Another old mountain bike

[MrJamie]

I've got a '93ish Raleigh Max Ogre 15 thats been sitting in the garage for 2 years since i bought my Giant hybrid and hardly used for 15 years before that. I'm wondering if its worth doing anything with it, either as a short commuter/utility bike i can leave anywhere or possibly a little offroad. The main issue I have with it is that trying to power up a hill a few years back I broke the rear axle, then replaced the rear wheel but the dropout was bent, which i kinda straightened with a monkey wrench but im not convinced its a) safe b) not going to break the new wheel.

Its not going to be worth a lot (looks like £25-65 on ebay) and its a heavy oversized steel frame, but i dont mind that. However before I bought my Giant a combination of the bikes age and my 20stone+ weight at the time resulting in me breaking and replacing/upgrading quite a lot of it..

In the last 100 miles of its life it got..
-Koolstop pads front and rear
-New cables
-New seatpost & security QR collar (old one didnt go high enough)
-New (old) saddle
-New pedals
-New bottom bracket
-New rear wheel
And being the nerd I am, I learnt the angles of how to optimise canti brakes and adjust the gears so it runs well, stops well and because its a fair bit on the small side for me its quite aerodynamic.

I noticed you can get 26" Marathon Plus Tours for about £35 a pair, so part of me wants to put them on and use it as a bike i can leave outside the station, maybe ride in winter etc, part of me is saying its a crap old bike with a buggered dropout and I should just figuratively sling it in the canal.

Any opinions on it's fate? And a piccy to make the wall of text slightly less boring for the helpful people..

 

[Chris S]

Take the good bits off and give the rest to the scrap man. Dropouts shouldn't bend - it's a poor quality frame.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Looking at that picture that is one of the very basic "high tensile steel" frames. The giveaway is the style of gear hanger and forks.

I'm not sure what to suggest with this one. As Chris S says, the dropouts shouldn't really have bent and it suggests either a weakness or they weren't properly straight in the first place (slightly more likely IMO and may well have caused the axle failure). However unlike aluminium alloy it is okay to bend bits of a steel frame as they won't fatigue and break the way ally does (unless you have bent them back into shape a lot).

Since you've straightened the dropouts and the bike has already got a load of newish parts on it, I'd be inclined to ride it as a general runabout but not spend a lot on it and keep an eye on that dropout.

If you are still unsure you can always strip the good bits and dump the frame as Chris says.

 

[fossyant]

Just use it. Tough old boots these and I wouldn't be too worried about a bent drop out - it's steel (gas pipe edition) - bending back with a wrench is OK. I assume the drop out bent when you snapped the axel ?

Use it as a utility/shopper. Oh and ditch the cable lock if you'd like it to be outside the shop on your return - they will nick anything.

PS that's not too small anyway, judging by the seatpost - you could have a smaller frame !

 

[MrJamie]

Thanks all for the replies Basically, I might have a short 3-4mile commute soon I could cycle and thought this old bike might be a good choice to leave outside locked up, because I wouldnt especially care if it were stolen or vandalised and could double up as a pub bike too. I shall order some new tyres and give it a go

One other thing thats always bugged me with it though, you can hold the front wheel between your legs and adjust the steering angle no matter how tight you set it, which if going up a very very steep incline pulling on the bar ends its possible to twist them.

Just use it. Tough old boots these and I wouldn't be too worried about a bent drop out - it's steel (gas pipe edition) - bending back with a wrench is OK. I assume the drop out bent when you snapped the axel ?

Use it as a utility/shopper. Oh and ditch the cable lock if you'd like it to be outside the shop on your return - they will nick anything.

PS that's not too small anyway, judging by the seatpost - you could have a smaller frame !

I think the axle was partly gone when i started that day as the wheel was wobbling and rubbing the pads after about a mile, but I was running late so i unclipped the rear brake and kept going (not stupid I just didnt care about the old bike), I got to an uphill section into town and the axle snapped completely, but was still held vaguely in place by the hub. I replaced the wheel, discovered the dropout was bent and whe wheel wouldnt fit, so bent it back (using the old axle halves to line it up vaguely). Id probably just use my Abus Granit, although id be more worried about someone breaking that than stealing the bike. Its far from too small, its just that on my hybrid the saddle and bars are about level, on the Raleigh the bars are a fair bit lower and can be lowered more.

