 98 tablet.
Hahaha when I saw Winamp I thought what the heck when was this video filmed ? Hahaah
The hardest part was found a nice condition gary fisher or other branded frame next to dustbin
😂nostalgia! Love your vid’s and music choice. Winamp’s the icing on the cake
Dear Robert,
I personally knew Gary back when I had onZa in the 90s. Knowing him he would love to give you a call and pay you a visit and find a way to produce a Retro-Mod based off your beautiful bike, paint decals and all. I would not doubt it would be the best selling Gravel bike for two years in a row. Everything on your beautiful restoration screams!
""BITCH... YOU WANT ME, YOU BUY ME, YOU RIDE ME""
Amazing, when I first saw your photo on the cover of your TH-cam vid, I thought WOW TREK & Gary are actually coming out with this amazing new retro Fisher bike. But was blown away when I saw it was a rescue bike... Utterly Fantastic Master Piece!
That bike looks epic❤
The thru axle conversation is brilliant!
But 142 and 135mm hubs are still the same from locknut to locknut as I understand it. I would have just found an old mtb fork and built up wheels with 100/135mm hubs.
its an abomination
@@SurpriseMeJT No, one is 135 mm and the other is 142 mm. Not difficult to understand at all.
I cringe when I hear someone say, "bike build", which usually means they've changed out some functional parts for fancy parts, but this is genius and absolutely amazing! Well, done sir.
There’s a certain level of irony in saying “new parts are too expensive”, but using machining a single nut and brake mount with thousands of dollars of tools😂! Great work, very cool bike and insightful build!
Im with you
Wow. Honestly the thru axle conversion blew my mind. That is such a good idea. I knew about cold setting, but I hadn't seen anyone do that thru axle stuff.
Too bad you need some pretty crazy tooling to do this, what an amazing build. As a Gary Fisher owner, I love this build.
Awesome! Thank you.
doset surly got something like this on its midnight special. but nevertheless pretty nice build!
You don't need to use a mill. You could all that with a grinder and file. It would take more time is all.
I use 10x 135 thru axile conversion on my dt swiss for aluminum full suspension mtb. And cut 142 endcaps to 135 on a aluminum hardtail and drilled the dropouts from 10mm
to12mm . In case u don't have steel or ti , there's great options.. and 1° slacker headsets are available for 1 1/8. Not sure about 1" head tubes .
Had to switch off in the end pissed off with the music
Robert is like the Bob Ross of bike videos....love him!
eh more Bob Vila, @OldShovel is Bob Ross.
This is absolutely incredible. This is the most detailed and creative vintage bike conversion builds I've EVER SEEN. Usually most people just put on a new drivetrain, tires and bars and call it a day.
greatest bike conversion video ive ever seen. i am in awe.
Jeez, what a brilliant upgrade. Steel frames go a long way to allow whatever you want
Man you just did the entire project a way way way better than anyone online here on youtube, So much precise on the measurement , then the disc mount and finding the used parts with the the frame stretching to fit the through axle, it was amazing.
I've abandoned any idea of paying what Gravel Bikes are going for these days. Rediculous! NO MORE!! This is real inspiration. "Necessity is the mother of invention", all you bike Manufacturers..
I have a Gary Fisher L' Aquila mountain bike. I bought it new in 1999 in Sydney. So it's now 25 years old! The front suspension forks gave up a couple of years ago and I replaced them with rigid forks. I've been running it on narrow road tyres for many years and predominantly using it on sealed roads, basically as a road bike. The bike has seen life in Vietnam for two years, Laos, Indonesia for several years, and Malawi, as well as here in New South Wales. It's still in nearly daily use, though I do alternate it with my full suspension bike depending on the ride. Still a lovely bike to ride. At 73, I now think my legs will retire before the bike!
