Retro MTB Tribe

[simon.young]

If it's got rear suspension it's not a retro IMO. Still a nice GT though.

How about the 91 Proflex? Rear sus, but rigid forks?! Almost seems backwards evolution now.

[koen]

The Proflex had a flex stem instead of suspension forks. I had one of these and they worked well compared to early forks in terms of taking out some of the hand/shoulder pain of hard rides but gave you no other advantages and felt a bit weird at first.

[Slow6]

I counted these full sussers as part of my retro stable. even the Klein and Mongoose from 98 are old school cool in my book.

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[ldrcycles]

Man that is one schmick lineup!

I finally got round to retrieving the old Apollo Everest i stashed at a friend's place during roadside rubbish collection, some seriously cool old bits on it. Full SunTour XC Sport group except for the Biopace cranks, including the high flange hubs which remind me of the undrilled Harden hubs. Even has the under BB mounted roller cam brake . It's in pretty good nick but will need a respray so i'm umming and ahhing over exactly how i go about it. Should get pics up in the next day or so.

[Slow6]

old Apollo Everest

Raised chainstay?

[simon.young]

That AMP Research fork on the goose of awesome! Do they work well?

[ldrcycles]

old Apollo Everest

Raised chainstay?

No even older than that!

[koshari]

If it's got rear suspension it's not a retro IMO. Still a nice GT though.

What about the original "crossrider"?

[Slow6]

That AMP Research fork on the goose of awesome! Do they work well?

Yeh the forks were really good. The mongoose frame sucked though, that rear triangle was all over the place.
I used the fork for a while on a couple of hard tails and it was way better than a bomber or Judy of the same era.

[singlespeedscott]

I don't think the Amp would have been better then my old Z2 atom bomb. 80mm of coiled sprung plushness.

[koshari]

slow6 love the colours of that specialised softtail, the anodised blue headset races really break up the red,

question to all, is changing cantis over to mini-Vs considered sacrilege on a retro MTB? as much as I have tried them I just dont like the feel of cantis, I have 4 bikes that were originally canti equipped and all now have V-brakes.

[bychosis]

Depends if you want a garage queen or a rider. I reckon keep the parts that don't work in a box and out on something that does work. Then if you need to make it original you can, but you can ride it in the meantime. Having said that I think my 96 trek y-11 is still retro, even though it's currently single speed and disc braked and a fair few of the original bits are no longer mine. It's only got an original seat, post and stem left. some wouldn't like it like that, but I do.

[jbchybridrider]

My brand new Sakae Litage project. I've got basically everything to assemble it accept the custom built wheels are still in shipment. I'm not building it totally retro but retro looking because I intend to ride it how it was men't to be ridden.

[Slow6]

I don't think the Amp would have been better then my old Z2 atom bomb. 80mm of coiled sprung plushness.

I didn't expect them to be either but they were a blast.

[find_bruce]

I don't think the Amp would have been better then my old Z2 atom bomb. 80mm of coiled sprung plushness.

I didn't expect them to be either but they were a blast.

Sorry singlespeedscott - 50mm of funky linkage beats 80mm of coil springs, in cool factor, not plushness

Proflex currently on ebay - sadly not many of the original components are left

[simon.young]

My brand new Sakae Litage project. I've got basically everything to assemble it accept the custom built wheels are still in shipment. I'm not building it totally retro but retro looking because I intend to ride it how it was men't to be ridden.

The cable routing is really nice on the Sakae. Never seen a Sakae MTB before. Got any pics of what you're build your aiming for?

[akq]

Not sure if this is allowed but will post and see if I get shot,3 kerbside finds,not sure what the top bike is but would assume its a decent brand as was found in same pile

[cycles gitane]

Some pictures of the Nishiki Alien 1990 I got last year.
The wheels were cactus, rims potato chipped- a shame as they were quality rims.
No shifters on the h/bars.





[

I rebuilt the bike and rode it in the Melburn-Roobaix 2014.
I will post a picture of the rebuild (when I get around to to taking it).

cycles gitane

[Slow6]

Love that!

[jbchybridrider]

My brand new Sakae Litage project.

The cable routing is really nice on the Sakae. Never seen a Sakae MTB before. Got any pics of what you're build your aiming for?

Well this ain't going to seem good without pic's. It's going to have Sram X9 but it's unpainted alloy and from a distance will hopefully reto enough. When I bought the frame I was dreaming of XC Pro but cost nearly made me keel over and it won't work as good as modern gear.

I got the frame without rear drops and will hopefully finish making them tomorrow unless I stuff up something. Wheels are here so it will be rolling.

These bits were part of the kit men't to be part of the frame. The bars are stainless steel, felt guilty unpacking them.

[silentbutdeadly]

Not sure if this is allowed but will post and see if I get shot,3 kerbside finds,not sure what the top bike is but would assume its a decent brand as was found in same pile

This makes me think of early 1980's Europa.

Of the other two, the Redline is the better one. All are worth revival if you are prepared to make an effort. But you've got about $50 there all up.

[ldrcycles]

Finally got some pics of the Everest, not too pretty at the moment but it should scrub up nicely. 1986 date codes.

[singlespeedscott]

I like it LDR. Just needs some TLC.

[koen]

That AMP Research fork on the goose of awesome! Do they work well?

Yeh the forks were really good. The mongoose frame sucked though, that rear triangle was all over the place.

Cool. A weird Mongoose.

I just rebuilt my '97 or 98 Mongoose FS for the umpteenth time. Its alloy and way different to that one.

My swingarm broke soon after I got it 2nd hand in about 1999 but I easily got a new beefier one. I never liked the feel of it for my XC riding until a few years back when I put a bigger Fox shock on it and it stood it up much straighter. Just recently because fools want discs I bought roooly cheaply 2nd hand Rockshox SID v brake forks and MAvic Crossmax V brake wheels. With new XT cranks it makes a very light 11kg XC bike for next to nothing. But there is a creak in pivots I just can't get rid of which is teeny bit annoying. I must take a pic one of these days

[ldrcycles]

The dying days of good V braked stuff was great, i got a set of Crossmax SLs for only $200 and they were the most incredible wheels, it felt like i'd grown another pair of legs.

Unfortunately i never had quite the same luck with forks, most of my XC stuff was done on a set of Manitou Spyders with about 70mm of hopeless elastomer.