Retro MTBs

[SuperHangOn]

SkinnyBoy said:

recently sold my last retrobike on the proviso that i can buy it back one day!

my old lovely 95 Marin EG

Ooo how could you sell that?

I'm certainly no expert but the only aspect I find *really* makes a difference on my new mtb vs the old clunker is the hydraulic discs (for the trails I do).

[Usget]

Not my normal scene but this has been an interesting thread to have a read through.

Did anyone else look at this and think "If Citroen had made a bike in the 1980s..."

[lufbramatt]

One of my school mates that I used to go riding with had a bright green Cannondale super V, must have been very late 90's/early 2000s. I always thought it looked odd but it rode pretty well compared to many other early full sus designs, the headshock front fork was quite bouncy though.

[crashley]

My (recently re-built) Dawes Edge XT, circa 1998-99. I also have a GT LTS 2 frame somewhere, that was re-built in around 2000 with Bomber Z1's and Magura hydraulics onto a Club Roost DH8 frame. When it was last serviced, the bike shop referred to it as an antique

[green911]

The Surveyor said:

wobert said:

This was my previous steed, which I sold to make way for my current P7.....kind of wish I had kept it now......

Similar to the one I sold this summer, had it from new, rode so much nicer with purple alloy bits....

A 93 Orange Clockwork (LX at a guess) - I have the very same, along with the 07 re-issue and SWMBO's 96 P7 - I presume that the collective noun is a net of Oranges

[sparkyb999]

Here is my bike, have wanted one since 1990, and getting back into riding a few years back, so snapped this bike up when it came along.. have done loads to it. Building it to the same spec of a Klein Rascal I had back in the day.

Syncros,
Flite
Cooks Cranks,
Mavic M231's with Red White Blue Bullseye's
XT with Campag Brakes
Ringle skewer set

Dream bike for me! I was a real Klein fan back then

[Gompo]

Lovely Klein sparkyb, I had totally forgotten about Bullseye hubs.

[darreni]

Ding Dong Sparky!

is that a 19"?

[ewenm]

Going to dig the Yo Eddy out tomorrow to see if it can be the toddler tow-chariot...

[wobert]

green911 said:

A 93 Orange Clockwork (LX at a guess) - I have the very same, along with the 07 re-issue and SWMBO's 96 P7 - I presume that the collective noun is a net of Oranges

Mine, in the first picture was a '94 Clockwork.

I was working in Wombourne for 3 weeks at the time, so during the "middle" week I nipped to Maclaines in Wolverhampton to what they had in stock. In those days you could virtually spec the whole caboodle, so I went with STX RC with LX upgrades to the rear mech, front mech and hubs.

At the time the shop only had dark anodised Campag Atek rims available, so they went on as well!

IIRC it cost me £640 all in, and a week after order I went and picked it up, to say I was chuffed was an understatement.

Bit of a contrast to the purchase of my '07 P7, which was a fight with the shop all along. Ended up only upgrading to the performance pack, so Carbon Easton bars, Thomson stem and post and a Fizik saddle. Nothing else was offered as part of the deal, nor any money off.

Delivery was delayed time and time again, which was only sorted when I contacted Orange directly, bloody hopeless the shop was!

[SkinnyBoy]

SuperHangOn said:

SkinnyBoy said:

recently sold my last retrobike on the proviso that i can buy it back one day!

my old lovely 95 Marin EG

Ooo how could you sell that?

I'm certainly no expert but the only aspect I find *really* makes a difference on my new mtb vs the old clunker is the hydraulic discs (for the trails I do).

I sold it to my mate who is obsessed with retro bikes as much as i am. I get first dibs when he sells it on. Bit like a pawn shop i guess hehe

I've got two modern projects on the go at the moment (Silverback 29er and Giant Trinity road bike) but another retrobike will be in the queue next. I always loved Orange bikes, so I might build my unicorn, a Vitamin T or Prestige if i can source a frame

[sparkyb999]

Gompo said:

Lovely Klein sparkyb, I had totally forgotten about Bullseye hubs.

Back then, my mum bought some in America for a birthday present!.. best ever present!

darreni said:

Ding Dong Sparky!

is that a 19"?

Yes, I think its classed as "small" 19, not the medium 19"

[bigtomski]

rufusruffcutt said:

My bro's '92 Klein Attitude in 'Sunburst Linear Fade'. Note the 'snowflake' front wheel - crazy. If memory serves this was well over 2K!, which was a mental amount of cash for a bike back then. Built by Magic Bikes in Whitechapel.

Pretty sure I drooled over that actual bike in the shop when it was being built as I used to hang about in Magic Bikes a bit.
When I finally got some cash they built me a fantastic Clark Kent titanium beauty.
It got nicked about a year later and I was absolutely gutted.
To rub salt into the wound even more it was offered for sale to a mate of mine while he was at a cashpoint.
£50 the bloke was asking. My friend ( who didn't know my bike had been nicked at the time and knows nothing about bikes)
said to me in the pub "yeah got offered a bike by some bloke and it had orange gripshift things on it and was called a Clark something."

