I think the reason people tell you not to throw money to that bike is because it usually takes more money in the end that you realize and your better off putting it toward something more modern, not saying you cant take something older and give it new life but just be aware that it becomes more of a love project than that of getting value for your dollar

People will dog on a "cheap" frame yet the motorized bike guys are doing 30+mph daily on Walmart bikes with no problems.

Always good to see an old bike that was given a new life! And given that the frame and donor bike came for free, it's absolutely worth it, even though the frame isn't anything special. Perfect commuter, unique build far from looking boring, and at an unbeatable price. Well done!

Awesome job. Learned a lot about preparation being the key to a smooth build. Love it!!!

Really enjoyed this video, gave me lots and lots of inspiration.....

Great video. This is exactly what I want to do with my 1994 KHS Montana Summit.

Really good video Peter, the bike looks great. The colour scheme makes it look like a much more expensive bike than it is. 👍

really good video! (and nice plug for 2nd life bikes love his stuff)

Love this. I might try and convert my old hybrid bike as well. I used that kurust on my old campervan and it does a good job.

This was awesome! I recently did the same thing and it was so satisfying to turn a bike that otherwise would have been forgotten in a garage or junk yard and bring it to the modern age, but also saving cash not buying those EXPENSIVE "entry" level gravel bikes!

Another great build I'll be ready for the next one great videos

My goodness, it's all old hat. I was already converting my mountain bikes to gravel bikes when I saw John Tomac with the racing handlebars on his mountain bike.

I love my one sided spd/platform pedal. I can use the non spd side for regular street shoes. Exustar EPM 827. The pointy things won't damage your bare foot if needed.

That's a great budget build and love the colour scheme. Personally not something I would have, but it looks good.

3:33 GCN? other? Great video by the way. You earned a new subscriber. Keep it up!

Chris here, CapeTown: loved yr 2nd MTB TO GRAVEL conversion, but am unable to find the FOLLOW-UP video where you gift it to your friend…? Cheers, Chris

Awesome video ! I was curious do the microshift (or micronew) 3x7 shifters work with mountain bike derailleurs? Because I heard that brifters often lack the tension necessary to shift a front mtb derailleur (such as deore, exage, etc.). I have a 90’s mtb that I’d like to convert to drops but that has been puzzling me. Thanks !!

Great looking bike again, especially considering it was never an expensive bike in the first place. I'm very sure it's gonna be a lot more fun that it probably was when it was new :). The only thing that could be (but I might be wrong) a downside are the brakes. IMHO the "clamping" brakes were never really that good compared to Cantilever or (Mini-)V-Brakes. I really like the color scheme, so thumbs up!

Be careful with those aluminum quill conversion headsets - I broke 2 of them in 2 years on my cross bike, I switched to a quill stem with a 31.8 clamp and trust it slightly more. But I had been bunny hopping speed bumps and going on mountain trail etc... Anyway my next build will be a 90's Schwinn Homegrown gravel dropbar/microshift with suspension and 29" disc wheels. Dig the vids!

Very brave of you to tackle the bike even though it is free! Spending too much time on eBay I can find nineties mountain bikes, including those with double butted frames and ahead forks in the £30 pound range, nice bikes but just not in the popular bike known brands. I must admit that bike would have been too much work for me! Still, nice job and good to have recycled something no one would have bothered with. Enjoy👌

I went all out with my 1993 trek 7000 😂 spent about £300 so far £140 just went on the brakes

Curious - you don't seem to have an issue with cable pull for both brakes and front derailieur when switching to the microshift gear and brake levers? Do they have a long cable pull compared to Shimano Sora dropbar gear and brake levers which have a short cable pull? There wasn't enough pull with the bikes original Shimano C101 front derailieur combined with Shimano Sora gear shifter to move over all 3 front cogs, so bought a Shimano Claris. I have just assumed the v brakes won't work with the Shimano Sora and so am switching to calliper brakes - but perhaps I should have tried with the v brakes first? Maybe I should have double checked gear cable tightness before concluding the Shimano Sora didn't have enough cable pull for the Shimano C101 derailieur? Maybe I've spent unnecessry money and time?

