# Is a Hanebrink ET vintage?



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

Always wanted one of these, found one for a decent price, so I went for it. Not a whole lot out there about these, so dont really know what year it is. I know the jack drive variants are the earlier ones, which this one is, but not sure when they stopped making them that way. It has Sachs power grip wavey twist shift and a Sachs 5 FD, but a Alivio RD MC18, not sure if that is OEM or a replacement. Non standard disc rotor and caliper mounting, and the calipers are pretty crude looking, especially considering Hanebrink is a "NASA engineer"..... Tektro levers that can switch between V or Canti pull. A low end spec'd bike.
The welds on the frame are pretty sweet though.
Anyone know of a way of dating these?


----------



## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Let me be the first to say....DUDE!!!! That thing rocks!..Otherwise, I'm of no help.


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

jeff said:


> Let me be the first to say....DUDE!!!! That thing rocks!..Otherwise, I'm of no help.


Thanks anyway!!! They are beasts.


----------



## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Have you had it out for a spin? I've often wondered how they ride.


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

jeff said:


> Have you had it out for a spin? I've often wondered how they ride.


 Just a couple short neighborhood cruises. It rolls through sand and soft leaf/brush covered woods pretty damn well, its like a tank. Really doesnt feel like soft earth/sand bogs you down the way it does on a standard bike. On pavement it felt a bit bizarre though. Its geared low, plus the small diameter tires add to that, so its actually quite ridable up hills and through soft stuff. I'm trying to get the brakes setup better. They are crude as it is, but the rotors need some bolts and washers to be mounted more securely. Should have that worked out this week, plus I have some snow/mud tires coming in, (along with some other components) then I'll be hitting the trails for some real testing....


----------



## mechagouki (Nov 30, 2007)

Very cool.


----------



## MendonCycleSmith (Feb 10, 2005)

First off, I have lust right now. Those things are so cool. I know little about them technically though, what width is the tire?

I've played around with getting my Pug as fat as I can, 4"s is about it. 

I think the bigger wheels take care of some of the low gearing feeling as well.

Fat tires rule.:cornut:


----------



## mechagouki (Nov 30, 2007)

Do surly make a kit to make Lefty work with Pugsley? or do you have to have crazy mount side dish?


----------



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

As I recall they were sold as frame/fork/wheels and the jackshaft assembly, and the rest you had to figure out yourself. The disc brakes likely came from motorcycles. They're ATV wheels and tires and the rubber blocks were shaved down as I recall at the factory cutting several pounds from the tires. MBA reviewed one once. If I remember the basics right, the crank has a single 24T ring, and the jackshaft has a 24T ring on one side, and the other side where the front derailleur goes there are three cogs... 12-18-24, which gives the equivalent of a 24/36/48 triple ring setup. The correct tire pressure for pavement and hardpack is 4psi and for snow/sand its 2psi, and anymore than that and it won't ride right (expect lots of uncontrolled bouncing).


----------



## MendonCycleSmith (Feb 10, 2005)

mechagouki said:


> Do surly make a kit to make Lefty work with Pugsley? or do you have to have crazy mount side dish?


Nope. I used a Project 321 adapter, swung it out to the left more, which compensated for some, dished some more, and had a workable situation.

It wasn't quite in plane, but felt fine off road. On pavement, mmm, not great, but not bad at all. I had a 100mm rim too, had I used a Marge, or an 80, it likely would be more workable.

Gotta play though!


----------



## proto2000 (Jan 27, 2007)

Gotta love a bike that leaves chainring marks on both sides of you....


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

MendonCycleSmith said:


> First off, I have lust right now. Those things are so cool. I know little about them technically though, what width is the tire?
> 
> I've played around with getting my Pug as fat as I can, 4"s is about it.
> 
> ...


Lefty looks bad ass on the Pugs. What do you mean by sying you swung it out furher left? I had been wondering how fat I could go on my Prophet, was thinking of putting a 24" on the rear but didnt think I could get much fatter up front on the Lefty anyway....


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

DeeEight said:


> As I recall they were sold as frame/fork/wheels and the jackshaft assembly, and the rest you had to figure out yourself. The disc brakes likely came from motorcycles. They're ATV wheels and tires and the rubber blocks were shaved down as I recall at the factory cutting several pounds from the tires. MBA reviewed one once. If I remember the basics right, the crank has a single 24T ring, and the jackshaft has a 24T ring on one side, and the other side where the front derailleur goes there are three cogs... 12-18-24, which gives the equivalent of a 24/36/48 triple ring setup. The correct tire pressure for pavement and hardpack is 4psi and for snow/sand its 2psi, and anymore than that and it won't ride right (expect lots of uncontrolled bouncing).


