# 1990 Merida Albontech DX restore



## Smurf Hunter (Mar 13, 2008)

Thanks largely to advice and wisdom on this forum I've (almost) completely restored my old DX mountain bike. Almost meaning the middle 36T chain ring is on back order and I'm sure I'll be fine tuning things for a bit.















(Apologies for the weird formatting of the photos - still learning the forum tricks).

There are still some major todo items and annoyances I might address later.

1) Wheels. I relaced both wheels with DT butted spokes. Unfortunately I neglected to realize that the original spoke nipples were 16mm, not 12mm as most modern ones are. This meant the rear spokes are about 4mm too short. Fortunately they were at a low tension, and I rebuilt at a high tension. For the front wheel I laced using a 2x pattern. That just barely got to the desired tension before the threads came through the top of the nipple. I've built wheels before, but always with new parts that I've measured and calculated. I goofed here by replacing the same length as was manufactured. We'll see how these hold up. Also, the rims are dinged up a bit. No obvious flat spots, but the side walls aren't as straight as I'd like.

2) Rear derailleur. The pulley wheels are rounded pretty badly. Also, the cable holder screw is stripped on the first few threads. I worked around by removing the washer and this seems ok. I need to order replacement pulleys, maybe even eBay for a NOS DX derailleur.

3) Pedals. I'll put some eggbeaters on once I get them back from an RMA to Crankbrothers.

4) Brakes. About a week ago, my cantilever knowledge was almost non-existent. I read up a bit, asked folks in this forum and believe I've got them setup properly. We'll see 

Over all I'm pretty happy that I took a nearly 20 year old pile of rusted goo, 4 weeks and $200 later I've got it largely restored to factory spec and more importantly a usable, ridable bicycle. Best of all, this was my bike I got back in 1989 - so even though it's not strictly "V", "R" or "C", and likely not worth the couple hundred I spent, it's been a good experience for me.

Thanks to all who've helped out a newbie over the past few weeks.
-Sean


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## stan4bikes (May 24, 2006)

Looks good , nice job. Check your brake pads, it looks like they may be contacting the tire on the rear end. Happy riding and once again congrats on fixing up your bike.


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## alexk (Sep 30, 2005)

Smurf Hunter said:


> Over all I'm pretty happy that I took a nearly 20 year old pile of rusted goo, 4 weeks and $200 later I've got it largely restored to factory spec and more importantly a usable, ridable bicycle. Best of all, this was my bike I got back in 1989 - so even though it's not strictly "V", "R" or "C", and likely not worth the couple hundred I spent, it's been a good experience for me.
> 
> Thanks to all who've helped out a newbie over the past few weeks.
> -Sean


That $200 you invested in the bike will repay itself many times over with smiles and laughter each time you ride that bike especially when you ride your favourite trails on a rigid bike. Deore DX is a nice solid groupset and will last for ages. The Araya RM-20 rims are a bloody solid rim too, although a bit heavy.

Unfortunately I know nothing about Merida. Here in Australia the brand suddenly exploded on to the scene around 1995-96 with their carbon fibre-aluminium composite bikes but I'd never heard of them until that time.


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## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

*Dang*

Those are some fine looking brake levers and shifters. Nice to see them used correctly. I hope you ride em till their worn out!


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## gm1230126 (Nov 4, 2005)

If you space your thumb shifter in about a half inch from your brake lever I think that you'll find you will have more hand comfort and you won't hit your thumb knuckle on the shifter lever when the going gets rough.


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## rex.daquil (Jun 16, 2008)

http://www.bikemagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/6265

Here are the details of the new merida "NINETY SIX"


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