@8:08 bike forum reactionaries are ridiculous sometimes. what you managed to build is incredible and you can always move the parts to a different bike down the road. I had a similar experience with building an old huffy stalker frame into a resto mod gravel bike (old huffys have clamped and spot welded drop outs but i liked the paint job and outlandishly heavy steel) . IF THE FRAME WAS FREE ANY WAY AND WONT SNAP LIKE ALUMINUM THERE IS NO LOSS WHEN IT BREAKS.

Absolutely inspiring build, it came out very nice indeed. I am contemplating to convert my 98 GT timberline to drop bar. I intend to keep it simple and retain the triple crancset/FD, but struggle with the FD/brifter compatibility. Would you mind sharing the crankset and FD used as it seem to work with Microshift R8?

Any links with parts u used? Especially shifters ! Thanks!

Here in New Zealand, these kinds of bikes were what we laughed at, except they were branded Raleigh or some other "proper" brand, in order to compete with department stores... The 90's really was a dark period for some brands, we saw things like one piece "Ashtabula" cranksets and 2x drivetrains make a comeback with sidepull calipers on awful steel frames with steel hubs and steel rims that probably would have been sold for $400 NZD... I've seen it a few times in the last few decades, things almost being obsolete before the industry backpedals (no pun intended) and reintroduces some of those awful things so they can maintain a steady profit on their affordable range. 14mm hex bolts for cranks, freewheels, single-wall rims, 7 speed drivetrains... My attitude for a fun all-rounder these days is an 80's mountain bike with upright "cruiser" bars. Bar end shifters or brifters with drop bars always blows the budget way out. However, my current drop-bar gravel/adventure/touring/mountain bike was a measly $300nzd including the fresh powdercoat. Shimano RSX brifters 3x7, Deore DX crankset, DX cantilevers with salmon pads, double wall rims with parallax hubs, On One Midge bars, and an XT rear derailleur with some variety of Shimano road triple derailleur on the front. I used a tall quill stem similar in style to an "LD" stem to make the bike rideable on all surfaces, including mtb trails.

Literally the first ever BUDGET build, that you don't have to sell your car, and one kidney for - on whole youtube. No 'cheap' wireless shifters, and 'cheap' carbon wheels/fork. Kinda want to search around for a hardtail, oldschool mtb, to build one... 🤔 THANKS

Rear brake on left hand side in uk

i wouls say its doable if your a shorter rider. as a 6,2 rider drop bar 26" fits me terribly and looks ridiculous.i just keep them with flat bars

Gravel tires can be over half the price of that entire bike 😬

How did you decide the position of the drop bars?

Retro. Dirty. I like it.

In my experience 26" tubes are so much more airtight than 29 tubes.

Black beauty👍🏻😎always cool to reuse und upgrade bikes and their parts cause they are still compatible with most modern ones🙂But watching this black project on a black background and you wearing black cloth was a bit hard to follow your steps during this build.

What? You don't have a Dura Ace groupset laying around in somewhere?

Fantastic video, i hate when GCN pulls a dura-ace groupset out of their ass on their budget builds

The build looks nice finished. Maybe they didn't position it in the right way when you said about people telling you it wasn't worth it. I'm all for saving bikes, but that bike is so heavy. I mean if your friend likes it, fair dos, but at that price I'd sooner just have a decent 90s MTB and ride as is. I'm a bit of a Kona fan myself, something like a hahanna or fire mountain will be better quality steel, lighter and come with more usable parts e.g. bsa bb, usable crankset potentially even an a headset if getting a 97/98 onwards model. They can be picked up for like 100 quid and if you're able to reuse the cassette, derailleur, crankset etc, might not be much more expensive than this, but a lot nicer frame and lighter. Either way, it looks nice, and hopefully rides nice, but that weight is pretty hefty and might impact the fun

I get a kick out of black latex gloves - promoted by serial killers worldwide!

A man after my own heart for such a budget build, but $8.69 for a chain? be careful when cheaping out of things like chains because i got a shimano counterfeit and the thing didn't last more than a couple hundred miles and I'm sure was destroying my cassette and rings, and it failed shortly after. Awesome build though, well done.

You kinda gomered the brifter alignment just sayin..

Que alguien le diga que deje de hablar y muestre el resultado final de la bici

That's a sis groupset

Should have kept it as a mountain bike grovel bikes are crap off road

poor lighting

Would it kill you to TURN ON SOME LIGHTS? You're not the only one but WTF is going on with all these videos shot in the shadows? Viewers can't SEE anything!