The MTB Introduce Yourself Here Thread IV

hola, i'm from north east wales i have an older bike (Giant Yukon, rigid, all chromoly grey, early 90's i guess) which has been a great pub/commuter for a couple of years but have also had it round the red and black runs at coed llandegla and it held up jus fine, although got a few funny looks from the orange 5/spicy brigade

jjoined here as i've just got an old GT as wanted something lighter for longer runs and i'm looking to fix up sympathetically: have started a thread on this but need another 3 posts before i can post some pics!

a mate put me onto this site

I'm Paul, I live in the Midlands (UK), and I'm a recovering old school MTBer.

First bike was a Saracen Maxtrax (back in early 90's) and I rode and raced that on the Midland Super Series and daily rides over the local hills until I could scrape together enough cash to buy a Zaskar LE frame in 1996/97. Transferred lots of mid range bits over from the Saracen, as I couldn't afford to do much else, and upgraded bit by bit as the years went by and I broke stuff. Sort of drifted out of MTB when I got married and moved area in 99 and am now attempting to drift back in. Just busy polishing the Zaskar and plan on upgrading it with all the bits I couldn't afford back then - the Saracen frame is eagerly awaiting all her old parts back so she can get out and about as well.

Hi peeps,

I am from Leeds and go by the name of Tim. I currently ride a 2001 Trek Fuel with upgrades and will soon be building something a little more suitable for the daily commute, something older

I recently signed up for my first event, 12:12 TORQ in your sleep, a 12 hour MTB endurance race riding solo. This will be my first ever event so any advice is very welcome, and needed!

Thats all for now folks, see you about!

Hi All,

I've been looking at this site for that last 4 years or so ever since getting back into MTB XC / MTB Road/Off-Road Long Distance. I found this site after a very disappointing visit to the LBS - I was totally shocked with poor quality, stupid prices and these dreadful Moto X machines for jumping off cliffs that I'm not interested in and too old for!

Decided to rebuild my 15 year old thrashed Kona AA after some surfing and finding Retrobike! Never looked back...and then one thing leads to another and the next thing you know the fleet peaks at five and then get's trimmed to fund some nice Ti stuff.

This site is simply the best; huge knowledge tank and the effort people put in to build stunning bikes! Hats off to Retrobike and all the contributors! True inspiration and good humor!

I'm from Staffordshire, England (near to the Pennines and did the odd Cannock Chase bomb hole BITD ) but I've been living in France and now in Stockholm, Sweden for about 13 years.

I'm interested in: Ti, Light Alloy, NORBA geometry, short travel forks, stuff that's reliable, MTBs from mid-90s to very early '00s, old/new mix and match, 3 degree flatbars, San Marco Rolls saddles, SS Snow & Ice Hacks. Going to try a Drop Bar MTB for some serious fire road fun since I started riding bikes as a bit of Sunday clud-run roady....

I'm also a bit of weight weenie in view that I'm 10 - 15 kilos overweight; just can't be without Guinness and Mayonnaise and this can be easily off-set with some allen key skewers and drilling a few holes.

Woz.

Hi guys, my name is Fabrice and I have been looking at this site several times over the past years ... but deliberately not registered not to give in too easily to my collecting demons!

I started MTB on a Raleigh back in the late 80's and always practiced on loads of different bikes since then. As a young boy I will always remember how impressed I was by the Kestrel MXZ, so much ahead of its time ... still can't believe this bike existed before the 90's! I had a lot of frames in hands so far, with a preference for titanium (Dean, Moots, Litespeed, etc.). Currently I am the happy owner of two Vagabonde handmade steel bikes, one single speed and one multi geared.

Besides, I am also fond of road bikes and was even a triathlete for a couple of years. I currently have a Cervelo S2 and a Spin SOlo titanium fixie.

Because of the large amount of components I have accumulated over years, I am regularly looking at retro bikes projects and in fact I built up an old Dean Colonel and a couple of Cannondales... Of course very far from the crazy projects you could find on this excellent site, but I'd like to go on and the next one will be a Sintesi which I'll probably introduce here.

Hello from across the pond!

Hello all, my name is Luis and I reside in southern California. I just found this wonderful site not too long ago. was on another site but found out that they don't like vintage bikes too much over there. They are all to the newest and "greatest" widget's over there. And someone over there suggested that I try this site. Anyway I own a 1998 trek Y33 and a 2003 cannondale Jekel. I've owned the trek since new and have been updating it ever since! The cannondale was recently purchased about a year ago as a frameset and I built that one up from scratch with some old and new parts I had in the garage. Anyway I think this site is great! At least I don't feel like I'll get slammed for riding "vintage" bikes! Happy riding guys! I hope you guys don't mind if I include a pic of my ride here!

Hey everyone, my names John. Been mountain biking for the last 21 years or so. First real bike was a GT Zaskar circa 93, which I eventually snapped the head tube off :shock: Anyway, just saying hi, love the site and some of the bikes that you guys have.

Good day!

Hi, My name is Stanley and Vancouver, BC Canada is my home. I'm new to Retro MTB. By the way, this forum is awesome!
I took my 16 years old Brodie Catalyst out last weekend for a ride, wow it feels great!

Hello

Hello from socal. My first mtb was a '95 GT Tequesta. The best I could afford at the time. I used it for a couple of years...then shamefully, it hung in my garage for about 10 years. In '07 I started riding again. Got my Tequesta tuned and began to ride.

Then I started thinking "I'm gonna get something newer"....and sold my GT. I went through a couple of newer bikes, but I missed my GT.

In '08 I made 3 cool discoveries; CL, Bidepedia, and RetroBIKE! I found a '91 Zaskar for $130 and bought it. As I was researching the bike I found this site. So, that's the short version of how I got here. Hi all. Great site.

Thanks!

Eh up from Yorkshire

Eh up,

Pushing close to 40, got first bike in 1986 - Ridgeback 602LX white with blue speckled paint! Ridgeback however no more, frame remains (bad self respray) with Joe Murray Project 2s and Deore groupset with low end Mavic wheels. Use originally to commute into Leeds but has a 'back seat ' for the 4 year old! We still manage to off road. May post some pics if you promise not to laugh!!!

Also had a black GT '1993 Outpost Trail, got nicked in Dundee whilst at Uni.

Been lurking in the shadows whilst researching the resurrection of a ~1993 M-Trax 1000. Mistakenly thought it was a Ti as it had little if any stickers left on it. Eventually realised it was a Cromoly - great shame.

However still a good bike, now lovingly stripped completely, T-cutted and polished. All components were stripped down, degreased and rebuilt with new bearings. BB bit the dust so replaced, Alivio cantis were still good apart from the springs but were a sod to set up and wouldn't stop oot, so were replaced by some V's.

Full spec to follow once its finished of by some new stickers from Gil. Pics are attached. Would love some interim feedback....

Current bike is Specialised Stumpjumper Comp Disc HT 2006/7 I think - looks beautiful in team red!

Russ