Oldies but goodies?

[biggs682]

i am a very proud original owner of a 92 Marin Bear Valley it gets regular use as my commuter hack bike , its never been off road other than gravel paths , i have always enjoyed it and still do .

Also look at this post Giant Terrago atb to a great Giant i passed on to my brother in law

 

[ChrisEyles]

Let's have a pic of the Bear Valley @biggs682!

I like the Giant a lot - other than the stem and bars it looks like it could be a road bike from the same era. Looks like it would make a great commuter with slicks, or a great fun lively off-roader.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

You have seen the 1990 Saracen. What else lurks in this quite full house? I still need to take pictures of:

1. 1987/8 Saracen Kili Flier. The fillet brazed one!
2. 1991 (ish) Bontrager Ti Lite.
3. Early 90s steel Rock Lobster with Mag 21 forks.
4. Dawes The Edge in frame form.
5. Again as a frame and forks, an unused and never built Steve Potts Cross Country Racer.

A couple of quite rare ones there. Trouble is, a couple are up in the loft. I'll need to get them down to take decent pictures.

 

[biggs682]

Let's have a pic of the Bear Valley @biggs682!

I like the Giant a lot - other than the stem and bars it looks like it could be a road bike from the same era. Looks like it would make a great commuter with slicks, or a great fun lively off-roader.

here you go these were taken last year so no changes since @ChrisEyles , its a great bike that i doubt very much will ever get sold

The Giant was used for a couple of weeks as my commuter and i also did a couple of 10 mile rides on it before it went to brother in law for his approval

 

[ChrisEyles]

here you go these were taken last year so no changes since @ChrisEyles , its a great bike that i doubt very much will ever get sold

Looks really nice! I like the horn on the handlebars too I'm tempted to get some slicks for my rigid Marin and see how it fares on the road some time...

 

[biggs682]

Looks really nice! I like the horn on the handlebars too I'm tempted to get some slicks for my rigid Marin and see how it fares on the road some time...

The horn comes in very useful when fighting my way through and past all the other cycle path users.

Slicks make a good difference and well worth doing thinking about it the tyres have been changed since those pictures were taken Schwalbe Marathon Woe's

 

[biggs682]

Might get the chance of an 80's Peugeot Laser 15 , it's totally original and the seller is claiming its never been used abd looking at the one picture i have seen and it does look very clean and tidy

 

[Nigeyy]

This really all started about August (see my original post) when I put in about 80 quids worth of parts into this 20 year old Mongoose Rockadile SX bike. OK, I think I am at the end of the road. I splurged on a Manitou M30 fork* (a similar but slightly heavier version of the R7) as well as increasing the front disc to 180mm.

At this time, short of hydraulic brakes (ain't going to happen) I don 't think there are any more upgrades coming. If I want to get better stuff, I think a new bike is the way to go. Straight 1 1/8 headtubes will really limit any fork upgrades to not make it worth it, let alone if I ever want to fit fatter tyres or want to move to bigger wheel sizes.

With some honest introspection I realized that I've spent too much money on a 20 year old frame -and really it would have been a better plan to have gone for a new bike. But you know what? I don't regret it, not one bit. For a backup to my fs, I'm really really very happy with this. Yeah, spent too much but at least ended up with a ht with decent brakes (I had old Avid bb7s that needed using) and a decent fork for the riding I do. And all said and done, I think I'd still needed to have spent more than my upgrade costs to get an equivalent used (though admittedly much more modern bike) bike with similar brakes and fork. I've ridden it, and I'm pretty impressed.

For full disclosure of my financial foolishness (including costs from August and including all shipping costs), here goes:

1. disc hubsets $45
2. spokes $25
3. handlebar $15
4. stem $15
5. A2Z rear disc adaptor $35
6. new discs $20
7. Manitou M30 fork* $200
8. yet another stem $15
9. disc adapter for bigger disc $10

for a grand total of.. $380 (310 quid)

*to be fair, to completely fund my new fork, I sold quite a few bike parts and tools I no longer used, as well as an antique razor. But still, money I could have put towards another bike I suppose!

