[sameft]

Hello everyone,

I am new to mountain biking, and I like Bikes in general. I wanted to start with an older bike and work my way up to a better modern mountain bike. I want to get the basics down. I kind of want to work on some of the upgrade and repairs on my own. Anything complex I will go to the bike shop.So I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos from proper MTB channels. The problem with older bikes is limited parts and what you can do to them. I believe the bike I have is a 1997 Giant Iguana SE hardtail. I paid 100 bucks for it, and spend some money on local bike shop to get the front and rear derailleur replaced due to some issues with the old one. This bike feels solid, and I am not planning to do any crazy downhill or jumps with it. I am not sure of its capabilities. I see new bikes have 150MM travel and I think this bike has 68MM travel. I want to do some additional upgrades like Wheels, Hub, crankset, fork, Stem, and handlebar. I have been searching on Amazon, and I have found a few items that may or may not fit. My local bike shop helped me a little, but they are not sure as well. I was hoping someone can look at the photo and tell me if these parts I am listing here would work?

Thank you in advance. Sam

Fork 1
Fork 2
Headset
Headset 2
Stem
Handlebar
Crankset
Crankset 2
Crankset 3
Bottom Bracket

 

[Naolin]

if the bike is functional I would not put any more money into that bike, ride it like it is, have fun and save any money you would spend towards a more modern bike if you feel like your getting into mountain biking. The bike is just way to outdated for any upgrades to make sense. The cost would not be worth the final product.

 

[sameft]

I greatly appreciate the feedback. It definitely makes sense. For whatever reason, I do like older and vintage or let say somewhat a retro. It is like people who are into classic cars and spend a ton of money restoring them. Although I am not planning to restore this bike, I want to change as many parts as possible to make it safer and more stable. Some of the parts I have listed are fairly priced. It comes down to labor at that point. I want to turn this bike into a daily bike to take to supermarket and etc.. Since it looks old and stuff most people won't pay attention and want to go after it and or steal it. Use my good bike on trails and downhill or whatever I can learn and handle in the nature. Hopefully, I can get some more feedback. Thank you.

 

[chazpat]

https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/SearchListingDetail.aspx?id=67283&make=683&model=45591

If you want to work on the bike and enjoy doing so, that's great! Just realize that it was an entry level bike back in '97 and you can sink a lot of money into it and still not have a very good bike and you won't recoup your money if/when you sell it. Personally, I'd look for a quality steel bike from the 2000s that has a normal stem to start with.

 

[chazpat]

Oh, and when the ad copy says stuff like:

APPLICATION:suitable for XC/AM/FR mountain bike road bike, integrated molding and reasonable angle with high cycling efficiency and delivery powerful force, thermal heat transfer paiting application for sexy looks and clear installation guide,both the center point and bar ends were marked clear, easy to install the stem or cut the tube

I tend to avoid it. I would just pick up a decent bar off of Craig's List or ebay.

 

[theboomboomcars]

It looks like your stem and headset are threaded, you'll want to make sure it's a 1 1/8" and not a 1" or 1 1/4". Another problem is cantilever brakes are more slowers than stoppers so your want to look at getting v brakes, which are much better than the cantilevers, but no where close to modern discs.

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