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My first MTB, bought new from Halfords in summer 1990 for £250, knocked down from £400 as it was the previous year's model. Originally pale grey with blue decals (like picture 1, but larger), I rode it regularly until circa 1995 when I discovered girls and alcohol :roll:. It was then abandoned in various damp sheds and cellars until about 2003, when I returned to the UK and got back into bikes. The bike needed alot of TLC, but being unwise in the ways of retro I rattle canned it dark grey and fitted V-brakes, risers and suspension forks (picture 2) - the shame
. Luckily I am a compulsive hoarder and kept all the old parts, so this year decided to restore it to something like original spec.
As my two other mountain bikes are also grey, I thought this one should have some colour so had the frame and forks powdercoated blue (RAL3015, if anyone's interested - looks darker in real life than the pics do on my screen). Components are mostly from the original Mountain LX groupset (M45x) supplied with the bike. Saddle, post, BB and pedals are long gone, replaced with a Turbo, Syncros-esque Kalloy, UN53 and M525 SPDs respectively. The crank spider has been warped for as long as I can remember, so the Biopace rings (mix of original and replacements) have to be shimmed by placing some of the spacers on the 'wrong' side.
The most significant changes are up front, where I fitted some WTB dirt drops (thanks kingroon) and a hybrid stem (from bankrupt-surplus-bike-bits on ebay). Brake levers are Dia-Compe 'Gran Compe' (ebay), thumbshifters are attached to mounts I made from aluminium coat hooks and old Weinmann lever clamps. Once the setup is dialled, the bars will be getting white tape. Big thanks are due to hennahairgel for the karma front cable hanger, which makes the bar/stem/brake setup possible.
Things to be done include decals (coming along slowly); wheels (worn hubs and rusty spokes) and tyres (currently Cheng Shins with sidewalls that are disintegrating before my eyes). The bike will be used for mixed commuting, pootling and light touring, so I'm on the lookout for some amberwall semi-slicks - a pair of original Crossroads II or Hardpacks would be ideal. I may 'borrow' the rustwall IRC Fiesterras from my bro's Raleigh Mirage if I can't find anything more suitable.
Couple of pics from yesterday's stumble around some local woods; found some solitude but not much singletrack. Rides great - with the stem length and bar angle, it's something inbetween a RockCombo and a classical 'dirt drop' setup. I'll post a more complete spec and some better snaps once the tyres and tape are sorted.
[/saga]
My first MTB, bought new from Halfords in summer 1990 for £250, knocked down from £400 as it was the previous year's model. Originally pale grey with blue decals (like picture 1, but larger), I rode it regularly until circa 1995 when I discovered girls and alcohol :roll:. It was then abandoned in various damp sheds and cellars until about 2003, when I returned to the UK and got back into bikes. The bike needed alot of TLC, but being unwise in the ways of retro I rattle canned it dark grey and fitted V-brakes, risers and suspension forks (picture 2) - the shame
. Luckily I am a compulsive hoarder and kept all the old parts, so this year decided to restore it to something like original spec.As my two other mountain bikes are also grey, I thought this one should have some colour so had the frame and forks powdercoated blue (RAL3015, if anyone's interested - looks darker in real life than the pics do on my screen). Components are mostly from the original Mountain LX groupset (M45x) supplied with the bike. Saddle, post, BB and pedals are long gone, replaced with a Turbo, Syncros-esque Kalloy, UN53 and M525 SPDs respectively. The crank spider has been warped for as long as I can remember, so the Biopace rings (mix of original and replacements) have to be shimmed by placing some of the spacers on the 'wrong' side.
The most significant changes are up front, where I fitted some WTB dirt drops (thanks kingroon) and a hybrid stem (from bankrupt-surplus-bike-bits on ebay). Brake levers are Dia-Compe 'Gran Compe' (ebay), thumbshifters are attached to mounts I made from aluminium coat hooks and old Weinmann lever clamps. Once the setup is dialled, the bars will be getting white tape. Big thanks are due to hennahairgel for the karma front cable hanger, which makes the bar/stem/brake setup possible.
Things to be done include decals (coming along slowly); wheels (worn hubs and rusty spokes) and tyres (currently Cheng Shins with sidewalls that are disintegrating before my eyes). The bike will be used for mixed commuting, pootling and light touring, so I'm on the lookout for some amberwall semi-slicks - a pair of original Crossroads II or Hardpacks would be ideal. I may 'borrow' the rustwall IRC Fiesterras from my bro's Raleigh Mirage if I can't find anything more suitable.
Couple of pics from yesterday's stumble around some local woods; found some solitude but not much singletrack. Rides great - with the stem length and bar angle, it's something inbetween a RockCombo and a classical 'dirt drop' setup. I'll post a more complete spec and some better snaps once the tyres and tape are sorted.
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