But why a Retro Bike?...
- Thread starter Augustus
- Start date
Interesting thread.
I ride retro because I love riding bikes, and having a retro bike is just the excuse I needed to put another in the stable
But seriosly... None of my bikes from the early nineties survived :? If they had I would probably still be riding them.
Back in those days I rode XT components all the way because they worked. I tried a few trick bits and played with a few in the shop where I worked but I could never get on with the cost and the form over function aspect. I drooled after them but even when I could afford them I backed out... with XT you knew where you stood, it was the best functioning until XTR came out. The cottage trickery may have looked good but most of it just never worked as well. Drooling over it gave me (and many of us) an almost encyclopedic knowledge that is completely useless unless we build retro bikes or frequent sites like this :roll:
I got into the retro thing when I found this site after digging out my 1995 Kona Explosif and singlespeeding it. What a bike
When I retired the Explosif in 1998 I believed it was dead - but with hindsight only the Manitou Mach5's had died (they were rubbish anyway). With the original Project 2's back on this bike it simply rules. It flies along the trail and communicates with the rider in ways that my FS and hardtails with 100+mm of travel do not. Sure... most of the time I prefer my newer bikes especially for some of the more challenging terrain I tend to ride, but there are times when I just want to blast out on easier trails covering ground and "feeling" the bike and the terrain. I guess it takes me back to my roots - riding a singlespeed is a bit like learning to ride again, not being in quite the right gear and being forced to use your body more... it's just great. Or riding old school routes which have a lot of fireroad where a modern bike is wasted, but riding an old school steed makes it interesting again - it's a roots thing ma-an!
Riding the Explosif made me hanker for a new steel race steed - which there is no way I could afford. So I began looking at older stuff, but Fats and Salsa's are thin on the ground and expensive, and Bonty's never fitted me. Lucky me found and bought a Dave Lloyd CATS WISKAS which has been a really enjoyable project. I've ridden a few Lloyds BITD because a local shop sold them mostly to it's race team... so there was a connection.
For me it's all about the ride and not the trinkets - while I still drool after the trinkets I know that for riding they are not for me - I also know that while 1992 XT 7spd was good in 1992, 1996 8spd XT with suntour XC pro thumbies is ace, and V-brakes kick tha ass of canti's so there is no way I would run them. It's been a process of finding bits and trying them, or using a few bits that I have owned since 1992-6 but that have been languishing in a box since we all started fitting riser bars and running disk brakes. Even though I'm building a bike on a 1992 frame I'm not willing to compromise the ride for period authenticity.
I love what the collectors and builders on here do - I love seeing the garage queens - I love seeing the non top end bikes - I love seeing bikes because it's all my history and it's all my roots - it's great to see all this old stuff being looked after and used.
This is a great forum and I thank you all for showing me that I am not alone in my obsession
I ride retro because I love riding bikes, and having a retro bike is just the excuse I needed to put another in the stable
But seriosly... None of my bikes from the early nineties survived :? If they had I would probably still be riding them.
Back in those days I rode XT components all the way because they worked. I tried a few trick bits and played with a few in the shop where I worked but I could never get on with the cost and the form over function aspect. I drooled after them but even when I could afford them I backed out... with XT you knew where you stood, it was the best functioning until XTR came out. The cottage trickery may have looked good but most of it just never worked as well. Drooling over it gave me (and many of us) an almost encyclopedic knowledge that is completely useless unless we build retro bikes or frequent sites like this :roll:
I got into the retro thing when I found this site after digging out my 1995 Kona Explosif and singlespeeding it. What a bike
When I retired the Explosif in 1998 I believed it was dead - but with hindsight only the Manitou Mach5's had died (they were rubbish anyway). With the original Project 2's back on this bike it simply rules. It flies along the trail and communicates with the rider in ways that my FS and hardtails with 100+mm of travel do not. Sure... most of the time I prefer my newer bikes especially for some of the more challenging terrain I tend to ride, but there are times when I just want to blast out on easier trails covering ground and "feeling" the bike and the terrain. I guess it takes me back to my roots - riding a singlespeed is a bit like learning to ride again, not being in quite the right gear and being forced to use your body more... it's just great. Or riding old school routes which have a lot of fireroad where a modern bike is wasted, but riding an old school steed makes it interesting again - it's a roots thing ma-an!
