Classic Mountain Bikes: The Retro Thread

[mrryde]

Museum of Mountain Bike Art & Technology

http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/bike_list.html

My first real bike was one of these but it had a Judy and no disc brake



I had one of these in black:



Lusted for one of these at one point too:



What did you ride "Back in the day"?

[Tye 1on]

Know it was a diamond back, know it was '86 or '87, know it wasn't top end, so it was prolly something like this:

[Crampedon]

!!!!!

I used to sell Manitou Bikes! I had on like the on pictured with blue Paul cross-stops, blue ano AC racing cranks and White hubs. A guy on Maui has it in his shop, I should go take a pic.

1st bike- 1984 Ritchey Ascent EX
2cd. Fisher Supercaliber. Still on Maui. Blue custom Paint. The guy who bought it still brings it in every few years for cable/tires
3rd Klein Pinnacle. I sold Klein all through the neon yellow and green years. Koski "dura-track" forks, cook bros. cranks
4th Specialized Carbon Stumpjumper, rigid forks, xt, Cook cranks

I was at the Interbike show when Paul Turner fisrt displayed the rockshox. Shared a booth with Dia-comp.

I have lost track of the FSR's I have had since the old days. First bike with a shock was a Merlin, sold those for a few years, toured the factory in boston once when it was across the parking lot from Fat Chance.

Man, I am starting to feel old.... I will try to dig up some old pics for the thread.

Great idea!

[ill-advised strategy]

Back in the day I was a bridgestone man.
edit: not mine...


These days I'm commuting on a 1989 Rockhopper comp

mine:

[InspectorGadget]

Not my first mountain bike, but MOMBAT had the 1991 Specialized S-Works Steel. Full first generation XTR and lots of titanium, she was a sweet ride.



Fischer CR-7 - Aluminum front end with a bolt-on steel rear.

[Storm11]

Awesome thread.

Had an older 3D Rover a few years earlier than this one.... wish i'd never gotten rid of that bike.


First full suspension was one of these:


Rubber disk for a rear shock = worst idea ever. Broke 2 seatstays in 2 years.

[kevin267]

I remember my buddy had a banshee scream with monsters in like 01, like 55 lbs I was drooling

[Crampedon]

-A guy brought in an old Nishiki full suspension last week for a tune-up. What a feeble stack of tubes. I did what I could, cables, housing, Cantilever pads, chain...
When you squeeze the rear brake the whole triangle would go up and down 3/4"

I called him and told him it was ready, but, man, don't ride this too hard at all.

He bought a new 29" Stumpy Comp! was super-stoked, once he gets used to it we are going to take him riding.!

Here is a gem I worked on recently, it still has the sticker I put on it when I assembled it in I guess 1989...

[jon gaper]

I still have this 91 Serotta Tmax with Columbus bi-ovalized steel.....and I still love to ride it

[El Chupacabra]

My first real mountain bike, which I still have:

1993 Specialized M2 Stumpjumper -- came with much different parts than it now has. The fork was the SBI version of the RockShox Mag21.

[powbmps]

Back in the day I was a bridgestone man.

Is that a '92? I've got a '93 just like this one in the garage:



Over time it's been bastardized with V brakes and a front shock. Two weekends ago my buddy was kicking my ass on the uphills with it. Embarassing.

[Shredhead]

1978-Homemade Schwinn Excelsior
1983-Fisher Pro Caliber
1989-Bridgstone MB1

I just mounted the MB1 up with a pair of Nokian Extremes for ice.

[Trainwreck]

1980 - stripped down Workman "Paper Boy Bike"
1986 - Trek Antelope
1993 - Cannondale F600 (still have it and currently being rebuilt)

[mntlion]

Alpinestar Al-mega XT, I have the steel frame, (one size too small) but always lusting after the Ti version.

[goldenboy]

'86 Diamondback Curaca. Couldn't afford the coolest new thing- index shifting. 24" wheels because 26 was pretty big for my size. Still my townie.

If any of you ever find yourself in Crested Butte, a trip to the Mountain Bike Museum and Hall of Fame is worth a trip to see some of these old bikes and parts in person.

[Gripen]

Had a black DBR Vertex TR in 16 inch with a Manitou 4.

Wish I still had the frame, broke the downtube in half jumping off loading docks onto picnic table, missed the table, crushed the tube.

[scurry4]

Museum of Mountain Bike Art & Technology

http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/bike_list.html

My first real bike was one of these but it had a Judy and no disc brake

I love the zaskars, I would have killed for one in my MBaction days. I ended up on an outpost though at that age.

[birdman829]

I have a Schwinn s[9six] frame lying around that I plan on building up at some point. I've got a few parts for it but don't really have the time or money to finish it at the moment. Hopefully when I'm done with it it will look something like this when it's done.

[eldereldo]

K2 Proflex 5000, (image not of my bike, but it looks just like this) Actually my second bike, first was steel. canti brakes, no suspension. I actually rode the K2 until last summer.

[Crampedon]

Pro-flex do not count as retro, just as unridable

I made the mistake of selling them for a very short while when they had the yellow cheddar cheese block for suspension that would melt. No solvent yet discovered would get that gunk off the frames. We used to cut a piece of seatpost to replace the shocks with and make 'em hardtails!

[rideit]

My first two 'real' bikes:

[Tye 1on]

Extra points for quill stems.

[marshalolson]

1994 bontrager race frame. w/ custom 1" judy 100 fork w/ risse internals.

similar to:



1998 specialized m2 s-works w/ z-1 105mm fork

similar to:



1997 fat chance yo eddy m/l w/ IF fork

similar to:



1993 fat chance TI yo eddy w/ IF 1" fork

similar to:


1999 ibis mojo sanoma county. L



2001 moots ybb. hated that thing.

2001 spot ti 26'' singlespeed. sickest bike ever.



fun thread.

[khakis]

1988? Trek 820 with Exage mountain components, bent a few rigid forks and put a cheap RST on it, rode it a while longer and sold it

1995? Pro-Flex Attack. Purple, went through a few swingarms and 3 shocks, as many anodized purple components as I could get my hands on...rode until the head tube-downtube weld started to crack

1992? Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo kept it fully rigid, rode the snot out of the trails in Texas with it, then it got slicks and did commuter duty until the seat tube broke, now the poor broken frame is rusting away in the backyard
Like this one but orange:


then hopped a decade and a half to my 2006 575, which is getting dangerously close to retro with all the welds/gussets and torquoise paint

Pro-flex do not count as retro, just as unridable

I made the mistake of selling them for a very short while when they had the yellow cheddar cheese block for suspension that would melt. No solvent yet discovered would get that gunk off the frames. We used to cut a piece of seatpost to replace the shocks with and make 'em hardtails!

2 stacked hockey pucks made an adequate replacement elastomer when mine was retired to commuter duty (and before crack developed between the head tube and down tube)

[mud]

Not counting bmx bikes? I still have my ’79 Fat Chance made out of reynolds 531




Check out those graphics




Pressed sealed BB




Thin curvy brake stay and an old fashioned pump stay stolen from a road bike top tube



/geek