Is this the best commuter bike out there? Can a Gary Fisher Aquila be a low-cost Rivendell or Surly?
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- Опубликовано: 4 май 2023
- In this video, I take a high-end steel Gary Fisher Aquila Mountain Bike and turn it into an amazing cruiser that will rival any Rivendell or Surly out there.
Shop: www.depuesshop.com
Here are the parts I used.
Handlebars: amzn.to/3VEv4qz
Grips: amzn.to/3B0Lgca
Tires: amzn.to/3LBfc3n
Pedals: amzn.to/3VEuqJz
Brown Brake Cable: amzn.to/44wNY6L
Brown Shifter Cable: amzn.to/3HGsOJy
Here are the tools I used.
Awesome Grease Gun: amzn.to/3k85U4O
Parts Washer: amzn.to/3PVsJGA
depues_shop...
Seeing 90s steel MTBs get a new lease on life is just great. This one's a real garage queen too, no wonder it turned out so well. Brilliant stuff, thanks for another enjoyable and entertaining video.
the fold up, wall mounted parts washer is so slick lol put that on my Christmas list
Yep! I love mine. I have a separate video on it.
I am 52, a lifetime cyclist and just recently into doing some bike repair and restoration. This and oldshovel are my two current favorite RUclips channels, both for getting some knowledge and just "comfort watching" when I get home on Friday afternoon. 💖 This one turned out beautiful, thanks for the great videos!
Thank you very much! It keeps me going when I hear comments like this!
Way cool! Nice job. I love what you do with these. That green paint is awesome.
That turned out great! I love what you did with it. Still has that classic look too.
Hy guy, as always greetings from Germany and thanks for the video. A very nice rebuild of the bike and I liked the fact that you first mixed the levers 😄 always happens to me. Keep on going and I wish a nice weekend. 👍🌞🍀
This is one of the best RUclips builds I’ve seen in the past year! Amazing choices, and thank you so much for the list with the parts.
Also, congrats on the overall improvement of your videography and flow really entertaining , one of my top three channels
Thank you!!!
Amazingly clean to start with. Can't believe the wedge was stuck in the fork with zero rust. That seat post clamp is beautiful.
This is my favorite build so far. What a beautiful bike!
Ready for another 30 years service. Lovely work, I look forward to watching more of your content 👍
Awesome build. Love your handle bar set up
Loved watching this build! I just picked up a 96' Marlin in the same color way
Great choice, I got a Gary Fisher last year and it was amazing! I love your tire choice, my only difference would be raising handle bars so the rider has an upright riding position, maybe it's just my back, but I find no advantage to bending forward on a commuter bike ride, sitting upright I can ride 5-6 hours and no back/neck/wrist/hand/butt aches! I cringed when I saw the 1" lift go higher go higher i was screaming, my bikes get a 12" lift on the bars and I love riding for hours, great video thank you
The match of colours that you normally do is awesome. Many thanks and congratulations for such a good taste
I love the paint color and it goes so well with the gold graphics.
Love the colors on this bike…great job👏👏👏
Beautiful Bike. I like the creativity with the brown cable housing. Eyecatcher for sure.
Nice build of a very cool '90's MB. Love the paint on this one and the brown grips and cable housings go with it perfectly. I remember those 3x drivetrains well. 😄 Cheers.
I have that exact same bike I bought new in college. Mine’s purple. You’ve inspired me to do something cool with mine.
That bike is so good lookin, I have watched this video several times. Keeping my eye out for that color.
nice! what a tidy and well preserved frame, incredible.
This one turned out BEAUTIFUL!
Very cool resto-mod! I absolutely agree that these old '90's MTB's are a good value alternative to the Rivendell's and Surly's. There are so many 30ish year old MTB's hanging from garage rafters that are begging for a 2nd life. It's so cool to take someone else's unused equipment and get it back on the trails. Keep up the good work. Just starting my '97 Hoo Koo E Koo resto-mod.
Another great build and great video thankyou
Great job, Great video, Thank you for your time and tutorial.
1980s and 1990s mountain bikes are all I own/collect nowadays. I have a 98 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo, a 93 Trek 930 and a 93 GT Karakoram. I finally discovered that I really just love old rigid steel bikes with fat 26" wheels (converted from mountain bikes to casual cruisers). I would love to find this Aquila frame in that color green...an emerald green is my favorite color. Thanks for sharing.
My old Trek 950 has almost identical components. I also swapped out the straight bars for one with a sweep similar to yours, and it's amazing how much that changes the feel of the bike. Very nice color choices!
Yep, Trek owned Gary Fisher during this time and shared alot between brands.
Beautiful build, looks like a dream to ride.
That’s a beautiful bike and a great ‘restoration’. I’d sell a child for a bike like that. Great video. Thanks.
It sure looks good, but the one thing that would put it over the edge is CHROME fenders! It's screaming for it & maybe a chrome back rack. Then you can ride it in the rain with style.
