Hi There.
First post here. Very nice website, by the way. Man, you guys have some PRETTY bikes. Me jealous. Brought back a lot of memories during my college days in the 90's. I'm mostly a GT guy and wrote a few during the good old days.
Well, here is my medium Bontrager Race Lite. Still original paint (metallic blue) and original decals. Far away, the blue frame looks black. On sunny days or up close, the dark blue reveals itself.
I remember the bike shop manager (good friend) special-ordered this Race Lite frame for me from what's left at the Bontrager Santa Cruz factory. He was really pushing me to buy the few remaining Race Lite. I also have an original spare decal set sitting in a box somewhere in the closet (the white and silver is reversed on this set). Decals cost me $25 at that time. I remember thinking, "Damn, what a rip-off!" Now I'm glad I bought it.
The fork is a Marzocchi DH-3. The stamping on it says 95. That was special-ordered from the Marzocchi factory in Valencia at the same period. I love this fork!!! Years later, I bought a used anodized red DH-3 on eBay (fork now sitting in the closet).
The Bontrager Race Lite is full XTR equipped (~ M950 series). Our college team was sponsored by Shimano in Irvine Calif. at the time, so I got the whole groupo for cheap.
I got a lot of good miles on this bike. Believe it or not, it was VERY dirty most of the time. Last month, when I discovered this retrobike website (awesome site, by the way), I was motivated and decided to take my Bontrager RL apart and do a clean up. After all the dirt and mud wiped away, this is what you get. 12+ years old and still looks brand new. No paint damage! Original gloss. Bullet proof. Thanks for looking.
First post here. Very nice website, by the way. Man, you guys have some PRETTY bikes. Me jealous. Brought back a lot of memories during my college days in the 90's. I'm mostly a GT guy and wrote a few during the good old days.
Well, here is my medium Bontrager Race Lite. Still original paint (metallic blue) and original decals. Far away, the blue frame looks black. On sunny days or up close, the dark blue reveals itself.
I remember the bike shop manager (good friend) special-ordered this Race Lite frame for me from what's left at the Bontrager Santa Cruz factory. He was really pushing me to buy the few remaining Race Lite. I also have an original spare decal set sitting in a box somewhere in the closet (the white and silver is reversed on this set). Decals cost me $25 at that time. I remember thinking, "Damn, what a rip-off!" Now I'm glad I bought it.
The fork is a Marzocchi DH-3. The stamping on it says 95. That was special-ordered from the Marzocchi factory in Valencia at the same period. I love this fork!!! Years later, I bought a used anodized red DH-3 on eBay (fork now sitting in the closet).
The Bontrager Race Lite is full XTR equipped (~ M950 series). Our college team was sponsored by Shimano in Irvine Calif. at the time, so I got the whole groupo for cheap.
I got a lot of good miles on this bike. Believe it or not, it was VERY dirty most of the time. Last month, when I discovered this retrobike website (awesome site, by the way), I was motivated and decided to take my Bontrager RL apart and do a clean up. After all the dirt and mud wiped away, this is what you get. 12+ years old and still looks brand new. No paint damage! Original gloss. Bullet proof. Thanks for looking.