Probably the most impressive 90s mtb to gravel conversion on TH-cam. Great ideas for anyone that’s handy too. Would’ve been cool to see those adapters brazed on but the flux core welder is a great budget solution
One of the best bike builds I have watched. Cheers
14:16 Winamp, indeed! It totally goes with a 90s bike re-build 😀
I don't think you can properly do a 90's video without it. It was so big in the 90's and my old Pentium 90 ran it well. We were on T1 line in the early days of file sharing, prior to Napster. I remember Winamp fondly. It's a shame they don't make software anymore.
Major thumbs up for the WinAmp player 😄
This is one of the best looking bikes I've ever seen.
Wow, what a brilliant video! I was born in 1973, raced as a teenager on these type of frames in Poland in the late 1980s. I was shocked how easy this conversion went for you. And the Winamp part was great. Unforgettable times.
That sounds amazing. I'm a 1978 model, myself. These bikes were big for me in my late teens. I was in college dorms with a T1 line in 1998 and winamp was all the rage then. We would share files over the university network and make our own Winamp skins. I remember it fondly.
@@RobertAdairWorkshop and those visualizations were priceless. So trippy sometimes :)
@@RobertAdairWorkshopit really whips the Llamas ass…
Robert, good video! As a cyclist of 35 years, and a Machinist/Engineer of 45 years, I can appreciate what you've accomplished.
I have an old Stumpjumper with 26" wheels, disc brakes, and Quick Release hubs. I converted the 26ers to thru axles in a similar fashion. I had to custom make the axles, modify the hubs, and modify the dropouts.
Having machine tools is great!
Oh yes that THRU AXLE was freaking brilliant
Props for this.
For myself, I am perfectly happy with the way I typically 'gravelize' nineties mountain bikes: put faster rolling tires on it, swap the handlebars for a drop bar or a Surly Corner Bar type of handlebar, find a high and short stem to get the position right, and that's it.
I like the snappy acceleration and the nimble steering of 26" wheels (and their strength), and well adjusted V-brakes work perfectly fine for me..
That said, I do like the concept and realization of this bike very much. Props also for the calm editing and talking us thru the build, including the mistakes. That's a breath of fresh air compared to most bike build video's here.
Good job!
Really appreciate this. Thank you. I had a gravelized Hardrock in the late 90's with bull bars. It was a neat bike. Would be a fun build, for sure.
Absolutely beautiful! The gold makes it pop. Great build.
Thanks!
Those custom drop outs are amazing 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Thank you!
Prob the best bike build I’ve seen in a while!
I personally knew Gary back when I had onZa in the 90s. Knowing him he would love to give you a call and pay you a visit and find a way to produce a Retro-Mod based off your beautiful bike, paint decals and all. I would not doubt it would be the best selling Gravel bike for two years in a row. Everything on your beautiful restoration screams!
""BITCH... YOU WANT ME, YOU BUY ME, YOU RIDE ME""
Amazing, when I first saw your photo on the cover of your TH-cam vid, I thought WOW TREK & Gary are actually coming out with this amazing new retro Fisher bike. But was blown away when I saw it was a rescue bike... Utterly Fantastic Master Piece!
I love my Gary Fisher Tiburon. 28lbs and 700c x 35. Glides down the road so easy.
Did the same thing with my early-90's Gary Fisher Cronus (didn't go thru axle though, that's great!). Have disc brake boss welded on, carbon fork. It's a dream to ride. Bottom bracket/crankset took some creativity, but now that it's all sorted it's become one of my favorite bikes to ride.
Amazing and inspirational. And hats off for showing people that paint solvents are no joke (Full skin coverage, and full face respirator with fresh air supply.) The only way to do it properly . Central nervous system damage is not to be taken lightly... ask anyone who's experienced it.
Nice! Gary would approve (especially the grabbing it out of the trash bit.)
Wow! Love the milling a chunk o steel into a rear disc brake mount. Serious skills(and tools!) Im just gonna throw drop bars on my old Tange tubed Nishiki and call it a day😂
I love all those old Gary Fisher's. They had such cool names and paint jobs. My first real mtb was a GF Kaitai and it had this awesome sparkly yellow paint job.
