Retro MTBs

[Flood]

That pace is beautiful, though mine would've probably been 16in and in mint sauce green.

Always thought the lobo was the best looking bike to date, a mate had a small alu one, even rode well for the era.

[aka_kerrly]

Lawbags said:

Here's my Zero. It's a bit dirty as I was riding it over trails after busting the Sidekick.



And my 1999 Sidekick that I broke. Note Z1 BAMS still intact!

That Orange is cool. The last time I saw a Orange hardtail was over at the Forest of Dean about 5 years ago but that one had triple clamps on it! Not seen one used as a trials bike before, back in the day most of my friends and local trials riders seemed to use 14inch GT frames whilst we all wanted to be Hans Rey

None of my currently built bikes are especially retro as the oldest is the GT Arrowhead (1999) but the Saracen X-ess is a pre production 1999 model and the DDG Shooter is circa 2003 so more unusual than retro.

[markoc]

Will have to dig out some pics

Currently have a late '90's Slime Green Clockwork and a '97 P7. The Clockwork is boxfresh mint and used only by my OH for pootling around. The P7 is in bits awaiting a "britkit" rebuild as a lightweight singlespeed this weekend.

Currently looking for a '96 Lava Dome in olive green to compliment the stable as it was my fave ever frame (that I admittedly snapped... ho-hum)

Retro steel makes my modern Cannondale feel like it is made of concrete...

[Smartboy]

Loving all of these 90's bikes. I was in my mid-teens by the end of the 90's so kind of grew up dreaming of kit like this in the pages of MBUK, but my paper-round money only got me as far as a rigid £300 Claud Butler Oracle with some Onza 'L'-Bend bar-ends fitted and a DKG brake booster.

I remember painting all the bolt-heads with paint to resemble the anodized blue X-Lite bolts which I couldn't afford!

Very jealous of my mate who had a Kona Lava Dome (I think). A kind of burnt orange frame with grey-ish colour project II rigid forks from memory. Very light.

[davidc1]

the old bikes are really cool . they still do the job .

i have a beautiful canondale f500 in black , 2001 model.
only used it initially for a couple of summers , kids arrived , and its only got ridden again for the last 2 summers.

totally original , even on its original tyres.belongs in the canondale museum!

i will try and post a pic later.
might sell it , or keep it for my son.

[aka_kerrly]

davidc1 said:

the old bikes are really cool . they still do the job .

i have a beautiful canondale f500

Oh that's a good shout, the F series Cannondales were lovely bikes, I always fancied a Martin Ashton team Volvo Cannondale version like this one but with the 'Headshox' fork. At the time I couldn't afford one so I made a homage using a blue GT Arrowhead with all yellow components



Also the 90s Cannondale V full suspensions were quite odd things


90s SE full suspension model

[LeighW]

My 96 Ideal Race Pro. I spent a few quid on it last year and it rides like new now.

[aka_kerrly]

I feel so at home with this thread - the Ideal has some classic 90s parts , the original Crud Catcher ( i had a yellow one to!!) and RST 281 or 381 forks - I broke a couple of sets of those before going to RST MOZO pro (briefly) before moving to Marazochi forks. It even has 4 arm Shimano LXs which I think* are the first year models, i can recall a big debate over 4 being better or worse than the traditional 5 arm cranks!!

[Timbergiant]

In the loft I still have my old Rocky Mountain Blizzard with Syncros power blade forks, cattle head stem and full XT group set, and an original XTR Cannondale with Halson inversion forks, it's very retro up there

[aka_kerrly]

Timbergiant said:

In the loft I still have my old Rocky Mountain Blizzard with Syncros power blade forks, cattle head stem and full XT group set, and an original XTR Cannondale with Halson inversion forks, it's very retro up there

I've stored bikes in odd places (hell I have 2 in the downstairs bath right now) but bikes in the loft - that's not right, in less your loft has an external stair case you can ride down?

[hadenough!]

