What mountain bikes did you own BITD?

[TheRadioGuyUK]

At the end of the day, what really matters is if it’s fit for what you (you as in triple underscore indelible what you want to achieve) bought a bicycle for (and there is scope for even a basic buy). If the frame is sound and bits that you depend work adequately and you enjoying using, that counts a great deal.

And if you’re into modding to build budget racers, hybrid use bikes or outright extreme projects, a good solid bike is the foundation - you may delve into frame swaps down the line, but if you can’t basically test the water with a basic solid bike as a donor - something is very wrong in paradise.

 

[27motorhead]

I've never seen an eight leading shoe single sided drum brake, I've seen a double sided four leading shoe drum brake on the front. I would love to see a picture of the 8LS rear. @27motorhead @Tootyred

Sounds like @TheRadioGuyUK did some serious tinkering. Would love to see pics if you have any...

 

[Thias]

My first bike was a Wheeler 313 in neon yellow. It had a Shimano gs200 groupset at first. But most parts like the deraileurs and hubs I had to swap quite soon for LX and XT - whatever was available used at that time. Don't know where that bike went. I think my parents gave that bike away a few years after I moved out. Out of nostalgia I "recently" bought the same frame and built it up the way I would have liked it back then. If I had the means. Shameless plug: That bike is up for voting for Bike of the month right now Klick to get to the vote!

My build thread has all the story about the bike. https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/tribute-to-my-very-first-mountainbike-a-wheeler-313.428732/


My second bike was a Hercules Titanal. I still have it and use it occasionally. I bought the frame used from a classmate. Built it with brand new parts that were sold at that hip new store in the town where I also went to school. My parents didn't know how much money I spent on that bike.
It had a Magura HS11 and XT drivetrain. A very nice set of wheels with Mavic ceramic rims and Ringle front / APC rear hub. Later (much later) I swapped everything to M900. This is what it looks like today:

 

[dirttorpedo]

These are the ones I don't have anymore:

1994 Rockhopper with an SR Duotrac
1995 Stumpjumper FSR
1995 S-Works FSR
1998 FSR Extreme

Can't recall years on the rest...
Kona scab
Nashbar Reynolds 853 (so sorry I sold this...)
Cove G-Spot
Banshee Chaparral
Turner 5-spot
Titus Racer-X Carbon
Planet-X Compo
Santa Cruz VPfree
~1999 KHS Team
Carrera Banshee

I heard great things about the Nashbar 853 frames BITD

 

[TheRadioGuyUK]

Unfortunately, no pics/photos exist any more.

Simply, at a particularly stressful chapter of my life - i had a pretty nasty meltdown and trashed literally everything relating to the past, including anything to do with the fun parts.

So everything i write that recalls past stuff literally is based on a rapidly deteriorating fragmented memory of such. That i can recall anything technical is because i was obsessively detail-oriented back then (today it would be called obsessive compulsive bordering on a disorder) - which combined with a powder keg fragile lack of tolerance for failure etc made projects very much a solo venture as nobody i knew would tolerate my nature.

Sad really, because the photo i most regret destroying is the one where it was used as a display piece where i traded in for the next donor bike. You literally couldn’t tell at a distance what it was based on, many people thought it was based on a Swiss military MTB or a Raleigh Amazon. But it certainly caught the eye, and probably induced a few migraine cases when lit up.

Probably it was actually closer to the Swiss military bike in the reconfig and frame mods. But the shop photo never did justice to the creative metallic camo finish it ended up with, a mixture of chrome patches and about ten different carefully blended metallic car finishes across the paintwork.

Why, ferk knows why i went that mad over the paint. I guess having friends at a bodyshop and spending hours going through samples etc just caused crazy inspiration - most used were BMW & Merc metallics.