Salsa Ala Carte through the ages.......

[richardpaulbaker]

Been sorting out my loft recently and found a bunch of old MTB photos from 'back in the day'. So I'm going to post some on here showing my 1991 Salsa Ala Carte in its many different builds over the years.
It's had quite a mix of bits and bobs on it over the last couple of decades, some good some bad. Hope some of the pics stir some memories for some of you.
First post is a pic from October 1991. I bought the frame from Ssshockwave in Nottingham in the spring of that year and built up the bike in the pic using a mixture of new parts and bits salvaged from my Kona Explosif which I'd managed to destroy by crashing it into a wall in the Peak District. Careless. But out of that tragedy a beautiful thing began..

 

[Faghetaboutit]

more more more

 

[Guy With a Ritchey]

That chainring looks huge.

 

[rumpfy]

Its going to be tough to beat that original build. Cool bike!

 

[jimihendrix]

Love this , cant wait to see more pics

The mention of Shockwave brings back memories, bought my first proper MTB from Shockwave in Glasgow back in 92, was an Offroad 752 (Proflex).

 

[Silverfish]

Sshokwave in Nottingham, the original Funk and manitou importer and a great bunch of guys. Happy memories

 

[richardpaulbaker]

Hi, yes the chain ring is rather large, I fancied myself as a bit of a downhill speed merchant back then. (I think I just wanted to be like the late, great Jason McRoy). Just a wannabe though... Never came to much.
Spec in the 1991 pic as best I can remember:
Frame: Salsa Ala Carte 17" 1991 No.SM517
Forks; Bontrager Comp
Headset: Mavic Mountain
BB: Mavic Mountain
Rear Mech: Mavic Mountain
Shifters: Mavic Mountain under bar thumb shifters
Front Mech; Deore
Stem: Ritchey - I foolishly took a discount on the frame,forks and stem set and didn't have the Salsa stem as I already owned a Girvin Flexstem. Fortunately there is no photographic evidence of this error of judgement.
Bars: Answer Taperlite
Bar Ends: Dunno, can't remember
Brakes: Deore Canti up front and a Scott Self Energiser on the rear
Levers: Deore
Cranks; Deore
Chainrings: Campagnolo Centaur 52T, Onza Buzzsaw 36T, 24T
Wheels: Mavic Paris Dakar hubs and rims
Seatpost: Kingsbury
Saddle: Dunno, can't remember
Tyres; Panaracer Smokes - of course.
QRs: Kingsbury

More photos :
The first shot is the above spec about to drop down somewhere in the Lakes. I think its somewhere off High Street at Ullswater.
The next one is 1992. More or less the same spec except the age of suspension has dawned and a pair of Rock Shox Mag 20s are on there, plus the purple Grafton Speedstix (original version Mk1) have made an appearence. Tyres are now Onza Porcs. It must have been dry.......
The big landscape is on the Greek island of Lefkas around the same time.
That was the first ever Ssshokwave MTB holiday.

 

[hollister]

diggin that partial bean paint job!

 

[merckx]

1992 spec is great! spot on!

cool thread, liking this one a lot.

 

[richardpaulbaker]

Move on to 1993.
The Rock Shox Mag 20 had all the oil pouring out of them after a weeks riding in Greece so Ssshokwave swapped them for a pair of Manitou Mk 1s. Not as good a performing fork as the Mag 20, but I figured that I was less likely to break them and that I'd be able to manage the servicing / lubing myself.
The Grafton cranks were stripped of the purple anodized finish in the interest of design co-ordination, and the bold switch over to SPD pedals too place in this year. I did love my old Power Grips, but never went back once the dark art of SPD was mastered....
The pic of me riding in the French Alps is slightly earlier as the Power Grips are still on the bike. We had to ride up to the top of all the trails at Les Orres then. I guess you just hang your bike on the back of the cable cars nowadays. In 1993 the entire resort was closed in the summer !!!