Dude, I bought my last mountain bike in 1994. Diamond back topanga. You just made me realize that its 20 years old, and I still think it's a good bike.
Now that my leg is getting better, I may be able to ride for the first time in years. Don't think that I can do downhill or bmx anymore, though.
Woody wrote: In reply to Ian F: That's not coming up in my search.
I'll post the exact name when I get home (FB blocked at work).
Can't help with the shifter. I had a set of NOS DX thumb shifters, but they were sold a few weeks ago.
Stop. Time to regroup.
I started cleaning the bike up this afternoon and it's a mess. The derailleurs are rusty and the bottom bracket is shot. If the paint was better, I'd throw a bunch of new parts at it and enjoy every minute on it. But the right side of the bike looks pretty bad, so I have to figure out what I want to do with this thing.
It's a shame. At one point, this was a really nice bike.
Powdercoat. Problem solved.
Cool bike Woody. I still have not finished my super v project, but what I did was stripped the paint off the frame to raw aluminum. It looks awesome, but its a little more ornate of a frame.
My problem is that I don't have the brake posts for mine and they are a really odd size. I also lack motivation b/c my modern Canondale does everything I need.
Yeah, the M1000 was one of the higher spec level bikes.
Anyway... the Facebook group is "CLASSIC MTB trading center"
Ditch the front derailer and go with a single front gear. For what you're describing you won't use any more range than a modern 8 speed rear MTB cluster. Now you just need a wheel/gear cluster and one thumb shifter. Fewer and nicer parts.
I'll try to resist talking you into converting it into a single speed. 
In reply to mazdeuce:
That is not a bad idea. I had thought about a single speed, but I'm liking eight.
I second the single front gear idea. I built up a 1x5 road tourer/day trip bike from accumulated parts and a $10 Gitane frame a few years ago, and I still love riding it. Super simple, relaxed riding experience.
In reply to 02Pilot:
Did you use change the crank or use the original?
I thought I had come up with a reasonable backup plan but...
On the same day that I found this bike on Craigslist, I saw another ad for a mid 90's Cannondale Killer V in a great color. I love those bikes, but I passed on it because it had a crusty old Manitou fork on it. I've seen the ad for about six months. Now I have a donor Pepperoni fork that I could sandblast and powdercoat myself to replace it with, but the ad has suddenly vanished.
I still may do something with this frame, but I'm going to keep checking the ads for a better starting point too.
My short term plan is to take the wheels from this bike and put the Avocet tires on them. I'll take the Shimano seven speed cassette apart and clean it up. Then I can quickly swap the wheels onto my Ice Bike (Cannondale Delta V 600) and ride that on the street for now, even though I'd really like to have something lighter.
If you love the Delta V so much, wanna buy my '92 900? I'm finally tired of looking at it. 
I changed the crank for two reasons. One, the Gitane was originally equipped with a steel cottered crank setup, which was heavy and not worth saving. Two, I picked up a bunch of old Campy Gran Sport components from the free box at a bike swap; they were worn, and the outer ring on the crankset had severe damage to the teeth, so I simply ground off all the teeth on the outer ring and left it in place as a chain guard. Cobble together an Italian square-taper bottom bracket (using the French threaded end caps) and it was good to go.
Ian F wrote: If you love the Delta V so much, wanna buy my '92 900? I'm finally tired of looking at it.
Hmmm...send me some photos. What size is it? (Did we go through this once before?)
It was the headshok to 1 1/8" adapter cups, I think... which I still haven't found... but I've been on a selling spree recently and I'm finally ready to let go of some things I've had "aging" for well over a decade.
I had a discouraging morning at the bike shop when I stopped in for a ten dollar tube. There on the floor sat a row of brand new Cannondale 29'ers with front forks and disc brakes for $529. I love these old bikes but I'm already into this M1000 for two hundred bucks and I'm still at least another hundred away from riding it.
Grrr....
In reply to Woody:
Hence why I'm on a selling spree. I've been sitting on bins of old parts for years. Fortunately, I don't really remember what I paid for most of it, so I'm ignorant of how much of a loss I'm taking. Still... better than sitting even longer... Fortunately, there are enough guys like you who want to buy this stuff.
Oh yeah... I still have half a case of 26" tubes if you want a few. $2 ea plus shipping.
Okay, I'm back...I almost forgot where I was for a little while. I think I'm going to fix this bike.
I spent yesterday afternoon and evening pouring through the new Cannondale catalog, trying to figure out exactly what I want. It turns out that I have an aversion to taking any money out of my wallet. As a bonus, today is Sunday and the bike shop is closed anyway, so I went down to the basement and started to fool around with the M1000 again.
I managed to remove the old bottom bracket without any of the proper tools. It's junk. It was loose and sloppy and filled with gold sludge made of mud, grease and rusty ball bearings. One of the bearings had come completely apart.
The rear derailleur looks pretty crusty, but seems to move smoothly. I'll remove the rusty steel bolts and adjuster and drop them into some Evapo-Rust.
This afternoon, I'll scrape the bottom of the internet to find a bottom bracket that falls into the sweet spot between cheap and decent quality and I'll order that along with a few Park tools.
Any suggestions from the experts for a bottom bracket choice?
cool ride
Woody wrote: Any suggestions from the experts for a bottom bracket choice?
It depends on what you need. Are you planning to reuse the existing cranks? What size shell? (should be either 68mm wide or 73mm). What length is the spindle?
While I've sold off most of the bottom bracket collection (I had about a dozen of them...), I still have a few left I might have one you need.
In reply to Ian F:
I'd like to reuse the crank just to save money. The bottom bracket is a Suntour 68x115 square taper.
I have a UN72 that might work for you. Measures just under 115.
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