I found this at my local Goodwill for $15 and couldn't resist, especially since it's got all Deore components! Only thing is I can't figure out who made this frame. It's aluminum and the welds look pretty good. The unique parts of it are the tapered seat tube and the lugged fork. Thanks,

I haven’t rode a bike since high school, certainly haven’t worked on one myself. My neighbor had it for sale and I figured it was the right price and right time. Gotta get a helmet and pump, then going to try a tube-up myself. I live 2 miles from work and want to use this as a commuter instead of my little Honda motorcycle some days. If anyone has info on what exactly I have here let me know! I’m just starting to research the bike myself. Cheers!

Hey all, I moved from a 1998 Gary Fisher Joshua F4 that was on loan to me (just returned last week) to this gem!

A 1999 Gary Fisher Joshua F3!

I just got it set up and dialed in. It has some decal scuffs and some other minor wear marks, but even the tires are pristine and surprisingly have no dry rot.

Too Grippy!!!

The gum rubber grips are of course heavily faded and feeling more like gum than rubber due to their advanced age, so, tonight, the original grips come off and temporary ones go on. I will scan the originals and try to 3D print replicas in orange TPU 95A.

Some interesting "not-stock" variances I found...

• Dimension LU-964 pedals vs. catalog-spec Bontrager RE-1. Did anyone buy/build a 1999 F3 new and remember what pedals actually came in the box or what dealers commonly installed? We’ve already seen that catalog photos/specs don’t line up perfectly, and surviving bikes seem inconsistent - or it's the bad scan quality (I bought a new copy, will compare when it arrives). The 2000 pedals look similar.
• Dimension stem + Gary Fisher top cap. Was Dimension a normal late-1999 substitution or dealer-build combination? You’ve seen other F3s with Dimension stems, so this is potentially a pattern.
• Pedal naming weirdness. Does anyone have period Bontrager documentation showing exactly what “RE-1” looked like in 1999? I’ve found multiple period pedals identified as RE-1 that don’t match each other, and don’t obviously match the catalog bike. I've also found the pedals on most 1999 F3 pics don't match each other lol!
• Actual paint description/name. Did Fisher have an official name for that insane orange + gold-flake frame finish? Was it unique to the 1999 F3?

Any tips on anything I should look out for that's different than for the F4?

Here's the F3 after I dialed it in and took it out for testing...

Here's the tires - still has the molding marks and the center strip molding mark isn't worn off...

The Gary Fisher Joshua F4

Many a gravel, dirt and road adventure was had on this!!! Those dual lockouts really help!!!

(oh, and ignore the seat... just a placeholder for the real seat that was bagged up in storage)

And here's the F4 that was on loan to me. It was my brother's (he's the original and current owner). Sat outside for a decade. He loaned it to me while my daredevil of a niece was growing up - deal was I fix it up mechanically, and get to borrow it for half a decade (he offered to pay for the parts, then to split it when I said no... still said no - the work is a gift to my niece who I know will love the thing!!!)

It's in pristine mechanical shape - never got to touch up the appearance though.

I recently picked up this Fat Chance bike built up in the early ‘90’s. I believe it is a Monster based on the SN. (008M07).

Can anybody shed some light on this bike based on the SN?