 

[MarquisMatsugae]

This really all started about August (see my original post) when I put in about 80 quids worth of parts into this 20 year old Mongoose Rockadile SX bike. OK, I think I am at the end of the road. I splurged on a Manitou M30 fork* (a similar but slightly heavier version of the R7) as well as increasing the front disc to 180mm.

At this time, short of hydraulic brakes (ain't going to happen) I don 't think there are any more upgrades coming. If I want to get better stuff, I think a new bike is the way to go. Straight 1 1/8 headtubes will really limit any fork upgrades to not make it worth it, let alone if I ever want to fit fatter tyres or want to move to bigger wheel sizes.

With some honest introspection I realized that I've spent too much money on a 20 year old frame -and really it would have been a better plan to have gone for a new bike. But you know what? I don't regret it, not one bit. For a backup to my fs, I'm really really very happy with this. Yeah, spent too much but at least ended up with a ht with decent brakes (I had old Avid bb7s that needed using) and a decent fork for the riding I do. And all said and done, I think I'd still needed to have spent more than my upgrade costs to get an equivalent used (though admittedly much more modern bike) bike with similar brakes and fork. I've ridden it, and I'm pretty impressed.

For full disclosure of my financial foolishness (including costs from August and including all shipping costs), here goes:

1. disc hubsets $45
2. spokes $25
3. handlebar $15
4. stem $15
5. A2Z rear disc adaptor $35
6. new discs $20
7. Manitou M30 fork* $200
8. yet another stem $15
9. disc adapter for bigger disc $10

for a grand total of.. $380 (310 quid)

*to be fair, to completely fund my new fork, I sold quite a few bike parts and tools I no longer used, as well as an antique razor. But still, money I could have put towards another bike I suppose!

Judging by the picture,you have done a good job
It looks trail worthy as it stands.
As with all things,bikes move on and I succumbed to the slacker angled,longer travel HT's.
Basically to tackle today's MTB trails,which have become more challenging.

 

[Crackle]

Here's my old Bear Valley, bought in 1997. Now retired from mtb'ing but living on as a very versatile and stable tourer. I replaced the slammed stem a few years back, added a proper top cap, rather than the odd affair it had and changed the the brakes for some Deore ones as the originals were so faffy to adjust.

 

[biggs682]

picked up this last week at local auction house GT Outpost

looking forward to getting it mobile again

@Crackle loving your Bear Valley

 

[greekonabike]

I saw an old Rockadile on ebay when I was working in Wales, I remember it being in decent nick and pretty cheap but I didn't have room for it when I moved back down so I left it. Seeing this kinda makes me wish I'd strapped it to the roof or something.

GOAB

 

[NeilM]

A bit late to the party, but as I am an enthusiastic rider of ... erm 'older' mtb's, here are a couple of mine.

My 1994 GT Zaskar LE. Built up by me from a brand new frame and still in occasional use. I am planning an update however, as the Hope hubs are pretty delicate and the parts are no longer available for the Marzocchi XC700 forks. This will allow me to ride it a lot more, as it still is a very rideable bike.

My Roberts 1992 DOGS BOLX. Rescued as a damaged frame a couple of years ago and built up using SRAM 2 x 10 running gear, Cane Creek V brakes, Hope hubs with Mavic XC717 rims. I've done HONC and Mountain Mayhem on it twice, plus a 60k offroad sportive called MADORC and countless offroad miles.

I have ummm, one or two more.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Ah, @NeilM I thought I recognised the avatar. There are a few of us here still bashing around and indeed, being bashed around, on old metal.

 

[AyJay]

I had a 1989 Muddy Fox Courier Comp up until the middle of last year. Now looking for something from the same era to replace it.