• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

Retro MTB

Bill Talbot

Vintage Gear Curator
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
3,166
Location
New England
Lets draw the date line in the mud at Pre 2000.
You know when bike were lighter, rugged, simple and FUN!

I'll lead in with this 1982 Specialized Stumpjumper. She was at the front of the production specialized (pun intended!) mountainbike scene. Design by Tim Neenan.
Tim Neenan.png

For the roadies out there Tim also penned the design of the Expedition, Sequoya and Allez.

Have a look at the kit on this early bike. Many of the items on it, now being imported into the USA by Mike Sinyard. The long story on Mike here;

Onto the bike!

82 Specialized Stumpjumper.jpg


Biplane fork crown.jpg


Drivetrain.jpg


SJ Front View.jpg
 

martyg

Making fresh tracks
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Posts
2,216
worlds-banner-sm.jpg
Our shop in Durango, Mountain Bike Specialists, is part museum. On the walls are the bikes that local athletes have won world championships on, been to the Olympics on, and rode to national championships. Quinn Simmon's bike that he won the Jr. Worlds on lives here, and Sepp Kuss's bike makes guest appearances. The bikes go back to the 70's, and include the bikes of Ned Overend (a shop regular) and Julie Furtado, among other.

Behind the shop by a few blocks is Overend Mountain Bike Park - AKA "Test Tracks". It is where many of the innovations in mountain biking where developed. Even today, we have upper management for several large bike companies living in Durango. They tend towards the product development side, and live in town, where a trail is never more than a few blocks aay.

Also on display is the banner from when we hosted the first ever Mtn Bike Worlds. The banner disappeared from Main Ave, in a post race night time storm in 1990. Its whereabouts was unknown. Several years ago someone discretely gave it to Ned while he was in Europe.
 

Philpug

Notorious P.U.G.
Admin
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Posts
42,624
Location
Reno, eNVy
You know when bike were lighter, rugged, simple and FUN!
You got two of the four, rugged and simple but the new bikes are lighter and more fun.

this did make me think of this image that is floating around...
Screen Shot 2021-07-28 at 8.04.44 AM.png


1982, huh? Thats a beauty. I know I have been keeping my eye out for an old steel Stumpjumper or Trek 990 to make into a "one by" to take to the bike park.
 
Thread Starter
TS
Bill Talbot

Bill Talbot

Vintage Gear Curator
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
3,166
Location
New England
You got two of the four, rugged and simple but the new bikes are lighter and more fun.

this did make me think of this image that is floating around...
View attachment 138734

1982, huh? Thats a beauty. I know I have been keeping my eye out for an old steel Stumpjumper or Trek 990 to make into a "one by" to take to the bike park.

Well fun is subjective but the other three are measurable. And my '18 full suspension 'trail' bike is the heaviest mtb I own. :huh:
It has it's uses but is not near the top of the rotation for me.
 
Last edited:

Philpug

Notorious P.U.G.
Admin
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Posts
42,624
Location
Reno, eNVy
Well fun is subjective but the other three are measurable. And my '19 full suspension 'trail' bike is the heaviest mtb I own. :huh:
It has it's uses but is not near the top of the rotation for me.
Yes a full suspension might be the heaviest you own, but compared to pre2k full suspensions, new bikes are much lighter and soooo much more efficient. Chain suck? when was the last time or even first time that you got chain suck on a modern FS? It is not uncommon to find a mid 20lb modern full suspension where that was a high end front suspension bike last century. And a mid to upper range hard tail front suspension 29'er is much lighter than any pre2K premium optioned bike. $2K buys you so much more bike now than it did in the (way) past.

Don't get me wrong, I love the nostalgia and workmanshop of these older bikes but we talk about having the consumer being the beta testers in ski gear and design, this happened much more in cycling with all of the wacky suspension designs that were thown against the wall and brought to the market.
 

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
Industry Insider
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
7,484
Location
Breckenridge, CO
My first MTB was a Bridgestone MB5. It was a pretty low end (even at the time) rigid ride. I proceeded to bend the fork pretty early on. It never was upgraded to a suspension fork before it was stolen.

1627494140921.png

The only known photo of the MB5. They sadistically put the finish stretch of my first MTB race over the only patch of snow on the course.

The insurance from the theft of the MB5 covered my VooDoo dejab (with generous allowances from the bike shop in its valuation), a titanium bike with a Judy SL fork. 2" of advertised travel. Less in real experience. Really fun as it was a huge step up for me.

voodoo dejab - 20171008_120252.jpg

The VooDoo out on a 'while the other bike is being serviced' ride in 2017. Different fork and bars than the original.

I bought my GT All Terra Tequesta used in the mid '90s as a commuter with studded Hakkapeliittas and added fenders. It was a good reliable ride for a couple years as such. It got called into service about 10 years ago when the rear triangle of my '02 Sugar 2+ broke and I was waiting for warranty service. Gary Fisher replaced the the Alu triangle with a CF one and the bike returned to service and is still in the garage.

Frankenbike 2012-05-20_18-04-19_82.jpg

Frankenbike was a lot of parts from the Sugar 2+ installed on my old commuter.

IMG_20210728_114620_DRO.jpg

The commuter has returned to its original purpose but is now single speed. Much less maintenance but it is geared really low so that I can ride up Wellington Road to get home. I still have to stand on the pedals to make it.
 

martyg

Making fresh tracks
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Posts
2,216
Cool article from The Pros Closet on one of our local athletes, Travis Brown, racing the Olympics on the first FS bike to make an appearance there.

