The August 2013 Bike of The Month contest was taken by Sebastian’s 1995 GLEISS MTB Monobox, from some very strong competition.
The full result is as follows
1. Sebastian’s 1995 GLEISS MTB Monobox
2. Rumpfy’s 1990 Bontrager OR
3. Dossa’s 1990 Ridgeback 704XT
Click here for more details and full results (more…)
The July 2013 ‘Muddy Fox vs Orange vs Saracen Special’ Bike of The Month contest was taken by nevadasmith’s 1989 Orange Formula.
The full result is as follows
1. nevadasmith’s 1989 Orange Formula
2. Rodrigues’ 1989 Saracen Kili Flyer Comp
3= Gravy Monster’s 1989 Saracen Trekker Competition UU
3= The History Man’s 1997 Muddy Fox Rock N Roll TEAM
Click here for more details and full results (more…)
To celebrate 25 years of the magazine MBUK are running a contest to win original mint sauce artwork!
Calling all Mint Sauce fans! This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of original Mint Sauce artwork, hand-drawn and painted by Mint creator Jo Burt.
He created this extra special double-page edition of Mint Sauce to celebrate MBUK’s 25th Anniversary issue, and you can see how he did that in our Making of Mint Sauce video here.
Click here to enter. Don’t forget to check out the retrobike mint sauce archive.
While Privateer was in California in April and May, exploring the state that gave us mountain biking and continues to lead the conversation, we spent a day at the NorCal High School MTB race at Boggs Mountain. Who should we find there working as the team wrench for the Drakes Pirates team? None other than Joe Breeze of Breezer Bikes and the MTB Hall of Fame. Here’s his take on why getting kids into mountain biking at a young age is so important.
Joe Breeze:
“I’ve been wrenching for the team since my son was a freshman, five years ago – he’s off to college this year. My wife and I have sponsored the team from the start with Breezer. For four years they were state champions.
“My dad was a machinist and a mechanic, so it was like father like son – I’d be working on my three speed from third grade. That was my job: ‘Take care of your bike, kid.’ I just got into it and one thing led to another.
“I’m sure some of these kids neglect their bikes because they know I’ll be wrenching at the race at the weekend. For my generation, it was more about us kids doing it; it wasn’t about parental involvement at all. We had to fend for ourselves – if we wanted to fix our bikes, then we had to fix them. (more…)
The May 2013 road Bike of The Month contest was taken by slotcar55′s 1963 Galmozzi original. Second equal was taken by Flandria’s 1976 Flandria and Wallonie11′s 92 Merckx Corsa Extra.
The full result is as follows
1. slotcar55′s 1963 Galmozzi original
2. Flandria’s 1976 Flandria
3. Wallonie11′s 92 Merckx Corsa Extra
The June 2013 road Bike of The Month contest was taken by Double Dee’s 1980′s Vitus 979. Second was taken by Montello’s – 1984 Pinarello Montello with Campagnolo 50th Group and third claimed by Scooter’s 1949 Rotrax La Premier Model.
The full result is as follows
1. Double Dee’s 1980′s Vitus 979
2. Montello’s 1984 Pinarello Montello with Campagnolo 50th Group
3. Scooter’s 1949 Rotrax La Premier Model
huelse’s 1988 Ibis Custom is Bike of The Month June 2013
The June 2013 Bike of The Month contest was taken by huelse’s 1988 Ibis Custom, from some very strong competition.
The full result is as follows
1. huelse’s 1988 Ibis Custom
2. Nader’s 1993 Yo Eddy Aquafade
3= SYN-CROSSIS’ 1993 Mountaingoat Whiskeytown Racer
3= Spwal’s 1994 Yeti ARC AS
Click here for more details and full results (more…)
Last weekend saw the annual retrobike raid on Mountain Mayhem, the UKs largest 24 hour race. For 2013 Mountain Mayhem moved from the iconic Eastnor venue to pastures new at Gatcombe Park. Once again retrobike took what must surely have been the biggest group with at least 40 riders and numerous ‘supporters’, near enough all on retro machinery. Full retrobike mountain mayhem aftermath thread can be found here.
Thanks to ace snapper Gus Farmer for the image, check his thoughts and more images over on his wiggle blog.
What started out as one or two of us meeting up with our Dolomites, seems to have sparked enough interest to open the net wider to other Klein owners / riders.
This is the plan:
WHO
Anyone who owns or has access to a Klein
WHAT
A ride of about 10-15 miles taking in Richmond Park, maybe Wimbledon Common and the Thames River path. Will include a few refreshment – NOS Polish stop offs, and a post ride beer or two.
