Perfect morning for a proper ride, took it down my favourite local trail early before the dog walkers and ebike scramblers ruin the tranquility.
I never thought I'd get to even ride one of these, let alone own one. For me these are up there with the Salsa's, Brodies etc in terms of desirability and being iconic bikes of that era. Over the past few years I've been buying and selling and managed to build up a small fund so I'd be able to move quickly if the right bike came up at the right price, when I saw @markjohnson76's post showing this I knew straight away, I've never clicked 'Buy it now' more quickly in my life.
What a bike! Although I'm not keen on the modern bars and stem the handling feels great, the forks are in surprisingly good shape, it's been a long time since I rode with front suspension, but they are lighter than expected and they compress and spring back just as they should, no play or sticking. The shifting and braking is all crisp, that lovely Hope click coming from the rear hub, what a blast!
Plan is to get it back as close to original spec as possible.
Going to strip it down, fully service the hubs, bb, hs and forks and see what I can do to tidy up the frame.
The decals are 90% perfect, the 'Team' decal and the 'R' on the drive side are in pretty bad shape, not only peeling but stretched and slightly torn, so I think I will replace only those, plus the missing Columbus bird from the seat tube.
Other things it needs - Roberts stem, original tyres (if anyone can ID those I'd appreciate it), saddle, handlebars? pedals and shifters, I think everything else is original including cables, brake blocks and chain..
The top half of the post is almost perfect, but the bottom half is pretty badly worn and most of the anodizing has gone, at my riding height about an inch of wear would show. Rings are pretty worn too and the cranks have signs of wear, but overall for a 30 year old bike that's been ridden not too shabby.
I never thought I'd get to even ride one of these, let alone own one. For me these are up there with the Salsa's, Brodies etc in terms of desirability and being iconic bikes of that era. Over the past few years I've been buying and selling and managed to build up a small fund so I'd be able to move quickly if the right bike came up at the right price, when I saw @markjohnson76's post showing this I knew straight away, I've never clicked 'Buy it now' more quickly in my life.
What a bike! Although I'm not keen on the modern bars and stem the handling feels great, the forks are in surprisingly good shape, it's been a long time since I rode with front suspension, but they are lighter than expected and they compress and spring back just as they should, no play or sticking. The shifting and braking is all crisp, that lovely Hope click coming from the rear hub, what a blast!
Plan is to get it back as close to original spec as possible.
Going to strip it down, fully service the hubs, bb, hs and forks and see what I can do to tidy up the frame.
The decals are 90% perfect, the 'Team' decal and the 'R' on the drive side are in pretty bad shape, not only peeling but stretched and slightly torn, so I think I will replace only those, plus the missing Columbus bird from the seat tube.
Other things it needs - Roberts stem, original tyres (if anyone can ID those I'd appreciate it), saddle, handlebars? pedals and shifters, I think everything else is original including cables, brake blocks and chain..
The top half of the post is almost perfect, but the bottom half is pretty badly worn and most of the anodizing has gone, at my riding height about an inch of wear would show. Rings are pretty worn too and the cranks have signs of wear, but overall for a 30 year old bike that's been ridden not too shabby.
To be honest out of all the bits I need I'd be fine if the tyres were wrong, any period Ritchey tanwalls in good nick would be nice.
