1994 Super V Conundrum!

Ziggurat

Retro Newbie
Hey folks :)

I meant to join and post earlier in the evening but I got carried away browsing all the cool bikes I was drooling over as a kid :oops:
Here's my contribution to retrebike.co.uk:



I've dusted off my '94 Super V which had about 3 years of (well-maintained) use. After that I had a less valuable junk bike (Saracen Sahara) to trash at Uni, and since graduating I've been in London for another 5 years, miles away from decent riding while the 'dale has just been gathering dust.

I don't know what to do with it at the moment. Money's tight and I need to commute to work by bike if I can (lets me cancel gym membership AND save on tube fares) but I won't be happy riding to work on anything that can't be locked up and left for a day without worry about it being pinched. On top of that, this is London commuting and the last thing I need is something that consists entirely of discontinued and bespoke parts to become my staple transport.

On the other hand, I love this bike and I know if I try to sell it in most places, I'll be lucky to see £250 for it, which leaves me bikeless and looking at maybe a £500 bike as my only bike. I worked as a bike-shop mechanic when I wasn't at college so this was a frame that hadn't sold where I worked - knocked the manager down to £850 and then built using parts of the time. My first build in '96 was STX RC throughout and then as those parts wore out I did a complete LX/XT 24-speed in '98. My Engineering Masters started in 1999 and that was the last time I took a spanner to it.

So, the big question:

1) Is this bike worthless to sell, leaving me better off servicing the rear shock, stripping the moving parts and cabling and replacing with modern Deore or SLX groupset? I'll have to source some decent v-brakes since this thing far predates disc-mounts, and since the hubs/cassette will need changing I might as well change the wheels too. I guess my budget is around £500 for this.

2) Am I likely to sell it for enough that, when added to my £500 budget, I can replace it outright with something better suited to what I have open to me in London (trials, commuting, horsing around). My first looks say that there' are some quite nice hardtails popping up for around the £1K mark.

So, whaddaya reckon? Please bear in mind that I've barely touched it since it was put in storage and it needs a good dust down and tune-up. I did ride it a mile or so the other day and mechanically, it's still sound



- '94 frame (large), decent condition for use, but the odd paint chip.
- HCV440 carbon swingarm. Decals rubbed on right side, but still lookin' gooood.
- Fox Alps 4. Needs a service since it's gone squelchy, but seals are good as it still had 120PSI in it after a decade :)
- Fatty 50mm headshok, lockable.
- '98 Mavic 517 rims on black '98 LX hubs. Ritchey Stainless DB spokes of course.
- '98 LX brakes (M600's?), chainset, front mech.
- '98 XT rear mech, BB, Combined shifters and brake-levers.
- '98 Ritchey forcelite pin and bar
- '98 CODA seatbolt, bar-ends and stem (i'll admit my crimes, it used to have a riser!)
- Onza Honch black/amber (the one true tyre colourscheme!)
- Pedals undecided yet. I'm not sure I want to use my SPD's anywhere near a bendy bus.
 
Nice bike dude.it obviously means something to you too which is why i would advise against selling it. I doubt it will make you enough money to buy a thousand pound hardtail unfortunately. My advice would be to do it up as a slow burner as and when funds are available and in the mean time buy a cheap hardtail for commuting. You can get a good used and fully useable retro steed for 200 quid. Last year i bought a kona kileuea for 175 off this forum.would have been perfect for you and didn't need any work at all.that's my thoughts on the matter.welcome by the way
 
Mothball the frame if it needs lots of work, keep the parts and put them on a Kona or something....can ouick them up cheap on here
 
lewis1641":8n1tvk0y said:
Nice bike dude.it obviously means something to you too which is why i would advise against selling it.

Agreed.

I sold my Aluminium Elite a couple of years back for similar reasons and now I wish I hadn't. Although if I still had it I wouldn't have been able to find space for my Kili Ultra. :cool:

BTW welcome to the mad (poor) house. :LOL: :LOL:
 
Cheers for the welcome and feedback guys.

I'm glad I'm not the only one stuck in this dilema as it's obviously a common problem here - Without nostalgia and sentimentality this whole site wouldn't even exist :)

My main problem is space, I can't afford to store two bikes but mothballing the frame only is a possibility. Throwing away old transmission would sadden me but the minute I wear out one part, everything needs replacing before I can commute again so I'd have to do it at some point.

Boxxer has PM'd me to consider a swap rather than selling it, which is possible, I think what I'll do whilst I wait for his reply is pop it on the "what is this worth" thread and either swap/sell it for something decent yet commutable. If I'm stuck to one bike, I want it to be decent and versatile because I do want to do more than just commute on it!

Thinking about it, I'm happier to sell it on now than I was, simply because I've found this site. I'll be a little sad to get rid of my 'dale, but I can rest happy that next year (when the credit crunch has improved and I've moved house) I can buy something to cheer me up again. The Mountain Cycle San Andreas thread really warmed me up, and much as I wanted one back in the 90's, I could never have afforded it then!
 
Ziggurat":ma5c4m8w said:
Thinking about it, I'm happier to sell it on now than I was, simply because I've found this site. I'll be a little sad to get rid of my 'dale, but I can rest happy that next year (when the credit crunch has improved and I've moved house) I can buy something to cheer me up again. The Mountain Cycle San Andreas thread really warmed me up, and much as I wanted one back in the 90's, I could never have afforded it then!

In a horrible, shameless plug, this is now on eBay for £99 since my house-move is 10-days away.

Thought I'd bring it up here in case anyone here is interested. I'll have a look at the eBay watch thread too in case I need to do something.

For the record, I bought myself a cheap commuter bike and now I feel dirty (but at least I'm getting back into shape again!)
 
Shame to sell something that obviously means a lot to you
I think everybody here has a similar tale of woe ,so listen to our experience and withdraw it from sale

You will regret it deeply,it will pray upon you,in the end you'll spend ten times what you'll get for it trying to rebuild it and ending up with a nice looking crutch :(
 

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