-
Posts
-
-
I bought this 1994 Cannondale Killer V 900 with the hopes of turning it into a project bike. Im pretty new to Mountain Biking and I thought this bike would be a fun, time consuming project. Its kinda over my head but I am excited to learn, even if its the hard way. I am not really concerned about having the nicest or newest gear, just equipment that will be reliable and durable. I was looking for some experienced and knowledgeable advice if anyone would be kind enough to help me out. I would really appreciate, I don’t want to be that newbie that walks into his LBS and gets hustled for my wallet. My question is this. Is their any little components, such as derailleur hangers, or something that attaches to the frame, ect, that I will have an extreamly hard time finding if i break? I know this is an old bike and I have pieced out new equipment accordingly, straight fork tubes, rim breaks, limitations on wheel and tire size… I just need to know if their is any parts where ill just be SOL, and i should just say forget it and buy a new bike.
-
Hi Bike and Stuff
There are two ways to look at this
1. Do what you want and build the bike you want. It’s your money.
2. A 20 year old bike will probably still ride fine, but it’s still a 20 year old bike, and it’s going to ride much differently than a newer bike that has newer geometry and parts with newer technology in them. Lets be honest, rim brakes suck for trail riding, and you’re going to be SEVERLY limited should you ever choose to upgrade your wheels.
Also, if you spend more than 500$ on the total cost of the bike and upgrades, you might as well just buy a new hardtail. In my opinion, a brand new hardtail from any good bike manufacturer is going to be better than any 20 year old upgraded bike, and it will be more upgradeable as you progress in skill.
Hope that’s helpful.
-
Yeah, +1 with SlowMitch.
If you were a veteran mountain biker and wanted this bike for the sake of nostalgia to park beside your other 4 mountain bikes, ride once in a blue moon and relive your glory days, that would be cool. But as someone who is “pretty new” to mountain biking this sounds like a time & money sink.
-
I say go for it but don’t spend too much. Do you have a bicycle co-op near you? That might be a way to score some cheap/hard to find pieces.
When I got into mountain biking I was on a 25+ year old Rock Hopper. The brakes were garbage and I was down to 3 functional gears but I learned a lot and I didn’t kill myself. If it hadn’t gotten stolen, I would have fixed it up a bit but I was naïve and thought that my garage was a safe place to leave my bike (3 stolen bikes later I am much wiser).
-
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.