[bigtomski]

[quote=sparkyb999]Here is my bike, have wanted one since 1990, and getting back into riding a few years back, so snapped this bike up when it came along.. have done loads to it. Building it to the same spec of a Klein Rascal I had back in the day.

Syncros,
Flite
Cooks Cranks,
Mavic M231's with Red White Blue Bullseye's
XT with Campag Brakes
Ringle skewer set

Dream bike for me! I was a real Klein fan back then




That is still my dream bike today.
Awesome!!

[ylee coyote]

Usget said:

Not my normal scene but this has been an interesting thread to have a read through.

Did anyone else look at this and think "If Citroen had made a bike in the 1980s..."

Nice ,got a blue one myself

Liking the long bar ends .....

[duncancallum]

Right ho, I have been meaning to do this for a while ops:

1st bike is mine its a jack of all trades, its a 1998 Saracen Killi Team.

Its been well used and bits nailed on to keep it going, My cousin bough it brand new and basically ruined the drive train trying to do trials on it so once he lost interest probably about 2000 I bought the remainder for £60.

I then swapped the bits of my 1995 scott Tahoe onto it hence the earlier parts. That bike again started of as a cheap bike and as a teenager I spent all my money on shiny and new bits for it so here it is

I smashed my pelvis on it 6 years ago and got a new hip 5 weeks ago. so its been retired from proper riding as I've bought a full bounce 2 weeks ago, but I still intend to ride it, I want some RC36 pro class



with avid speed dials 2.0


shimano lx silent clutch 36 spoker hub on a 517 rim



stx rc parralex hub on a 217 sunrise rim




oh and some sexy cnc stuff, a ballistic stem


the other keeping it real bike is my missus's Sunn Vertik bough from leisure lakes bury for £100 which I thought was a bargain, she wasn't keen however I taked her into it. its a bit twitchy so Im gonna put a raiser bar and a different stem on it for her just to make it more stable



its got coda bar ends on, hutchinson tyres




dodgy forks which I don't reckonize




stem and post which i think are sunn OE

[graeme4130]

blaine54 said:

Here you go. The only thing that's not from 96 are the tires, but this was my downhill bike that I raced in 95-96 before knocking it on the head. Scary to think that was nearly 20 years ago!



Sometimes gets a bit of an outing in Swinley, but it's the only bike I've got left from the 90's so just keeping hold of her.

I bet that feels like a right boneshaker in comparison to modern downhill bikes ?

[Celtic Dragon]

Duncan, be careful when buying pc2s. If the steerer tube is not black then they missed the factory recall. Apparently they snap with no warning. Also they like breaking the internal springs if not cared for. I've just paid 152 quid to have mine serviced and rebuilt cos I bought cheap and ended up finding out the above. Mine had broken springs and missed the recall.

[blaine54]

graeme4130 said:

I bet that feels like a right boneshaker in comparison to modern downhill bikes ?

It's worlds apart from anything full suspension now, kids today don't know how lucky they've got it . If I remember it's got just shy of 3 inches of travel on the back and 2.5 up front, with a mojo damper upgrade and springs instead of elastomers in the Judy's. The triple clamp was aftermarket as well, as I snapped the stearer tube on the single crown and it made sense at the time to upgrade them. The cranks are pretty trick, they are billet 'profile' one's and I never saw another set like them.
Now the RTS I had before really was a bone shaker, it might as well have been a hardtail. I've got a feeling I cracked it at the head tube, that had the original gold rock shox's with about 1.25 inches of travel.

[graeme4130]

blaine54 said:

graeme4130 said:

I bet that feels like a right boneshaker in comparison to modern downhill bikes ?

It's worlds apart from anything full suspension now, kids today don't know how lucky they've got it . If I remember it's got just shy of 3 inches of travel on the back and 2.5 up front, with a mojo damper upgrade and springs instead of elastomers in the Judy's. The triple clamp was aftermarket as well, as I snapped the stearer tube on the single crown and it made sense at the time to upgrade them. The cranks are pretty trick, they are billet 'profile' one's and I never saw another set like them.
Now the RTS I had before really was a bone shaker, it might as well have been a hardtail. I've got a feeling I cracked it at the head tube, that had the original gold rock shox's with about 1.25 inches of travel.

Yeah, it's amazing how the downhill bikes have evolved
I rode one of the original GT lobo DH bikes down a few runs back when I was a bmx'er and it felt like a massive sprung mattress, but seeing them now against my current DH bike and it's a different game altogether
I have a huge amount of respect for you guys racing down some pretty serious courses on those bikes back then. I'm surprised many of the bikes made it the bottom