So, just got my first ever mountain bike.
Which is a bit crap for someone who works as a chairlift driver, lifting bikes off the lifts all day in the summer. And who has 2 kids that race MTBs at regional level. But there you have it. When I've actually needed a bike, I've been able to rent or borrow one.
But the desire to have my own has been eating me for a while now, to be honest. Beating up the passes on my (also retro) roadbike is becoming less fun, what with it only having 2 chainrings, and with me getting older; I've actually taken an old beater road frame and been using that offroad, including doing the downhill tracks where I work. Which latter stunt got me labelled as a madman by the bike patrol boys, but that's a whole 'nother story.
So, I took the plunge. Rather than picking up some bargain-basement crap, I figured I'd go retro. And after a certain amount of waiting, I picked up my 1996/7 Sunn Xircuit yesterday. It's not exactly stock (not that I care) but it's had some - "odd" decisions taken.
The guy I bought it from had bought the frame, and had it built up with Deore stuff across the book - that's good - some pretty lightweight Look bars and stem, also good, VP combination SPD/flat pedals - good, and then for some insane reason put the most awful, scraping the bottom of the barrel Suntour M7600 "suspension" forks on the front. I asked him about the rigid forks
Still, picked it up for less than a supermarket cheapo kids bike, and it comes in at around 11.5 kilos even with those horrible bouncy boat anchors up front. There's some very slight pitting on the frame around the bottom bracket, and it's missing the stem logo, but otherwise the frame is beautiful.
Obligatory bad photo taken with worse camera:
I'll try it out at work tomorrow.
Which is a bit crap for someone who works as a chairlift driver, lifting bikes off the lifts all day in the summer. And who has 2 kids that race MTBs at regional level. But there you have it. When I've actually needed a bike, I've been able to rent or borrow one.
But the desire to have my own has been eating me for a while now, to be honest. Beating up the passes on my (also retro) roadbike is becoming less fun, what with it only having 2 chainrings, and with me getting older; I've actually taken an old beater road frame and been using that offroad, including doing the downhill tracks where I work. Which latter stunt got me labelled as a madman by the bike patrol boys, but that's a whole 'nother story.
So, I took the plunge. Rather than picking up some bargain-basement crap, I figured I'd go retro. And after a certain amount of waiting, I picked up my 1996/7 Sunn Xircuit yesterday. It's not exactly stock (not that I care) but it's had some - "odd" decisions taken.
The guy I bought it from had bought the frame, and had it built up with Deore stuff across the book - that's good - some pretty lightweight Look bars and stem, also good, VP combination SPD/flat pedals - good, and then for some insane reason put the most awful, scraping the bottom of the barrel Suntour M7600 "suspension" forks on the front. I asked him about the rigid forks
There were also a pile of questionable stickers all over the frame, which are now mostly removed. What idiot puts Cannondale, Specialised and Mavic stickers all over a gorgeous Sunn chrome frame anyway?Oh, I had those, but I threw them away. Junk, right?
Still, picked it up for less than a supermarket cheapo kids bike, and it comes in at around 11.5 kilos even with those horrible bouncy boat anchors up front. There's some very slight pitting on the frame around the bottom bracket, and it's missing the stem logo, but otherwise the frame is beautiful.
Obligatory bad photo taken with worse camera:
I'll try it out at work tomorrow.