I remember those
Amazing video, your skills bringing an old bike back to life is incredible. What a pleasure!
Thank you.
I got a complete Gary Fischer out of the trash. It’s the coolest bike I’ve ever owned.
I was and actually still am huge Gary Fisher I was devastated when Gary Fisher went under Trek name and slowly dissapeared!Had a Big Sur from 1998 and sold it to but Hoo Koo E Koo from 2000.I wish I kept a Big Sur.Over the years I got other bikes and end up restoring Hoo Koo E Koo and glad I did!Gar Fisher fan forever!!Probably you could join forces with Old Shovel channel.He likes restoring old mtbs.
Thank you for saving a Gary Fisher bike from the scrap yard.. as a collector of vintage Gary Fisher bikes I appreciate this video.. from the way the Gary Fisher logo is on the frame and head tube it looks like a 1999 - 2000 model.. my aquila 26er has the same writing. ❤
I've never seen someone on TH-cam make something that's absolutely incredible and hard to do look so easy .... you got a new subscriber bro
How nice to be so honest about a few little mistakes, al lot to learn here. Well done conversion!
I need a little commuter bike, so ive atarted a similar but less detailed build on my old 2009 alloy Gary Fisher, excalibre. Imagine my surprise to have a Gary Fisher gravel bike build pop up in my algorithm. Job very well done sir. Very nice. I hope mine turns out half as nice.
Wow - that through axle conversion requires some serious machine shop skills and tools!
And I’ve got a Gary Fisher out in he garage. Woohoo! Nice job
As soon as I saw those cantilever brake mounts on the frame I knew I was gonna watch some welding. That whole video was riveting!
Riveting was only a small part of the video.
Mind blowing the thru axle problem solving - Simply brilliant conversion and a 'proper' change from old to new 🙂
Thank you.
You are one smart guy , I am car painter by trade , I'm very impressed, my friend Chip Foose has to see your channel!!!😊
Could not agree more. Great to see this conversion. Beautiful bike.
Love your work, the craftsmanship, your attention to work safety (respiratory protection)... and the original Winamp playing :)
Great build! Thru axle conversion was brilliant. Would recommend adding a brace between chain stay and seat stay to bolster that rear disk brake.
man, there is nothing more satisfying than engineering your own bike solutions, it's surprising how many problems you can avoid
For your next one, you might do a gravel bike with inverted front shocks, adding one of your wicked paint schemes and bringing it to market. You possess a great innovative talent for building these bikes.
Excellent workmanship and an awesome end result. This exercise shows how long the modern mountain bikes have gone. Love your workshop!
Absolutely stunning bike, i loves steel frame.
Everyone else - "Let's build a gravel bike" - proceeds to clean the frame and put a brand new groupset and drop bar on.
This guy - "Let's build a gravel bike" - proceeds to make his own thru-axles and disc mounts!
You have a new subscriber.
Thanks for joining. Appreciate it.
this modernizing process was really smart
What an outstanding build! By far the best and most dedicated 90s MTB gravel conversion I’ve seen.
@Robert Adair Back in the 1990’s a Gary Fisher was a top brand mountain bike they weren’t cheap, Gary was a very respected bike rider. You scored.
this is real ecology - giving life for old products - and in fact high quality painting on this is far better than in new bikes :)
Gitche Gumee bikes are a lot of fun to ride. As a teen, I would go blasting through all the farmers fields and abandoned railway paths around my house.
Spent my summer riding everywhere on that bike. Great conversion.
I don't normally leave comments on videos but the alterations you made were awesome and the bike looks great. Thanks for sharing.
Appreciate it. Thank you. And thanks too for subscribing.
Machining your thru axle assembly
was so good
I remember seeing that bike in the shops back then.