 

[sidevalve]

Just use it. If your not too bothered about it you'll probably find you're doing more miles on it than you ever intended. The twisty bars are an odd one. Try stripping out the wedge bolt and giving it a good clean, [put some oil on the thread only] and pop it back. After all this type of fixing has survived for many years and usually works ok.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Are the drop outs vertical or horizontal? If the drop outs are horizontal have some fun rebuilding it as a fixed.

 

[MrJamie]

Ill read up on how the front headset(?) works and see if i can look to reassemble it. Its always been like that, as a kid i thought you adjusted the bars by holding the wheel in your legs and straightening the handlebars. Ive kinda put it down to being a huge oaf and its only really happened when im pulling hard on the bar ends as the front wheel goes over the top of a short steep incline, I recall it happening all the time messing about on a bmx track.

Are the drop outs vertical or horizontal? If the drop outs are horizontal have some fun rebuilding it as a fixed.

Ill keep that in mind for future actually as theyre horizontal and that could be fun

 

[Lancj1]

Use it. I am bringing mine back to life as a commuter - must say the all the tubes on mine are a normal size so, after a couple of hours spent peeling off the stickers and cleaning off the glue, the frame looks quite classy, like a proper bike, regardless of the fact its made of gas pipe !

Re the frame - mine has a Handmade in Nottingham label tucked away at the bottom of the seatube so that adds a little something for me, cheap or not !

I have stuck CST traveler 1.5 tyres on (slick) and ill be looking at upgrading gears etc. Cant get away from the fact that the steel frame, regardless of the alleged low quality, and the big tyres, result in a really comfy ride which is just the ticket pre work.

 

[MrJamie]

Use it. I am bringing mine back to life as a commuter - must say the all the tubes on mine are a normal size so, after a couple of hours spent peeling off the stickers and cleaning off the glue, the frame looks quite classy, like a proper bike, regardless of the fact its made of gas pipe !

Re the frame - mine has a Handmade in Nottingham label tucked away at the bottom of the seatube so that adds a little something for me, cheap or not !

I have stuck CST traveler 1.5 tyres on (slick) and ill be looking at upgrading gears etc. Cant get away from the fact that the steel frame, regardless of the alleged low quality, and the big tyres, result in a really comfy ride which is just the ticket pre work.

The funny part is because I took the "extra weight is extra training" approach to my Alu hybrid, that now weighs 22kg with water/tools/lock/pump/bags/M+ tyres etc and the gaspipe monstrosity is actually lighter than my "best" bike

 

[Hoagie572]

I've got a '93ish Raleigh Max Ogre 15 thats been sitting in the garage for 2 years since i bought my Giant hybrid and hardly used for 15 years before that. I'm wondering if its worth doing anything with it, either as a short commuter/utility bike i can leave anywhere or possibly a little offroad. The main issue I have with it is that trying to power up a hill a few years back I broke the rear axle, then replaced the rear wheel but the dropout was bent, which i kinda straightened with a monkey wrench but im not convinced its a) safe b) not going to break the new wheel.

Its not going to be worth a lot (looks like £25-65 on ebay) and its a heavy oversized steel frame, but i dont mind that. However before I bought my Giant a combination of the bikes age and my 20stone+ weight at the time resulting in me breaking and replacing/upgrading quite a lot of it..

In the last 100 miles of its life it got..
-Koolstop pads front and rear
-New cables
-New seatpost & security QR collar (old one didnt go high enough)
-New (old) saddle
-New pedals
-New bottom bracket
-New rear wheel
And being the nerd I am, I learnt the angles of how to optimise canti brakes and adjust the gears so it runs well, stops well and because its a fair bit on the small side for me its quite aerodynamic.

I noticed you can get 26" Marathon Plus Tours for about £35 a pair, so part of me wants to put them on and use it as a bike i can leave outside the station, maybe ride in winter etc, part of me is saying its a crap old bike with a buggered dropout and I should just figuratively sling it in the canal.

Any opinions on it's fate? And a piccy to make the wall of text slightly less boring for the helpful people.. View attachment 11756

So, here we are 6 years on from that original post. I dug mine out of the shed this summer where it had sat for 16 years. A pair of road tyres and a drop of oil is all it took to get back on the road. Like you I thought it would be a good runabout, and 700 miles later I think I was right.