Possible to maintain old full sus bikes?

I have a local deal that is pretty darn good for a 95 (i think) Stumpjumper FSR. Looks like decent condition with some wear on the frame but my real worry is if it is even practical to own such a bike. My other retro rides are rigid and therefor relatively easy to keep in working order. Maybe they are just museum kinda things that are fun to look at but that you cant ride, replacing bushings on the rear sus, even finding front sus that doesnt mess up the geo, and generally needing to replace parts that simply dont exist anymore.. I only want it if I can ride and maintain it, is that possible/ practical?

anything's possible if you throw enough money or machine shop skills at it.

can you easily get every bush you'd ever need off the shelf? probably not (although BETD have a lot of stuff for GT LTS).

Can a skilled person with a lathe and a lump of brass machine something up? absolutely!

If you have enough bikes and you do the rotation in using them, you will never need to do any service
I have a FSR myself. And I think it is rather hard to come by spare parts. I have a lathe, too. But you would need a lot more to fabricobble those bushungs and axles by yourself. Beeing some grinding machine, anodizing...
And then there is the shocks. I can service them. But I learned that it doesn't come into everybodys skillset. New shocks are quite rare these days because the original ones are quite short. The original Fox Alps shocks are a mess and there are no spares available for those whatsoever.

The forks are no problem imho. There are plenty of 80mm forks out there.

In the end it really depends on yourself. If you like to wrench on your bikes as much as riding them (like I do) - get the fsr.
Oh and if the bushings on yor "deal" are worn and there is flex in that lower bushing behind the BB, that frame is near worthless. Scars in the paint are very normal, this paint they used is very very brittle.

A little motivational:

Haha yeah money does seem to solve most problems! But lack of that is about 50% of my reason to interested in retrobikes rather than brand new ones... I don't mind getting my hands dirty but there is no way I am going to get into machining metal just to fix an old bike, that is outside of the scope of the hobby for me, though I suppose one can source from people that do. But it seems like you confirm my fear "The original Fox Alps shocks are a mess and there are no spares available for those whatsoever." that some things will just be impossible to get and the bike will end up being a scrap pile as soon as one of those irreplaceable parts wears out.

As with all things. Nothing is forever.
If you want a cheap yet reliable bike, I would much rather go for those "youngtimers" that were build around '99. More spare parts, cheap and still easy to maintain. Magura rim brakes, LX or better drivetrain, aluminium frame and some Judy Hydracoil forks.

Thias":15wynxm5 said:

As with all things. Nothing is forever.
If you want a cheap yet reliable bike, I would much rather go for those "youngtimers" that were build around '99. More spare parts, cheap and still easy to maintain. Magura rim brakes, LX or better drivetrain, aluminium frame and some Judy Hydracoil forks.

Click to expand...

Alas!

Risse will build you a shock for just about anything if you've got the money.

Just get a Heckler and be done with it!

I have a proflex 657 that's easy to maintain no major issues yet

Re:

It really depends on the bike.

Most bikes use standard parts to a point, so bushings and bearings are all available (mostly).

I've got a few old rear suspension bikes from 93 onwards and use both the rotation method (rarely use), and buy up spares when they come up.

If you plan on keeping the bike for a long time (like me), it's possible. It is worth having a rider as well as a keeper.

Fsr parts, depending on age, are fairly easy to come by, the design has evolved and spares still available if you look hard enough and are patient. Betd do some, us there are threads on here where people have sourced their own parts and shared the results.