Had to start another one: 1992 Challenger

[Leatherman]

So a guy i was dealing with on a real nice black Redneck mentioned he had some other goodies so i asked him what he had and he sent me pics of this Challenger and i just had to have it. 

(Also had to have the 2 sets of Dancing man slams and an early Holmes with no 990 mounts) 

Well the stuff arrived today and i am stoked as the Challenger is in incredible shape.





While i was waiting for the Frame to arrive i did some searching elsewhere and found these forks:



Unfortunately they have a small crack< what do you think? Fixable?



I am not really a pad guy so i traded an almost NOS set of S&M pads for this wheelset:







And after a few beers the other night i decided i needed COMP III's so i went looking and found a set elsewhere but decided to check out Ebay and low and behold found these for 25.00 cheaper than i planned: http://www.ebay.com/itm/370643493949'ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2648

So now i have the frame, fork (in need of repair), Beartrap 2 headset, Black Pitbull 1 (haven't decided on lever), GT wheelset and Tioga tyres.

Now my questions to you what do i do for:

Seat; I have an old San Marcos which i may use
Post; probably just something generic that holds the seat (not a primo rod type)
SPC; need suggestions, what is a nice early mid school one?
Cranks; will stamped Profile's be OK or are they too late of an issue to be relatively era correct?
Sprocket; Thinking 44T Ripsaw...
Stem; I have a nice pro sized silver DK with a black cap that i think would work
Bars; I have these nice mid school DK bars that i can't nail down a year on but they are nice and wide also have a couple sets of dancing man slams.
Grips; I'd like something other than Jive's or Tri's

Here are the bars and stem i am thinking of using:








All suggestions appreciated. 
 

 

[dordymush]

great find that challenger. looks mint.
not to sure on the bars.best get em fitted and see what they look like.
mind im a slam bar manic so take no notice of me  .

oh by the way if you get any more pads you dont wanna fit give me a pm 

[stuntmaster]

those bars are spot on as have a few set and are really nice bars to ride with , looks a great set up there

[Gish]

loving the early challenger don great catch that is  

the challenger is the best bike i have ridden and would never sell mine  

[kev-s]

cool find

the holmes looks to be a mk3 one, quite rare for a mk3 not to have ad mounts (they were optional and most people opted for them)

as for the challenger forks id leave em, the crack dosent look too bad and if you repaired them it would mean stripping the chrome and once welded re-chroming them and the repair weld prob wont be as good as the original


wheels are cool, sun chinooks are nice rims (ive a set waiting for a mk1 holmes)


Seat; I have an old San Marcos which i may use

Post; probably just something generic that holds the seat (not a primo rod type)

SPC; need suggestions, what is a nice early mid school one? whats spc? i thought Single Piece Crank but u have crank below
if it is 1 piece crank then any late 80's one is best like tioga etc...

Cranks; will stamped Profile's be OK or are they too late of an issue to be relatively era correct? too late redline flights would be best 1/2 wrap single pinch

Sprocket; Thinking 44T Ripsaw...

Stem; I have a nice pro sized silver DK with a black cap that i think would work

Bars; I have these nice mid school DK bars that i can't nail down a year on but they are nice and wide also have a couple sets of dancing man slams. mk2 slams would be perfect but the dancing man ones will do fine, dk's are slightly older iirc

Grips; I'd like something other than Jive's or Tri's   odyssey power paws

[Dark Diggler]

Single dropout challenger forks, rare for a reason I'm afraid. Be worth getting em sorted though if you want to ride it 

Good score

[nosepickben]

Spc - seat post clamp. Why not use a dk to go with the bars or a gt single bolt?  Great stuff you' ve got hold of, you're at the best part of the build now, choosing the finishing touches. Now stop teasing us and show us a terrific complete bike next week!!!!!

[midschooljon]

This should be good! Looking forward to updates. 

[kev-s]

Spc - seat post clamp. Why not use a dk to go with the bars or a gt single bolt?  Great stuff you' ve got hold of, you're at the best part of the build now, choosing the finishing touches. Now stop teasing us and show us a terrific complete bike next week!!!!!

doh!! of course

yep a dk or gt one would be good

[Leatherman]

Thanks for all the input guys, we are on the same page with DK extras like the SPC as that is what i was thinking too but seeing as i will be running the pitbull i may also opt for the pozi clamp style rather than the arm off the pitbull.

I figured the stamped profile's were a little new for 1992 but i do have a set of 1/2 wrap Redlines on my Widowmaker that i was thinking about swapping over.

Del has been contacted about decals so hopefully he can assist. 

[Jaymz]

Looking good. Nice bar choice. Something different. I'm just tweaking my first dirtbike. An ng to start me off. Keep looking and tweaking so far. Pretty hard to get right on the bike when in my head it looks great

[Gish]

i have the single dropout forks on my challenger 

ultra rare as diggler says 

[Betty]

Can't wait to see this built, nice job on finding the forks, rocking horse poo comes to mind

Mine has double dropout forks

It won't be a 92 the first ones were very late 93

You know who to ask for the stickers 

[Leatherman]

The Challenger's were first introduced in late 93? 
Decals were ordered this morning from one of this site's more reputable members. 

[kev-s]

yep challenger was mid to late 93


mental jimmys feb 93 and no challenger




mental jimmys dec 93 and there is the challenger

[teamsano]

i was at s+m in aug 93 and they had challengers then, which had been out for a while if i recall correctly.

[Leatherman]

My forks and decals showed (Thanks Del you kick ass). I bought these unknown/unconfirmed forks for 60.00 thinking they sure as hell look like they could be early Challenger forks so if anyone can confirm/deny i would appreciate it.









And now i am torn.....

My decals showed, do i remove what appears to be an original headtube decal (why would that decal be on a Challenger)?

[Gish]

yeah don them forks are challenger race forks and are like rocking horse poo 

the reason i know is because i have a pair on my challenger 

[Leatherman]

Thanks G. 
I dry fit the wheels last night and have a set of unstamped Profile cranks, yellow Turbo seat and black Pitbulls in the mail so this is really coming together nicely.

[midschooljon]

This is going to be awesome once done. Love how it's coming together. 

[Betty]

I'd take the shield sticker off  

Those are Challenger forks, mine are identical apart from thicker double sandwich dropouts with full welds on the insides



We need finished pics of the bike asap  

[misterminibus]

"a few beers the other night i decided i needed"


Thats fatel matey, I had a few beers the other month and 3 weeks later my new ti bride arrived in the post 

Nice looking machines

[hboost]

Leave the headtube decal on bro!!!

[Leatherman]

A couple crappy teaser pics.

Here it is so far:

32H GT hubs laced to Chinook rims with repro comp 3's
GT stamped Profile cranks
DK stem
Believe it or not i found an original set of uncut Challenger bars that are in the mail
Also in the mail is a refurbished set of black CRUPI square cages that will go on a NOS set of Oddysey TT bodies
Getting rid of the current lever after the refinishing is done on a tech 77
yellow ame tri's are in the mail too along with one of them new black/silver izumi chains.

[Dark Diggler]

looking good!