This just in from the MTB Hall of Fame (or mtbhof). Sadly it looks like Geoff Apps was over looked once again. Still some very deserving inductees nonetheless. Click here to discuss in the forum.

The inductees selected for placement into the 2010 Mountain Bike Hall of Fame are; John Ker, the legendary photographer for Mountain Bike Action, Jim Wannamaker, a knowledgeable, likeable, hard working ambassador for mountain biking and rider/racer support, Alan Bonds, an integral part of the early Marin County fat-tire scene and “The Fro Riders”, Wade Simmons, Richey Schley and Brett Tippie, pioneers of the movement known as free-riding.

To read full biographies about these deserving gentlemen, go to our website www.mtnbikehalloffame.com and click on the 2010 Inductees link.

Elected by a vote of past Hall of Fame Inductees and current Hall of Fame members, these folks will be welcomed into the Hall on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010. The Induction Ceremony will take place at 6:00 p.m. during the Interbike Show in Las Vegas. The event is held at the Sand’s Expo and Convention Center, Rooms 106/107, immediately following the first day of the indoor show. All Interbike attendees as well as the public are welcome. Mark your calenders!

New Belgium Brewing Company, the makers of Fat Tire Ale, will provide the libations.
The 2010 inductees are:
• Alan Bonds, Pioneers
• “The Fro Riders” Wade Simmons, Richey Schley and Brett Tippie in Industry
• John Ker, Journalism
• Jim Wannamaker , Promotion

The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame & Museum was founded in 1988 in Crested Butte, Colorado. Ten mountain biking pioneers were inducted that first year; between three to seven mountain bike legends have been selected annually since then. The 2010 selections bring the number of Hall of Fame inductees to 112 individuals plus seven groups. The history of the sport of mountain biking, many of the early fat-tire bikes and the stories of Hall of Fame inductees are presented at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Museum, which is located in lovely downtown Crested Butte.

For more information about the MTB Hall of Fame & Museum, MTB History, interesting stories and pictures check out our new and improved website! www.mtnbikehalloffame.com

For those who missed it BBC4’s Ride of My Life program is well worth checking out. Author Rob Penn travels around the world collecting handbuilt parts for his dream bicycle and charts the social history of one of mankind’s greatest inventions. On his travels he visits Brian Rourke, Brooks, Campagnolo and Chris King amongst others and even take in a run of the Repack with Charlie Kelly and Joe Breeze.
The program is available on the BBC iPlayer, click here to watch. Unsure if this will work for those outside the UK, perhaps someone could advise.
The book on which the program was based, ‘It’s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness On Two Wheels’ is available here. Have bought a copy so will let you know what it’s like. If the infectuous enthusiam Rob Penn displays on the TV is translated to the written word it’s sure to be a good read!
The program is currently being discussed in the forum, click here to join in.
Many have also noted Rob was wearing one of our retrobike t-shirts for a good portion of the show, these are of course available from the retrobike shop. Click here to order one.

Saracen bikes are looking for people/bikes for the ‘Heritage’ page in their 2011 catalog. They are looking for owners of a Saracen bike from the glory days (approx. 88-98 ) They need pictures of owners riding or standing with their bike (old pics would be great but recent ones good too!) Or just the bike on its own.
Anyone who’s pictures is used will recieve a t-shirt!

Please send your pictures to the Saracen graphic designer: kira.askaroff@madison.co.uk

For more details please click here.

Another major milestone passed for retrobike – our Fifth Anniversary

Little did I think the site I setup following a vague idea and a low key meeting with a small handful of other retro fans in 2005 would have over 10000 users and be going from strength to stength five years on.

Let’s hear your favourite memories from the last five years, click here to add them in the forum.

On a personal level there are almost too many to document. Will have a quick go
-meeting a lot of cool people at various meets over the years
-the fine community spirit on the forum. Having this with 10k plus users is a real credit to the membership
-getting continued input on the site from genuine figures in the history of mtbing. Repack Rider is of course the prime example.

So, there you go. Here’s to another five years and thanks to (most) of our 10000 users for making the last five so memorable

Let me take you back.

The year is 1990. New Kids on the Block top the charts. England are cheated out of certain world cup glory (once again) by the Germans. Mountain Biking is ‘cool’ in the same way Yo-Yos, skateboards, BMXs and rubiks cubes were before. A callow 13 year old is promised one of these mountain bikes for his upcoming birthday. He duly receives a year old 23″ Raleigh Mirage – just the ticket for a growing lad. The bike is collected and several months of fun riding round the Cotswolds are had until a collision with a rather large and firm tree permanently steepens the head angle of that first Raleigh. A spiralling upgrade path ensues (and stalls around 1995) which ultimately leads to the youth setting up a certain website dedicated to his passion.