 

johnnyvw

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Posts
1,665
Location
near RDU
I still have an early 90's Giant Boulder ATX. Has the full Suntour X1 group. Seems like Suntour is out of the bicycle components business? I'm actually trying to find a new home for it, as I am downsizing prior to a major relocation.

giant boulder.jpg
 

Rod9301

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Posts
2,443
I hope there's no nostalgia about old mountain bikes. They were dangerous to ride. On my Santa Cruz heckler and not from 2000 or so, i took so many headers that i can't even remember.

I figured out quickly that the head angle was the culprit, and i started modifying them with taller forks.

Not sure why they were designing bikes with 71 or 69 head angles probably from the road bike mentality.

I haven't had a bike with over 66 degrees for 10 years at least.

My current at 64 is great at climbing and descending.

Old mountain bikes are not like old wines.

And not like older cars, which were a lot of fun because they were pretty light.
 

martyg

Making fresh tracks
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Posts
2,216
I hope there's no nostalgia about old mountain bikes. They were dangerous to ride. On my Santa Cruz heckler and not from 2000 or so, i took so many headers that i can't even remember.

I figured out quickly that the head angle was the culprit, and i started modifying them with taller forks.

Not sure why they were designing bikes with 71 or 69 head angles probably from the road bike mentality.

I haven't had a bike with over 66 degrees for 10 years at least.

My current at 64 is great at climbing and descending.

Old mountain bikes are not like old wines.

And not like older cars, which were a lot of fun because they were pretty light.

As Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear and The Grand Tour said, "No one buys a 20 year old cell phone."

Although all of my XC race bikes are around 68 degrees head angle.
 
Thread Starter
TS
Bill Talbot

Bill Talbot

Vintage Gear Curator
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
3,166
Location
New England
I hope there's no nostalgia about old mountain bikes. They were dangerous to ride. On my Santa Cruz heckler and not from 2000 or so, i took so many headers that i can't even remember.

I figured out quickly that the head angle was the culprit, and i started modifying them with taller forks.

Not sure why they were designing bikes with 71 or 69 head angles probably from the road bike mentality.

I haven't had a bike with over 66 degrees for 10 years at least.

My current at 64 is great at climbing and descending.

Old mountain bikes are not like old wines.

And not like older cars, which were a lot of fun because they were pretty light.

Sure is! Don't know what part of the country you're at but for technical single track even 69 degrees is too SLACK. When they went to 71 degree things go so much better. Now I'll agree those same bikes aren't the ticket for bombing down rough terrain at any kind of speed but that's not what I ride.
You're describing DH oriented bikes. Perhaps that's why I find the later 80's and 90's bike so likable still, they work where I ride them. I was talking with a buddy that I rode with back them and his first comment was we never got back to the car without getting bloody! Damn New England rocks, roots and mud for ya!

My Cannondale 'Beast from the east' M800 is still a joy for me ogsmile

IMG_3409.JPG
 
Thread Starter
TS
Bill Talbot

Bill Talbot

Vintage Gear Curator
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
3,166
Location
New England
As Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear and The Grand Tour said, "No one buys a 20 year old cell phone."

Although all of my XC race bikes are around 68 degrees head angle.

I don't use one personally...
 

Jersey Skier

aka RatherPlayThanWork or Gary
Skier
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Posts
1,956
Location
Metuchen, NJ
I've probably owned over 50 bikes in the past 30 years. The only bike I kept for sentimental reasons was my first "decent" mtb. A '91 Fat Chance Yo Eddy. Sentiments aside I have zero interest in ever riding it again over challenging terrain. I see no reason to crash when I can ride a modern geo FS bike.
 

dovski

Waxing my skis and praying for snow
Skier
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Posts
2,866
Location
Seattle
This is making me nostalgic for the Cannondale Super V700 I sold last summer. I bought it used in early 2000, believe it was a 1998 or 1999 model year. This bike was super sweet with everything upgrade to Shimano XTR, front Shock upgraded to Rockshox Indy, and rear shock upgraded to Fox Alps 5R Airshox. At the time I got it it was top of the line. What is amazing is that even 20 years later when I sold it it still rode well.

IMG_0822.JPG
 
Thread Starter
TS
Bill Talbot

Bill Talbot

Vintage Gear Curator
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Posts
3,166
Location
New England
I've probably owned over 50 bikes in the past 30 years. The only bike I kept for sentimental reasons was my first "decent" mtb. A '91 Fat Chance Yo Eddy. Sentiments aside I have zero interest in ever riding it again over challenging terrain. I see no reason to crash when I can ride a modern geo FS bike.

Well I'm glad you held onto it. Just don't know why you don't want to ride it!
I've got a '98 Team Fat Chance 'Yo Eddy'. Chris Chance builds a great bike and is back in buisness out west this time. Selling a Yo 2.0!!!

98 Team Fat Chance.jpg
 
Last edited:

Jersey Skier

aka RatherPlayThanWork or Gary
Skier
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Posts
1,956
Location
Metuchen, NJ
Well I'm glad you held onto it. Just don't know why you doen't want to ride it!
I've got a '98 Team Fat Cance 'Yo Eddy'. Chris Chance builds a great bike and is back in buisness out west this time. Selling a Yo 2.0!!!

View attachment 138766
My Dell PC from '91 was great too. No reason to ever fire that up again either.
 

Sponsor

Staff online

Top