disappearing groupsets!

[jimo746]

Re:

This is all very well, but back to the Original question.... how come some of these mass-produced groupsets seem relatively infrequent these days?
I'm always seeing XTR M900, XT M735/737/739 etc for sale/wanted...

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

Other thing is that bikes get broken up for the more valuable bits (I.e. xt/xtr) whereas economically speaking it’s not worth the effort with middle of the road / entry level kit.

 

[Woz]

Agree with a lot said already; STX-RC and LX (M56x) high general quality that just works and lasts.

I think the lower gruppos hung on lower end frames simply went to the tip when little Johnny outgrew
this MTB fad, rather than the actual parts breaking or wearing out. The original bike price tag means
no big remorse to chuck the whole lot out rather than fixing it or whatever. The tyres, spoke protector,
saddle, bars and grips were probably nasty and not missed.

 

[MR OX]

Re: Re:

My first proper mountain bike, a raleigh cajun 531 frame/fork with lovely blue/turquoise/white fade came with something like exage trail/mountain groupset. Was a lovely bike, never seen another. Everything worked and never failed.

Exage Trail, I rescued one & found it a new home earlier this year, really liked it but had no room at the inn.

Now undergoing a full restoration in Scotland

 

[retrobikeguy]

Re:

Sachs huret, I remember the low end stuff but never seen the new success polished stuff in the flesh, probably more euro eh, Now 200GS ........ that was on my raleigh discovery, had some great thumbshifters in that range, I would almost say as good as DX or XT.

heres one you dont see, I remember seeing it once on a carrera in halfords

Suntour X-1 Chroma

 

[TZEDS]

Re:

for looks I like shimanos first foray into groupsets,Deerhead,ive some fitted to an Overburys,which ive yet to ride in anger,probably not light action,more which gear am i in

 

[legrandefromage]

We all have an era of Shimano, Suntour and so on that we love, but some groupsets just seem to be disappearing, me I was always in awe of the exage trail groupset, I remember seeing it on a Raleigh mirage in 3As cycles in acomb, it was the beez neez to me, plus a mate had it on his tufftrax .... Which was also cool but it was the groupset that I thought was cool. My point is that it seems really hard to find this stuff now compared to DX or XT that is everywhere, this was affordable for the masses and yet I see very little of the exage mountain, ES, LT, 500LX.... Suntour stuff is even harder to find :|

So who here misses this rarer than ringle stuff that many of us started with?

You have to look at overall sales and availability - Exage Trail/ Mountain / LX etc were only available for a short period on bikes that were sold in low volumes and are now into their 4th decade.

Another important note is that early on, Bikes were offered with quality frames and varying quality groupsets so you could upgrade as budget allowed.

200GS was everywhere by the time the 'boom' hit, 300,400/500LX was heavy with quite soft rings (500LX) and shifters that stopped working quite easily. 550 LX is still around if you look and DX was everywhere as it had existed in one form or another since 1987 along with XT

The 'black' LX era lasted quite a few years too but remember, even these bikes are well into their 3rd decade and would have often been upgraded with other kit.

Shimano's STI often gum up with the original grease and despite being easy to sort, they were often replaced with easy cheap versions

Theres loads of Acera. Alivio. STX, RC and other starter groupsets still out there but not on bikes that you'd want

The swap from cantilever to V-brake took its toll too.

 

[retrobikeguy]

The swap from cantilever to V-brake took its toll too.

True, to be honest thats when I really lose interest in retro bikes, V's - theyre functional and easy to set up but cantilever groupsets are true retro imo.

 

[greencat]

Re: Re:

This is all very well, but back to the Original question.... how come some of these mass-produced groupsets seem relatively infrequent these days?
I'm always seeing XTR M900, XT M735/737/739 etc for sale/wanted...

If people were willing to pay XTR prices for the mass produced stuff you'd see it for sale/wanted I reckon. A number of my retro-shopper MTBs run a mix of the old middle of the road stuff - it's functional and no-ones going to steal the bike for it. I can't imagine much of its worth much more than the price of postage.

I suspect a lot of retro purchasing is about dream fulfilment. You might have had 200GS back in the day, and now you can afford and want an XT equipped retro bike.

 

[retrobikeguy]

Re: Re:

I suspect a lot of retro purchasing is about dream fulfilment. You might have had 200GS back in the day, and now you can afford and want an XT equipped retro bike.

True, and I like many I have fulfilled my Xt dream (sorry but XTR is just a polished XT so a waste of cash to me) but I hark back to all these forgotten ranges that I was seeing in local bike shops, yeah I could go to York cycle works and stare at Deore equipped machines but many of my LBS's were lucky to have anything above exage country.

Now I'm starting to acquire some of these lesser groupsets because I have fulfilled my XT dream but it's hard to find nice examples. For example I'm looking out for exage mountain..... But it's rarer than dodo poop... And seems to degrade at the same rate! Shame because it's a nice looking groupset.