And a brass bell for that stem.
Brushed aluminum fenders maybe. Or even painted cream color. Demi porteur rack in front.
The cat is also groovy, just like this Fisher bike. 👍 From Sweden with great thanks for the video.
great bike. I have one in purple that I used to drag my dog around in her custom modified burley flatbed trailer on the beaches of socal. still have the bike, but I think it's time to pass it on. nice work on yours
I had a small 26 blue and gray Gary Fisher, with decent front shocks. it handled like my BMX. can't wait to get my red line MX24 in tomorrow
Thank you for this video! I have an old Jamis...close to the same shade of green, and I think I can do it up like you here and make it look like it's twin--love the brown, too!
Go for it!
Picked one of these up for peanuts a few years back. it proved to be a good source of components. in fact, the front wheel is on my latest build!
Great job and a new life of nice bike :)
Very cool bike! These older steel bikes can go on forever with a just tiny bit of maintenance and refreshing.
I have been finding pretty good ones at or below 20 dollars. Love those bars and tires.
Nice build my friend.
that's a great way to mod that bike.. my 7300fx disc is a similar cruiser hybrid.. mullet wheels and gears
I've been doing something very similar to my 1991 Schwinn Crosscut. It is very similar to the bike you rebuilt. It hasn't been as easy as you make it look. Of course mine wasn't so pristine. However, I didn't swap my brake/derailleur controls. It was 70 degrees yesterday and I hoped to take it for a spin. Unfortunately, the derailleurs had other ideas. Nice video.
I've often thought it would be a good idea for me to put my bike stand in an old claw foot bathtub so I could find all the little parts that I drop.
🤣🤣
Saludos desde Costa Rica...tengo bicicleta de los años 90..muy original y en buen estado...esa suya esta genial..exelente video
Great job.
More rise backsweep and wider bars would make it even more comfortable
Agreed I did a similar build with a Univega steel hybrid and used the Velo Orange Seine bar at 780mm, 40mm rise and 35 degree sweep. Cut the bars down to 720 which is perfect for me.
And with that silverback oakland 26er and 3x9..thank and i appreciate the feedback.. With hulp in deed
Nice job!👌
Beautiful bicycle, a classic, and a good choice to upgrade. Well made video, too. I went down to the local bike store. His lowest cost bike was $438, a cruiser from China, heavy with no name parts. I took an old 1992 TREK 970 with a lugged chromoly frame and converted it to my city cruiser. Even with powder coating, custom decals and a lots of new parts the total cost was just under $300.
....and you ended up with a much better bike!
Just got a 96 or so G.F. Marlin that I am going to work on slowly as I ride it as a commuter bike. I went blind in my left eye and my right one is a bit poor too so I quit driving and went back to the basics at age 69..
I have the same Fisher Aquila (with all original components) that I rode on trails in WI back in the day, except i have replaced the original with a gel seat and a taller, replacement handlebar stem(?) that reduces the strain on my arms from the original seating position which put so much weight on my shoulders and wrists (how did we ride like that?). I now find the front rake (which was great on technical trails) a bit steep and maybe unstable for my present state of balance and (much) older body. I still have the original toe-clips (made for street shoes, not clip-ons) installed by the dealer I bought her from. Thanks for the video.
Nice build. Good man for keeping the original drive train. This one by stuff is a fad. I agree I have the same Aquila and a Rivendell Atlantis. I ride the hell out of both but The Aquila has a little more old school cred which makes it my favorite.
Beautiful bicycle
Very nice colours.
The Shimano STX line was pretty special, 2 of my 90s bikes have the STX-RC derailleurs which was rumored to be discontinued by Shimano because they never break, I don't know how true that is but i will say they all work flawless over 25 years later.
Great build!! I would have done cork grips to go with the classy brown cable housings from France.
I agree! I'm not in love with the light colored seat and grips and ultimately may change those up to be darker brown.
Gorgeous!
I ride a Gary Fisher piranha as my workhorse. The frame is on its 3rd iteration now.
These old MTB frames are like a blank canvas ready for creativity!
appreciate the vid and the restoration. you gotta let me in on that red scrub gun/parts washer cabinet-- what's the make/model?
I wish I could tell you where I got it. I can't find anyone who makes them anymore. I love it. If I can find it, I will let you know.
Maravilha de bike e de trabalho. Componentes System, parabéns.
Nice work! Just subbed..
Awesome, thank you!
I used to sell these. Super light steel, Fisher stable geometry! Replace those horrible pads with some Yokozuna!
Crazy how narrow those handlebars are, I've almost never seen brake levers that lose together on any size of bike.
Love your videos. Do you put any grease or other thing on the chain ring bolts before assembling?
Some things I don't grease. I don't grease the chainring bolts.
Parabéns ficou muito linda, mais que já era.
The prettiest bike I have seen.
