frank.youngman
Retro Guru
Picked the frame and forks up off ebay for £23 and did a quick build to see if it was as I remembered it from back in the day.Complete hoot,definitely a keeper.All it needs is a set of decals from Gil when he is back in action and it will be finished.
This is a 1991 SM800.I took a deliberate decision to mix in some modern because it was actually going to be used as my off road bike.So old school near mint Mavic 237 on nukeproof hubs,and full XT gears.To get my preferred off road position I used a stem off a lower spec cannondale I once bought for its bits and a straight handlebar off a 1995 Proflex.Fed up with scrapping for overpriced half worn chainsets off ebay,so £18 to CRC for a new one.Don't like small XT pedals (got a box full) so on went a set of large superlight nanos I got free with a What Mountain Bike subscription.SDG Falcon saddles fit my bum,and Ritchey seatposts hark back to the good old days ,so on they went.
Most contentious of all I went for a cheap secondhand set of current XT V brakes coupled with some mid 90's XT brake levers.I had to cut down one pair of the fixing screws,but otherwise they dropped straight on and needed no fiddly adjusting.
Finally a spare 2.2 Specialized Enduro tyre went on the front,the rear Enduro rubbed slightly when it squirmed,so that was replaced with a Specialized The Captain 2.0.
The result is as I remembered,it changes direction and picks up speed quickly and is surprisingly comfortable on rough tracks up on Haldon Forest.On modern rubber it grips well and best of all it brakes well going downhill,not something my cantilever equipped bikes could be accused of.In fairness BITD the last modification I made to my M800 was to rip off the force 40 and throw them in the bin and replace them with Avid V brakes.
Brilliant bike which retains the character while improving performance.
This is a 1991 SM800.I took a deliberate decision to mix in some modern because it was actually going to be used as my off road bike.So old school near mint Mavic 237 on nukeproof hubs,and full XT gears.To get my preferred off road position I used a stem off a lower spec cannondale I once bought for its bits and a straight handlebar off a 1995 Proflex.Fed up with scrapping for overpriced half worn chainsets off ebay,so £18 to CRC for a new one.Don't like small XT pedals (got a box full) so on went a set of large superlight nanos I got free with a What Mountain Bike subscription.SDG Falcon saddles fit my bum,and Ritchey seatposts hark back to the good old days ,so on they went.
Most contentious of all I went for a cheap secondhand set of current XT V brakes coupled with some mid 90's XT brake levers.I had to cut down one pair of the fixing screws,but otherwise they dropped straight on and needed no fiddly adjusting.
Finally a spare 2.2 Specialized Enduro tyre went on the front,the rear Enduro rubbed slightly when it squirmed,so that was replaced with a Specialized The Captain 2.0.
The result is as I remembered,it changes direction and picks up speed quickly and is surprisingly comfortable on rough tracks up on Haldon Forest.On modern rubber it grips well and best of all it brakes well going downhill,not something my cantilever equipped bikes could be accused of.In fairness BITD the last modification I made to my M800 was to rip off the force 40 and throw them in the bin and replace them with Avid V brakes.
Brilliant bike which retains the character while improving performance.