Thank you for sharing your mistakes too, it's cool to see it all! There's so many stories to tell in these projects 🙏
Best conversion i’ve seen in youtube. The cleanest TA conversion.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
This is the content I’ve been looking for all day! A restomod bike, truly modded to make it work with modern standards. Many may say it’s shameful to “destroy” another classic frame, but I say it’s better to do this and create a revised version of a bike that will get ridden a lot.
Fantastic job, man. The heat sink on the dropout was a great idea.
thru axle part is the most satisfying!
Really loved your idea for drop out modification. Overall great craftsmanship, thanks for sharing. 👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾✌🏾
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Now this is a true "bike build".
Why an amazing transformation.Thank's for sharing!
what a setup! This is exactly what I'd love to do and convert old steel MTB frames to 700c gravel bikes. Surely I'm not the only one, and this is a business opportunity for you. Wish I was state side!
I've often thought that gravel biking is, for the most part, just mountain biking in the nineties.
This is magnificent. The reason why I'm in love with bikes in just one video.
What a build! i love it.
I would ❤ to give that it's maiden voyage. Fisher would be proud.
I went back for it, way fast!
In my book, any bike is worth saving.❤
This is unbelievable. I have never seen a rebuild like this before. Well done.
The nostalgia part of your video made me kinda sad and long for the early days of mtb's. How we used to geek out at all the new tech at the time. Got my first mtb in 85 and still have it. Remember buddies showing up with Fisher's and thinking, gotta get one of those. Those were the days. Now I'm officially old and just bought my first e-mtb. It has renewed my love of the sport. Now I'm looking at all the old bikes in my barn and wondering, which one will make a good gravel bike. Never say die.
This guy know what his doing forsure .
"Convert an old 90's mtb to a gravel bike in 1384979 east steps!"
For real though, just wow! Nicely done!
I own a Gary Fisher Paragon from 90s they are awesome!!
Good looking build. I really enjoy building a bike from the frame up, and converting the type of bike as well. Great job with the frame modifications, and the through axle conversion.
Great workmanship? The bike looks like those antics restored cars I see in the Summer restored and shiny. Good job Robert Adair. 👌👌
I definitely don't seem myself going this hard on a conversion, but there's still a ton of good info in here.
That heat sink trick is old school. Kudos to you for using 100% of your brain. Cheers bro.
Appreciate it!
The freaking urge I have to find an old 90s frame and build my own bike now. Amazing video, keep them coming
Looks great, and I love the gold details.
What a cool build!
We use to put our road bike bars on our Bridgestone Mtb's back in the day if there was a gravel like Xc race.
Very well done on this.
Wow, sick build! Gary would be proud.
He's still alive though?
@@Coastal_Cruzer Yep, and would still be proud I reckon.
Like an episode of This Old House Bike. This was great!
Wow! Awesome build! The patience of a madman. Well done!
Such a fine build....
Excellent build! I have a mid 90s Gary Fisher that I turned into an Omnium Minimax cargo bike last year. Such a great frame for a fun build!
Another great movie about building gravel bike from 90' MTB frame. Thank You. You work inspire me!
Super awesome build.
And that's the 1st time I saw a thru-axle convertion.
Best Gravel Bike I have seen so far!
Nice work. Good honest debrief and lessons learnt at the end was refreshing.
I appreciate that!
Awesome combertion, the true axel blew my mind 🤯
Funny, I worked at the studio that designed all the stuff for GF in the 90s... funny to see all the old graphics on the frames, i forgot all about that stuff. Nice build!
before watching the video
, I thought it would be another budge "retro to modern" build, but as a mécanique this is gold. The true axles conversions it really the best part.
plus there is not a way to put the bars tape, we are 3 mécanique at my shop and we all have a different way, just rap it in the way your hand grip
Gongratulations Sr. It’s so beautiful to modernize an old frame. The true axles and the brakes are a work of art. Job well done….
That´s real a Beaut, even for me as a MTB-junky! Love that you kept the paint mostly as it was....i would have left it like that for the swordfish-man alone XD the black stays accommodate
the look, don´t mess it up👍👍👍