Riding the Explosif made me hanker for a new steel race steed - which there is no way I could afford. So I began looking at older stuff, but Fats and Salsa's are thin on the ground and expensive, and Bonty's never fitted me. Lucky me found and bought a Dave Lloyd CATS WISKAS which has been a really enjoyable project. I've ridden a few Lloyds BITD because a local shop sold them mostly to it's race team... so there was a connection.
For me it's all about the ride and not the trinkets - while I still drool after the trinkets I know that for riding they are not for me - I also know that while 1992 XT 7spd was good in 1992, 1996 8spd XT with suntour XC pro thumbies is ace, and V-brakes kick tha ass of canti's so there is no way I would run them. It's been a process of finding bits and trying them, or using a few bits that I have owned since 1992-6 but that have been languishing in a box since we all started fitting riser bars and running disk brakes. Even though I'm building a bike on a 1992 frame I'm not willing to compromise the ride for period authenticity.
I love what the collectors and builders on here do - I love seeing the garage queens - I love seeing the non top end bikes - I love seeing bikes because it's all my history and it's all my roots - it's great to see all this old stuff being looked after and used.
This is a great forum and I thank you all for showing me that I am not alone in my obsession
Wold Ranger
Old School Grand Master
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WHY
In a single word, WEIGHT (Plus old bikes have: Soul, Character, pretty looks and you need skills to ride them well) or the lack of weight with retro. Even the Trek 69r weighes 25 pounds plus and it's a single speed!! The whole concept of a MOUNTAIN bike is it can be ridden up a very steep hill off road. If it's heavy this is no fun, particularly for light weights like me. I am an x fell runner and CX racer, so carrying a bike is also a desire, (why ride up a hill when you can run up it easier and faster beats me, so I will shoulder my bike and run up steep or rocky inclines and at sub 20 pounds that's easy) try carrying an awkwardly shaped 30 pound plus bike up a cliff wall![/b]
In a single word, WEIGHT (Plus old bikes have: Soul, Character, pretty looks and you need skills to ride them well) or the lack of weight with retro. Even the Trek 69r weighes 25 pounds plus and it's a single speed!! The whole concept of a MOUNTAIN bike is it can be ridden up a very steep hill off road. If it's heavy this is no fun, particularly for light weights like me. I am an x fell runner and CX racer, so carrying a bike is also a desire, (why ride up a hill when you can run up it easier and faster beats me, so I will shoulder my bike and run up steep or rocky inclines and at sub 20 pounds that's easy) try carrying an awkwardly shaped 30 pound plus bike up a cliff wall![/b]
TheGreenRabbit
Retrobike Rider
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I ride retro, because I like the look. After riding with a few friends on soft tails found out the riding rigid rear is now known as Hardcore and with a rigid front end is realy F*****G Hardcore. and to top it all teenage son of a friend also said that rigid bikes are what they have in the History books.
wickedwheels
Old School Hero
Sorry to chime in so late in the thread but...
I was buying new bike every year, always chasing the latest and the greatest and this got old. So I started with retro road bikes and decided to start collecting stuff that I always wanted when I was growing up.
The best reason now is that I'm teaching my new wife to mountain bike. I ride a totally rigid bike so that I'm not making it look too easy while she's riding her hardtail. Plus I get to sharpen my dulled bike handling skills.
Also,
I LOVE walking into a bike shop and having the shop rat look give my bike a puzzled look or totally ignore it. I think it highlights the ignorance and lack of knowledge of a lot of shops when they don't give a MAX OR bike a second look (as it was a fairly revolutionary tubeset). I use my bike as a gauge of how good the shop is.
I was buying new bike every year, always chasing the latest and the greatest and this got old. So I started with retro road bikes and decided to start collecting stuff that I always wanted when I was growing up.
The best reason now is that I'm teaching my new wife to mountain bike. I ride a totally rigid bike so that I'm not making it look too easy while she's riding her hardtail. Plus I get to sharpen my dulled bike handling skills.
Also,
I LOVE walking into a bike shop and having the shop rat look give my bike a puzzled look or totally ignore it. I think it highlights the ignorance and lack of knowledge of a lot of shops when they don't give a MAX OR bike a second look (as it was a fairly revolutionary tubeset). I use my bike as a gauge of how good the shop is.
St John Widget
Retro Newbie
At what point does a bike become retro and therefore worthy of attention?
development_cycle
Gold Trader
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Well I still class myself as a newbie here even though my profile says otherwise, and I have to say that for me it's a bit of what lot's of people have said, but when it comes down to it I want to take my bike out for a ride, and not the other way round!
