The Bicycle Thread

[tnkayaker]

You'll really notice it if you're riding park-ish stuff.
I was going to put zees on mine but they were backordered for weeks. Ended up with some migura 4 pistons on the front.

 

[Axe55]

You'll really notice it if you're riding park-ish stuff.
I was going to put zees on mine but they were backordered for weeks. Ended up with some migura 4 pistons on the front.

Yea, major overkill for my SC riding but I have them when needed!

 

[jtmosca]

Cool thread.

So it appears that I’m probably stuck in the past and nowhere near as knowledgeable on this topic as most of you on here...

Nevertheless, I’m still a big fan of the 90s era hardtail mountain bike. I’ve tried 29ers and I didn’t like the feel at low speeds when I needed quick response. I’ve tried full suspension but I don’t like them either cause I feel like I’m wasting energy and I’m not making massive drops/jumps. I don’t like new stuff because of the price (i’m cheap) and the fact that the old standby brands, Diamondback, Trek, etc. now don’t represent near the quality they once did. So I find myself scouring Craigslist for the old diamonds in the rough. I’ll clean them up, dial in the settings, and oftentimes swap out the rugged tires for fat smooth road tires (inflated to max capacity). As long as the components aren’t too atrocious I’ll leave them on and work with them. For my Salem Lake / Winston Salem bike trail adventures it’s the perfect combination for me. The smooth tires give me minimal friction on pavement and smooth trails. The hardtails and zero/minimal front suspension makes me feel like no energy is being lost. I’m sure if I hit some more rugged trails I would need to rethink my configuration. Confession: I do get a small sense of satisfaction passing guys on the Salem Lake trail who have spent many thousands on their bike while I’m on 25 yr old bike that cost me $75 on CL. Anyway, here is what’s in my current stable:

93(?) Parkpre Sceptre Comp SE ($75 purchase price and my daily driver). The elastomers(?) in the front suspension were collapsed when I bought it and I could not find replacements anywhere so I ended up rebuilding the forks with rubber stoppers from Lowe’s. I love it cause it gave me the stiffer ride I was looking for anyway. This is the best bike I’ve ever ridden

96 Gary Fisher Kaitai ($50 purchase price) is another one I’ve just put into rotation and I have been digging:

94 Cannondale KillerV 900 ($60 purchase price). This is too small for me and my wife doesn’t like it so i’m saving it for my oldest son when he gets big enough to ride it. I would much rather he ride this then us waste money on the Wal-Mart options.

89(?) Giant Iguana ($35 purchase price). This model has big time sentimental value and was my favorite bike when I lived in Central America and had to ride everyday as my primary form of transportation. The oval sprocket design was amazing for hill climbing. In honor of that one I purchased this one on CL that was completely trashed. I disassembled it down to the frame and repainted it and rebuilt it with spare parts I had collected. I love the old font Giant used for that year. When I repainted it I couldn’t find any stickers to put on it so I had to handpaint it myself.

Hopefully some of this is interesting to someone other than myself.

Cheers!

 

[lumbee1]

Cool thread.

So it appears that I’m probably stuck in the past and nowhere near as knowledgeable on this topic as most of you on here...

Nevertheless, I’m still a big fan of the 90s era hardtail mountain bike. I’ve tried 29ers and I didn’t like the feel at low speeds when I needed quick response. I’ve tried full suspension but I don’t like them either cause I feel like I’m wasting energy and I’m not making massive drops/jumps. I don’t like new stuff because of the price (i’m cheap) and the fact that the old standby brands, Diamondback, Trek, etc. now don’t represent near the quality they once did. So I find myself scouring Craigslist for the old diamonds in the rough. I’ll clean them up, dial in the settings, and oftentimes swap out the rugged tires for fat smooth road tires (inflated to max capacity). As long as the components aren’t too atrocious I’ll leave them on and work with them. For my Salem Lake / Winston Salem bike trail adventures it’s the perfect combination for me. The smooth tires give me minimal friction on pavement and smooth trails. The hardtails and zero/minimal front suspension makes me feel like no energy is being lost. I’m sure if I hit some more rugged trails I would need to rethink my configuration. Confession: I do get a small sense of satisfaction passing guys on the Salem Lake trail who have spent many thousands on their bike while I’m on 25 yr old bike that cost me $75 on CL. Anyway, here is what’s in my current stable:

93(?) Parkpre Sceptre Comp SE ($75 purchase price and my daily driver). The elastomers(?) in the front suspension were collapsed when I bought it and I could not find replacements anywhere so I ended up rebuilding the forks with rubber stoppers from Lowe’s. I love it cause it gave me the stiffer ride I was looking for anyway. This is the best bike I’ve ever ridden
View attachment 1815064 View attachment 1815066
96 Gary Fisher Kaitai ($50 purchase price) is another one I’ve just put into rotation and I have been digging:
View attachment 1815065
94 Cannondale KillerV 900 ($60 purchase price). This is too small for me and my wife doesn’t like it so i’m saving it for my oldest son when he gets big enough to ride it. I would much rather he ride this then us waste money on the Wal-Mart options.
View attachment 1815060
89(?) Giant Iguana ($35 purchase price). This model has big time sentimental value and was my favorite bike when I lived in Central America and had to ride everyday as my primary form of transportation. The oval sprocket design was amazing for hill climbing. In honor of that one I purchased this one on CL that was completely trashed. I disassembled it down to the frame and repainted it and rebuilt it with spare parts I had collected. I love the old font Giant used for that year. When I repainted it I couldn’t find any stickers to put on it so I had to handpaint it myself.
View attachment 1815063
Hopefully some of this is interesting to someone other than myself.

Cheers!

I completely understand your attachment to these bikes. When I ride my bike on singletrack and come up on a group of riders, I get some seriously strange looks. I caught up to a guy on a carbon fiber Santa Cruz full suspension bike. He paid 4 times what my bike cost and while I'm out of shape, I was right behind him the whole way. I do find that the slacker head angle, shorter chainstays, short stems, wide handlebars, and longer top tubes of modern mountain bike design really make a huge difference offroad.

 

[tnkayaker]

I do find that the slacker head angle, shorter chainstays, short stems, wide handlebars, and longer top tubes of modern mountain bike design really make a huge difference offroad.

I still have the first mtb that I purchased while I was a coop in college, Canadale M800. I have it set up as a 96er single speed. After riding modern geo for 6 months I got back on it to do a family ride. Holy s***. How did I ride that? I will ride it again but I have an appreciation for all the skill those old bikes force you to gain if you want to ride them aggressively.

 

[pkniland]

Ended up selling my Stache on Sunday, but sent it off by racing it in the Search for Bigfoot Adventure Race. Its was a team adventure race on the gravel roads at Badin. It was a lot of fun, we ended up winning our class. It only ended up being 25 miles with about 1600 feet of elevation gain. We should get a few groups together for this next year. Pardon the crappy selfie.

 

[JohnVee]

I think we saw some of your competitors out there. Here's Johnny telling them that Daniel will be a good shortcut to the finish line...or offering them some Imodium. I couldn't tell. Was obviously too focused on the smear.

 

[pkniland]

I think we saw some of your competitors out there. Here's Johnny telling them that Daniel will be a good shortcut to the finish line...or offering them some Imodium. I couldn't tell. Was obviously too focused on the smear.

View attachment 1815362

Yep, they were in it. I saw a few 80's out there but couldn't make out faces.

 

[JohnVee]

Oh yeah, we saw a woman competing on a bike that was more road than hybrid even. No suspension, tires just barely beyond slicks. She looked miserable.

 

[pkniland]

There is a new niche type of bike out there called a Gravel Bike. Its a cross between a touring bike, CX bike, and road bike. The usually have a more upright position, slacker head angle, and wide clearance forks. Ive demo'd one and its rough on the rear end. This is my next bike, same concept but a lot more volume in the tires to smooth things out.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Bike looks cool. Racks look heavy though.

There is a new niche type of bike out there called a Gravel Bike. Its a cross between a touring bike, CX bike, and road bike. The usually have a more upright position, slacker head angle, and wide clearance forks. Ive demo'd one and its rough on the rear end. This is my next bike, same concept but a lot more volume in the tires to smooth things out.

View attachment 1815518

 

[pkniland]

Bike looks cool. Racks look heavy though.

Since its a bikepacking rig ts a little burlier build in general, but the racks are tubular aluminum so its not too bad.

 

[uzj100]

Cycling Benefits for Age-Related Disease - Cycling and Healthy Aging

Another reason to ride.

 

[lumbee1]

Bike looks cool. Racks look heavy though.

The tubing looks heavy because it is large diameter thin wall aluminum. If the tubing was steel, the tubing diameter would be much smaller but actually weigh slightly more.