Fast forward 19 years.

The aforementioned young man (me if you hadn’t guessed) is now in his mid 30s. A vague idea and a quick trip to eBay nets a replacement (and straight) 1989 Raleigh Mirage complete with Biopace and Cheng Shin centre ridge tyres. This one fits a little better being a 19″, almost looking ’small’ compared to normal Raleigh sizing from that era.
(more…)

Our 10000th user has just registered. When the site was setup just under five years ago thought we’d be lucky to get a few hundred….

Another year and another Mountain Mayhem has been and gone. Without a doubt this was the biggest and best retrobike turnout yet with the best weather at Eastnor since records began. For full aftermath and race reports please click here to read the thread in the forum.

A few random highlights from retrobikers
• Weather warm and dry (a tidy contrast to two hours of rain on Friday evening)
• Superstrong on the 89 Mirage running (briefly) 3rd overall
• Wu-Tangled running dead last
• Tunes (eye of the tiger especially)
• BBQ
• The longest most nail biting game of garden jenga
• Great show of retro steeds being thrashed
• Quality tunes and heckling from the RB massif. “Use the beard” and “Don’t climb on cheese”…
• The endless climbs, plasticine woods and the increasingly alarming braking bumps.
• Passing lots of modern full sussers on the ups and some of the downs.
• 15 minutes of oxygen in the first aid tent at 3am.
• Not letting the Kenda Klimb beat me.

See you at MM (or somewhere else perhaps ) next year….

Geoffrey Cleland Apps, the UK mountain bike pioneer has been nominated for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame - hopefully this year he will be voted in and a glaring omission corrected. Mr Apps was riding bicycles off road in the mid 60s and his unique take on the ‘mountain bike’ pre dates the Marin County pioneers by several years. If you don’t know about Geoff Apps I suggest you read up about him and his bicycles here on retrobike, here on wikipedia or here and here in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.

Graham Wallace, long time Apps aficionado has made the nomination and has gathered support from Bike Biz (read their article online here) along with such luminaries as Charlie Kelly and Gary Fisher. What can you do? Simple. Click here to register for the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and vote for Geoff Apps! I know votes are closing soon so please be quick.

Dave Hemming’s (alleged) old Fat Chance ‘Harlequin’ Yo Eddy has just appeared for sale – on ebay in Mexico! Click here for full details, still awaiting confirmation from both Mr Hemming and the seller that this is the real deal.

Just finished updating the retro and reissued parts thread today, which can be found here. Loads of stuff added including NOS XC Pro and spare L shape brackets for ringle H20 cages. If you find anything else out there please add to the thread!

The retrobike road section has been growing steadily over the past few months. We’ve made a few changes here to help it grow even more.
-> More prominent forum position,
-> Catalogue & Magazine scan section.
-> Road Bike of The Month contest which will change from infrequent to monthly. Click here to get your nominations in for April.

Morvélo is proud to announce that one of the most talked about events of last year, the Brighton Big Dog, is on for Saturday 14th August 2010 and online entries are now open here!

Noted for it’s great atmosphere and cracking course, this years event will not only offer more of the same, but now with added chunks. More singletrack, more partying, more categories, more close racing, more laid back fun, more of the type of event that sold out in it’s first year.

This 6 hour race around the ancient parkland trails of Stanmer Park featuring testing climbs and awesome singletrack, guarantees a whole lot of fun! This is still a non-profit race. A hefty chunk of the profits will go behind the bar for the big party in Brighton afterwards. Well, everyone seemed to have such a good time last time, we’d thought we’d do it again. The remainder will go to our designated cycling charity.

This time there are 5 different categories to enter. Solo, Pairs, Team of Three and Open Retro (pre-95 bikes only). Open Retro, still supported by Retrobike, now can be entered as a pair or as a team of three. There will also be a youth race earlier on in the day in conjunction with VC Jubilee so now all the youngsters won’t be left out from riding one of the best courses in the country. Prizes will be awarded for the top 3 of each category as well as the “Hot Dog” award from Ricardo for the fastest lap of the race. Can Rich Mardle keep this frighteningly expensive trophy for another year? A special trophy for the 6hr solo winner involving titanium tubing and a Brighton Big Dog head tube badge is being worked up too. Will Yanto Barker be back to defend the title and scoop this unique trophy to go with his winners jersey?

If you fancy a one lap scoot around to see what everyone is talking about then why not enter the Oneder Dog fun category on the day. It comes with free tea and cake too! Last year, thanks to so many generous sponsors we had over £11,000 of prizes as this looks set to grow again this year.

Click here for a 2010 course preview with some seasonal photos.

Check out the Brighton Big Dog website or the Morvélo Twitter feed for more information as it happens.

Click here to discuss this in the forum and add you name to the list of retrobike riders.