I've got a 99 Klein mantra race which I've had from new, never gets ridden tough, I'm purely rigid singlespeed these days. I got my missus a Raleigh USA thing a few years ago which dates from the mid 90s

[jamieandthemagic]

Ok, just to make this thread real retro. Here's some of my fav mint sauce piccies. Jo Burt was a creative god.

[Dynam0humm]

I've been on RetroBike about four years now and in that time I've went through several Pace RC200 and RC300's and a beautiful '93 Merlin Ti which I had to sell as it was too small. I'm now on the lookout for a 96 or 97 Merlin XLM and making do with this 96 Raleigh Torus in the meantime -

[Hobzy]

E31Shrew said:

I've got one of these that I bought new in the 90s. Still waiting for it to snap in two!

As a bike shop grease monkey in my younger days I remember a few of those! Didn't Tomorrows World do an episode about them and show that you couldn't set them alight?

As for the Pace - I used to LOVE it if one of those came in the shop... beautiful. Closest I came was a Pace jacket

Had a Beast of the East Cannondale, but can't find any pics of it ... loved that bike.

[aka_kerrly]

This thread keeps delivering! It's sparked a little trip down memory lane...

The reference to the Raleigh USA - is it perhaps a Raliegh MAX then? these used to come branded as Raleigh MAX USA.

I had a Raleigh Ogre Max like this one, but it's since been scrapped!


Thinking about it, my first mountain bike was this, a Raleigh Dakota - it was 1994 iirc, I was 11. My mum insisted that I got a 18 inch frame so I could "grow into it" and it's still too big for me now!

[Hobzy]

Hobzy said:

E31Shrew said:

I've got one of these that I bought new in the 90s. Still waiting for it to snap in two!

As a bike shop grease monkey in my younger days I remember a few of those! Didn't Tomorrows World do an episode about them and show that you couldn't set them alight?

I lied - they ran it over! Although they do mention the flame factor! Road bike frame though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdU8j5ydVuI

Edited by Hobzy on Friday 3rd January 17:27

[jamieandthemagic]

Hobzy said:

As a bike shop grease monkey in my younger days I remember a few of those.

As for the Pace - I used to LOVE it if one of those came in the shop... beautiful. Closest I came was a Pace jacket
.

I used to be a bike shop grease monkey too, worked at Madgetts in Diss (a Mecca in east anglia). We helped mike burrows develop the boardman lotus bike before its Olympic debut, and then helped with the subsequent road version.

The track bike was without doubt the most dangerous thing I had ever ridden, not an ounce of give, and steering from the elbows was completely new then. My mate who also worked in the shop was given a road version for 12 months as a test mule (he was a roadie and raced all over Europe.......... Whilst on the dole).

[Hobzy]

jamieandthemagic said:

I used to be a bike shop grease monkey too, worked at Madgetts in Diss (a Mecca in east anglia). We helped mike burrows develop the boardman lotus bike before its Olympic debut, and then helped with the subsequent road version.

The track bike was without doubt the most dangerous thing I had ever ridden, not an ounce of give, and steering from the elbows was completely new then. My mate who also worked in the shop was given a road version for 12 months as a test mule (he was a roadie and raced all over Europe.......... Whilst on the dole).

Best job I ever had fun wise... money was dreadful though, and I don't think I ever made it out of the shop on pay day with the full wedge

[jamieandthemagic]

Hobzy said:

jamieandthemagic said:

I used to be a bike shop grease monkey too, worked at Madgetts in Diss (a Mecca in east anglia). We helped mike burrows develop the boardman lotus bike before its Olympic debut, and then helped with the subsequent road version.

The track bike was without doubt the most dangerous thing I had ever ridden, not an ounce of give, and steering from the elbows was completely new then. My mate who also worked in the shop was given a road version for 12 months as a test mule (he was a roadie and raced all over Europe.......... Whilst on the dole).

Best job I ever had fun wise... money was dreadful though, and I don't think I ever made it out of the shop on pay day with the full wedge

Too true, sadly I knew it wasn't a long term thing. Was your boss tighter than a ducks arse too?

[duncancallum]

One possession I miss dearly is my Rox fear of a flat planet Tshirt.

Oh and my smoke and dart tyres