 

[uzj100]

Ended up selling my Stache on Sunday, but sent it off by racing it in the Search for Bigfoot Adventure Race. Its was a team adventure race on the gravel roads at Badin. It was a lot of fun, we ended up winning our class. It only ended up being 25 miles with about 1600 feet of elevation gain. We should get a few groups together for this next year. Pardon the crappy selfie.View attachment 1815313 View attachment 1815311
View attachment 1815308 View attachment 1815309 View attachment 1815310

I would like to jump on that team. We did the 8 hr one in umstead. 37 total miles.

 

[uzj100]

Cool thread.

So it appears that I’m probably stuck in the past and nowhere near as knowledgeable on this topic as most of you on here...

Nevertheless, I’m still a big fan of the 90s era hardtail mountain bike. I’ve tried 29ers and I didn’t like the feel at low speeds when I needed quick response. I’ve tried full suspension but I don’t like them either cause I feel like I’m wasting energy and I’m not making massive drops/jumps. I don’t like new stuff because of the price (i’m cheap) and the fact that the old standby brands, Diamondback, Trek, etc. now don’t represent near the quality they once did. So I find myself scouring Craigslist for the old diamonds in the rough. I’ll clean them up, dial in the settings, and oftentimes swap out the rugged tires for fat smooth road tires (inflated to max capacity). As long as the components aren’t too atrocious I’ll leave them on and work with them. For my Salem Lake / Winston Salem bike trail adventures it’s the perfect combination for me. The smooth tires give me minimal friction on pavement and smooth trails. The hardtails and zero/minimal front suspension makes me feel like no energy is being lost. I’m sure if I hit some more rugged trails I would need to rethink my configuration. Confession: I do get a small sense of satisfaction passing guys on the Salem Lake trail who have spent many thousands on their bike while I’m on 25 yr old bike that cost me $75 on CL. Anyway, here is what’s in my current stable:

93(?) Parkpre Sceptre Comp SE ($75 purchase price and my daily driver). The elastomers(?) in the front suspension were collapsed when I bought it and I could not find replacements anywhere so I ended up rebuilding the forks with rubber stoppers from Lowe’s. I love it cause it gave me the stiffer ride I was looking for anyway. This is the best bike I’ve ever ridden
View attachment 1815064 View attachment 1815066
96 Gary Fisher Kaitai ($50 purchase price) is another one I’ve just put into rotation and I have been digging:
View attachment 1815065
94 Cannondale KillerV 900 ($60 purchase price). This is too small for me and my wife doesn’t like it so i’m saving it for my oldest son when he gets big enough to ride it. I would much rather he ride this then us waste money on the Wal-Mart options.
View attachment 1815060
89(?) Giant Iguana ($35 purchase price). This model has big time sentimental value and was my favorite bike when I lived in Central America and had to ride everyday as my primary form of transportation. The oval sprocket design was amazing for hill climbing. In honor of that one I purchased this one on CL that was completely trashed. I disassembled it down to the frame and repainted it and rebuilt it with spare parts I had collected. I love the old font Giant used for that year. When I repainted it I couldn’t find any stickers to put on it so I had to handpaint it myself.
View attachment 1815063
Hopefully some of this is interesting to someone other than myself.

Cheers!

You should try specialized epic 29er. 4 inches of travel, rear locks out so no wasted effort and bat chit fast. Feels like riding a motorcycle in the woods. Just like snowboarding, faster is better on 29ers to get in the flow. Found on Craig’s for cheap.

I started in 1988 on trek 800 and the new technology makes a big difference. Plus my older bones like full suspension. Ride all day and joints are not sore.

We should all go ride sometime.

Also up for bike team endurance races.

 

[pkniland]

Anybody going to Expo that wants to organize a couple rides? Current plan is Dupont on Saturday and Pisgah on Sunday?

 

[uzj100]

Anybody going to Expo that wants to organize a couple rides? Current plan is Dupont on Saturday and Pisgah on Sunday?

I will be there working. I will bring my bike just in case. :<)

 

[tnkayaker]

I won't be attending but live in Asheville so might be able to make a ride on Sunday morning. I'll post up when I have more info

 

[pkniland]

I won't be attending but live in Asheville so might be able to make a ride on Sunday morning. I'll post up when I have more info

Sounds good, I was thinking either Trace Ridge or Black Mountain