1990 Muddy Fox Courier Mega - Complete

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Being 6ft 3 finding retro rides to fit is a real challenge.. bikes I like come up for sale and I have to let them go.. why.. because they're too darn small. A bike came up recently that was (as usual) too small but this time I had to make exception! The reason being is that this bike is the exact model, size and spec of my first 'proper' MTB.

The season - Sping
The year - 1990
The location - Schmoos Cycles Swansea
The bike soon to be mine - Muddy Fox Courier Mega

Yes I was lucky enough to get a decent ride and compared to my previous bike (Peugeot Alpine(a)) it was light-years ahead! It had a kind of racing feel to it with the wishbone stays and long stem. I loved that bike, I rode it for miles and hours. Summer 1990 was a landmark summer in my life and my Muddy Fox helped to make it even more special. I spent the long days of the summer holiday on epic adventures with my mates'; cycling from Worcester (where I grew up) to Malvern where the trails were badass . Joining the MF in the gang was a Saracen Traverse, a Diamondback Ascent and a GT Timberline.. we'd leave home at 10am and return home 12 hours later full of happiness and adrenalin........... boy we ripped up those hills!!

So here is me aged 12/13 looking like a right wally just after I got home with my newly acquired Courier Mega; paid for with a combo of paper-round dosh and parent dosh. Looking back, the 'extras' were a little OTT but I was so proud of my MF that everything had to be MF (including those tragic shades!).

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Yesterday I picked up this [phone pics only :oops:]
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Loved the rear wishbone stays..
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It's completely spec (except for the shifter/lever units) and condition is good. There is some fade to the bright yellow and a few scratches here and there and the stickers are very good.. it's way too good to re-spray so I'm definitely keeping the original paint. Mixture of 400 and 500LX components are in good shape and will be cleaned and reused. There's a lot of play in the BB so I'll be replacing that with a sealed unit. I've got some NOS Exage shifter/levers that will be going on and some new Onza grips to replace the originals that are too fat and worn. I'm going to replace the few other bits: the plastic MKS pedals, the tyres (original Muddy Fox tyres will be kept), the chain and the cables.

I've spent the day stripping, cleaning and degreasing the MF; this was very time consuming and unfortunately I ran out of light. I've Gunked and T-Cut the frame, forks, stem and bars and already it looks awesome. There's a lot of work to be done and unfortunately the MF isn't high on the priorities list right now but please check out for updates ;)

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Thanks for looking :cool:.
 
That is very nice indeed :cool: I have a lot of love for the early Foxes

There will be no missing you at Mayhem this year ;)
 
Thanks T.. but did you have those gloves :LOL:

Jon it'll look the business next to your bright green 1990 Comp; it's making an appearance at MM so we'll have to get a couple of catalogue poses of the two together. I'm also taking my ridiculously colourful 1991 Bear Valley.. there'll be enough colour to cause a migraine :!:
 
sweet ;) (in both senses!)

my courier was 87/8 but i had (have) about 5 years on you with the story :LOL:

Hope you kept the shades :D

And
 
I had a few spare moments to devote to man-cave antics today. This list of things that need doing on my retrobikes never seems to shorten and currently work is required on all three of my retro rides. I spent longest on the MF; I finished off polishing the frame and put on some new cage-bolts, cleaned rims/re-greased hubs/skewers and put on a clean HG70 cassette, I also had some nice Panaracers to replace the shot original MF tyres - when I removed the original tyres the bead just crumbed away to nothing. I also Gunked and cleaned off the years of grime that had built up on both mechs and regreased. So here is some picture progress of the rebuild so far. Unfortunately I now need to spend money on the MF before I can proceed further; it needs a new BB, chain, pedals, seatpost, cables and I'd like to replace the brakeset.. but as I'm absolutely barasic at the moment that's all going to have to wait :(

I'm so made up with the MFCM; I reckon it's a real handsome looking bike with everything in proportion. There is some lovely attention to detail such as the MF paw print just below the crossbar and the well laid out sticker-set The're a few chips to the paint that will need touching up and there's a little fade which doesn't really show on the photos.

So.. enjoy for now and thanks for looking :cool:

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