I've got the same year (1995) Hoo Koo E Koo and Cronus (frame, waiting to be repainted). These geometries are perfect and I'd say ideal for urban riding. The only downside of them is the 73mm bottom bracket width as this standard makes forces the use of a slightly wider bottom bracket and chainline which is not ideal for a 135mm rear end.
Nice build! Would you mind sharing the saddle you ended up using?
I can't find where I got that seat. I think it may have been one that I had lying around.
I have a Yo Eddy Team Fat Chance; could I do the same thing with a rebuild? I feel the Yo's geometry is much shorter and tighter so maybe it wouldn't convert into a cruiser without becoming incredibly twitchy
upfront.
Omg I love that cat!
The shifting sounded solid and as smooth as butter when you ran through the gears in your shop. This is the kind of restored bike I'd absolutely be interested in buying if I came across one. Do you keep most of your restored bikes or sell some of them off?
Well, that's a tricky question. I try to sell them but lately the bike market is very soft and unfortunately, I acquire bikes faster than I move them along. Haha! There are a few that I do hold onto because I like them too much.
I don’t quite like the stem and bar that is one ver nice build. Good looking bike with smart touches
for the tires, were they deflated? I find it easier to take off when the tube has been deflated where you can squeeze the tire to insert the levers.
I had them totally deflated. For some reason, these were extra tight.
very nice
This bike was the perfect candidate for a restomod like this. Great build!! I would take this over a Rivendell any day! Nothing against Rivendell bikes, I just love saving money and reusing old stuff!
Question: I noticed you put the little cassette spacer in between some of the smaller cogs; I found mine on the ground one day and assumed it went on the bottom of the cassette up against the wheel. Where is this spacer supposed to go? And is it the same on all these 7/8 speed cassettes?
The spacer depends on what was on the cassette originally. Some have them and some don't. Generally speaking, if you can measure the spacing between the cogs, each sprocket should be spaced the same from one another. If you find one that is too close to another, that would be where the spacer goes.
@@DePuesshop Ohhh I see, thank you!!
Lovely build! Just curious, does it matter which way the BB is installed? Genuine question from a hobby mechanic here.
Yes, the threads are opposite of each other and they only go in one way. The right hand side of the bike has backwards threads.
Very nice build!I really dig those bars,do you have a link?btw what’s your go to putter?
Link to the bars and other things are in the description. Thanks for watching!
My putter is a Never Compromise.
Hi there, amazing looking bike! Do you know the code of the paint? I'm amazed about it!
Sorry, I don't. They are quite popular in that color.
have a 1997 Aquila with the White Sand Matte paint and am thinking of doing a restoration similar to what you did. What handlebar did you use? Also looking at replacing the 175mm cranks with 170 or 165mm as the frame is a 15.5" and my legs are short. And what shifters did you use to replace the twist grips?
The bars were off of Amazon. There's a link in the video description. As for the shifters, those are Shimano Exage. Nothing fancy, just some older 3x7 shifters.
Could you please tell me what tool/size tool you used to remove the crank? I have to remove the exact one. Thanks 🙏
It's a bicycle special tool. They are not too expensive. Search "crank puller" on Amazon or eBay you will find several different kinds.
Great bike and vid! What’s the frame size?
I believe it is a 17-inch bike. A bit too small for me, but still fun to ride.
I like that bike it is just to bad they cant get any other cruiser bike with gearing like that for anyone who has hills
Where did you get the bars from like the build 👍🇬🇧
All the stuff I bought for the build is in the video description. The bars are aluminum and have a great finish, and best if all, they are affordable!
Nice and fine bike..
2010 silverback oakland.. Mid range bike... Really slow... What cause the problems..
Its 8 speed alloy frame.. With steel and alloy parts.. Shimano parts.. Only diffrence is that the derailleur is campagnolo for 7-12 speed and driftshifters from campagnolo
If it's slow, it could be the bike needs some lube or the tires are low or the bike is just big and heavy.
That trespasser looks like Ali Clarkson's part-thief,
better check if something is missing.
What stem are you using, and is it a 1 inch quill?
It was a stock Gary Fisher/Trek stem that came with the bike. It is a 1-1/8 quill stem.
@@DePuesshop Thank you - like you videos...
I would like to buy a Riv...
Use cable donuts to protect that frame. Please…
You're right! I need to get those on there!
The 29-year-old brake pads must be as hard as a rock. They may "work", but perform poorly, especially on a wet rim.
Needs a second water bottle cage.
I don’t know if you tried off camera, but your attempts to remove the tyres looked a little half hearted and you were too quick to go into demolition mode destroying tyres and tubes in the process.
Nice end result though.
I had broken 3 tire tools off camera and then gave up.....
Oh, so that explains your frustration. Lost in the editing.
Thanks for the explanation.
I am new to your channel, but interested to see more.
Subscribed. 😁
This bike is 4 sizes too small for you.
Haha! I think so!
Just ride it as is. Don't ruin it.