My first ever mountain bike ....

... was in 1992, the year I stopped racing. Managed to get this as a swap for a pair of my time trial wheels, (Mavic CX18 rims, 24/28 / Mavic 501 hubs / Wolber Profil 18mm tubs).

It was an Alpinestars Al-Mega XT, a very nice 'un. I was told that it cost about £1400 in the early 1990s! One here identical to mine:-



Great bike and a terrific climber, as with the curved seat tube, your weight was still well over the back wheel when standing up. Everything was 1 1/4-inch Evolution, so spares were kind hard to get.

However, the thing that eventually killed it was the design of the Elevated Overhead Stays. Great in eliminating chain suck and for removing the chain without splitting it but without the rear support, the bracket flexed quite a bit. Snapped once on the seat tube just below the EOS and I had it TIG-ged up. Lasted a year and then it snapped again in the same place.

Sold it to a fixer-upper in Devon who was convinced that he could repair it, so it may still be alive - fingers crossed! :roll:

Beautiful, and getting harder to find now

There's a few of us A-star lovers on here, personally I preferred the earlier non-estay, as that was my era, but I have a couple of E-stays too, and they're fantastic climbing machines, like you say.

Steve

Good first bike

Always wanted one of these when i was a kid!

Always wanted one too, probably the best looking alpinestars of them all imho. Shame that few still survive.

Damn them poorly welded Aluminium A-star frames

I've never had the privilege of seeing one of these in the flesh yet. . . . tick tock, tick tock....