I think the brakes are just motorcycle or ATV or Go cart type pads jerry rigged to some aluminum plates, the pads basically make up th body of the caliper, theyre funky, I'll get some pics up after work today. This one came with Duro turf tires, look like whhat would be on a golf cart or something.... I think youre basically right on the drivetrain, havent counted teeth, but I am thinking the crank chainring to the jackdrive is a 1:1 ratio, maybe. More info tonight....


----------



## byknuts (Aug 9, 2008)

needs drop bars







I'll get my coat...


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

byknuts said:


> needs drop bars
> 
> I'll get my coat...


Yes it just screams drop bars!!!!!


----------



## JokerW (Nov 5, 2004)

I remember Dan riding that thing at more than a couple of races in Big Bear, back in '93 or '94.
I asked him WTF for?
He said Why TF not? (not really, but it went something like that)

I think he finished every long course race he entered on it.


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

OK so in stripping the shifters/levers off of the handlebars, I saw that the Meng Jing (Taiwanese for quality) handlebars are stamped with 1995, also the Sachs Power Grip Wavey shifters are listed on MOMBAT as a 1998 introduction. The Sachs 5 FD I cant find anything on. The Sugino Impel cranks fit the late 90's time frame too. So my best guess is this is a 97-98 model... I'd really like to know when Hanebrink started using the 100mm BB shell and did away the jack drive, that would give me an even better idea.
Here's some more pics

The drive train/Jack drive setup

























Here is a shot of the front caliper mount and front wheel/hub with the 5 bolt rotor mount (Rotor not mounted)








And the rotor:








Rear Brake

















Front caliper


----------



## nuck_chorris (Jun 6, 2008)

I dont know man......that derailleur is to close to the ground to ride offroad


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

nuck_chorris said:


> I dont know man......that derailleur is to close to the ground to ride offroad


A little bit close, but still rideable I'd say.
Bottom of the cage is about 4" off the ground, my Killer V with a long cage is about 5", the Hooligan with short cage is actually 3", and I ride that offroad frequently, it is scuffed up pretty good though. Really I'm lookin to ride snow with this,so its not as much of an issue. I'll probably end up doing some powerline trails too. This is definitely not my "bike to replace all bikes", but I want to take it out on gnarly stuff at least once.


----------



## KDXdog (Mar 15, 2007)

From Bike: nov/dec 95


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

Thanks KDX!!! A few more MB's in my archives...


----------



## big and tall (Mar 11, 2010)

*...Hanebrink...*

Howdy ride free or die, judging from the disc brakes on your Big Bike I'd have to say you have an early version (probably "94 or "95) Dan started using Hope disc brakes late in "95 when I got my first Extreme Terrain. Last fall (as I understand it) Dan started making ET"s again, the bikes are now available with an electric motor. These bikes are upgraded with the new wider bottom brackets and a single (albeit longer ) chain (on the pedal version). These new bikes are highly refined designs...extremly capable offroad, lighter,and with the electric assist able to traverse trails at close to 40 mph pulling a trailer! I am the East Coast rep for Hanebrink bikes (NY,NJ,MA, and PA) if you need any parts or service for your "Classic". Your bike is really collectible...big and [email protected] (518) 528 1668


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

Thanks Big and Tall, email has been sent. I was thinking it was an earlier one, but the parts were 97-98 so I'm just not sure. I'd like to get the date nailed down for certain. Thanks for the info though...
I'd really like to get the brakes updated, the ones on it feel awful, and really dont have much power. I'm messing around with some things now to try and adapt some new rotors/calipers, but I'd like to see about how the current hubs mount the rotors, and if I might just be able to get that part and replace my current setup......


----------



## rhanebrink-figs (Sep 28, 2012)

*Vintage ET*

Hi! That bike looks to be mid 90's. I can show it to my dad and ask him if you'd like?

-Rani Hanebrink-Figueroa


----------



## Ride Free or Die (May 4, 2010)

rhanebrink-figs said:


> Hi! That bike looks to be mid 90's. I can show it to my dad and ask him if you'd like?
> 
> -Rani Hanebrink-Figueroa


That would be awesome.

I'm also in dire need of some new brake rotors, or rotor adapters to use standard rotors. I had sent a couple emails through the fortunehanebrink site a while back, but never got a reply.

Its a cool rig, but I havent ridden it much because of the brake situation.


----------