WHY
Excuse to meet up and ride these bikes many are obsessed with. Seems to be plenty of us out there… (more…)
Cycling giants Campagnolo have recently celebrated their 80th anniversary with typical Italian flair and style. As part of the anniversary celebrations Campagnolo have setup the Campagnolo Virtual Museum. The virtual museum is well worth a look with numerous iconic images of riders, components and events from the past 80 years.
One of the most important parts of the virtual museum is the people section, which handily is where we come in. Campagnolo have asked we on retrobike get involved with their 80th Anniversary by sharing our Campagnolo experiences, stories and photos on the site where hopefully it will remain for digital posterity. To get involved go to the Campagnolo Virtual Museum here and start contributing.
Sheffield born Steve Peat is without a doubt the UK’s most successful downhill racer. In the course of a career almost unmatched in length Peaty has taken numerous World Cup wins and British National Championships, along with the 2009 World Champs in Australia which is surely the highlight. At the start of Steve Peat’s career back in the early 90s he raced both Cross Country and Downhill when rider’s did that sort of thing for local shop Langsett Cycles. His success led to a ride with Kona and the 1993 UK Downhill Series aboard this rigid Kona Hei Hei which most ‘trail riders’ wouldn’t dare take round the red run at their local man made trail centre. The Kona features a front hope disc brake, Marzocchi forks, Ringle skewers, M900 groupset with Gripshift X-Rays and a massive USE seatpost.
The bike is featured in MBUK 291 along with Steve Peat’s 2013 Santa Cruz V10 Carbon. (more…)
The May 2013 ‘Kona vs GT vs Specialized Special’ Bike of The Month contest was taken by Ridevintagemtb’s (formerly ameybrook) 1994 Kona Lava Dome. Proof if needed that personality goes a long way, as might have been expected Kona topped this BoTM month poll.
The full result is as follows
1. Ridevintagemtb’s 1994 Kona Lava Dome
2. 24pouces’ 1993 Kona HeiHei
3. Rob Atkin’s 1994 Kona Kilauea
Click here for more details and full results (more…)
The early 90s were a halcyon time for road bike development. The steel era was (sadly) drawing to a close and the use of many materials now considered common place was being pioneered. This innovation was also unhindered by over zealous governing bodies. One bike which still stands out from this era is the Pinarello Espada, four of which were custom made from carbon fibre for one Mr Miguel Indurain, former Hour Record holder and five times Tour de France winner. The bikes were designed in association with F1 Engineer Ing Giacchi. This particular example was photographed at the recent Campagnolo 80th Anniversary event with it’s former rider.
Fausto Pinarello can complete the story
“There were only four of these bicycles made: two for the road and two for the track – just for Indurain. We developed this bike in 1994 when there weren’t the UCI rules on bicycle design and you were free to create truly special bicycles. We developed this bike in collaboration with Ing. Giacchi, an aerodynamics engineer who has worked extensively with Formula One racing. We realized that we couldn’t make a bicycle with this kind of shape in metal so we decided to use carbon fibre. The first version was made for track, for the world hour record and then we modified it for the derailleurs and internal cable guides. Of course, this bike was made to measure for Indurain, so the carbon fibre molds still exist. The cost of each frame mold was about $5,000, not counting manufacturing costs. Indurain did break the world hour record on the Espada, but he had never done it before.” (more…)
Want to be able to build a frame like Paul Brodie? Follow this handout Paul has devised for his framebuilding 101 course and it’ll give you a start. Better still of course attend one of his courses 
The PROCESS:
1. design frame
2. full scale drawing
3. select tubing
4. mark DT for butting (more…)
The words rare and unique are used all too freely in the world of retro – few bikes deserve to be described as such and this is truly one of them. This Bontrager Experimental was built around 1995 at Bontrager’s Santa Cruz frame shop and currently resides with a well regarded collector here in the UK.
This particular Bontrager Experimental and the other six or seven completed around the same time were built out of a debate as to which frame material was best. Keith Bontrager’s take was that no material could be said to be best and each should be used in a frame to optimize it’s properties. This frame consists of
*Large diameter Aluminium main triangle = Lightest and Stiffest.
*Steel chainstays and dropouts = small diameter tubing so the tyre chainstays and chainrings have good clearance and the most durable dropouts.
*Carbon Seatstays = The lightest and stiffest for brake mount stability (flexi stays make the rear brake feel Mushy)
(more…)
About Us |
Follow Retrobike |
Other cool stuff |
| All content © 2005-2015 Retrobike unless otherwise stated. Cookies Policy. |
|
bikedeals - the best bike deals in one place FatCOGS - Fat Chance Owner's Group |
