Muddy Fox Trailblazer Sprint

shepp

Senior Retro Guru
My first ever ATB was a 1990 Muddy Fox StreetFfinder. Bright yellow, pink decals and the important paw graphics on the top tube. I absolutely loved it. Added a front handle bars bag (if anyone has one I’d be very interested in having it!).

I moved on to the first year of the rock and roll, which was an appalling bike, which I return as it was A; Appalling and B; had a constant bottom bracket squeak and 2 bottom bracket failures. I then swapped this for a Alu Sport which was black with purple fleck which was the first bike I raced.

I found the trailblazer on eBay and after some zooming in decided it looked ruff, but predicted the white flecks were household paint and it would clean up nice. Two days before collecting I realised the thumb shifters weren’t original spec and by again zooming in they may be XT. If that was the case the bike doubled in its value! I reviewed the size by finding a white version that was a 16 inch on google images and also a 20 inch. The results made this frame a rare 18 inch which is my perfect size.

So after a trip from Eastbourne to the Shere Classic car Hill Climb event, I then drove 8 minutes onwards to pick the bike up. It was an absolute fluke that it was so close as I’d booked the Hill climb before buying the bike.

This is it being collected. Quick look/wipe down and tyre removal outside and then in the garage for the strip down.

Plan it to clean, strip, touch up and keep standard The bikes to be ridden in the woods with my 4 year old twins and try riding to work on it occasionally (10 mins max).

Obviously project creep happened and a few bits are getting changed!
 

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Do my eyes deceive me, but are they 700C? Cool thing - most Muddy Foxes were - wishbone, colour, plus graphics. Nice pedals too
 
Stunning bike and a lucky find so close to home, MF used to be such a cutting edge super cool brand BITD. Your car is even more retro! Talbot Samba perhaps?
 
Great find
 
Do my eyes deceive me, but are they 700C? Cool thing - most Muddy Foxes were - wishbone, colour, plus graphics. Nice pedals too
Yes, great spot. Give me the option of easily found amber side walled tyres and validates its need alongside my 4 other 26” bikes I have (sort of) 😂
 
Stunning bike and a lucky find so close to home, MF used to be such a cutting edge super cool brand BITD. Your car is even more retro! Talbot Samba perhaps?
Love a Talbot Samba, but it’s Mk1 golf. Think it was the classic but out of Muddy Fox that pulled it from its perch in the MTB world. That and they didn’t seem bothered about weight compared to other brands?
 
Nice. Really nice. Bit of a unicorn bike for me, I love it. Well done.

Trailblazer Sprint was originally a drop bar machine, so I guess the XT shifters were a part of the straight bar conversion.
IIRC the top tube length was the same for the hybrids (or Hi-Breeds IIRC they were called in the catalogue) in a straight or drop configuration, so the drop bar version must have seemed really long in comparison.

The blue Oury's look like a really good fit.
 
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