Author Topic: In praise of early 90s MTBs  (Read 32971 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #50 on: 25 August, 2020, 06:26:40 pm »
A 1990 Kona Cinder Cone frameset won't wear out (in normal use).  Anything with suspension will, and you won't be able to get parts 30 years later.

Same goes for carbon stuff.  No-one will be collecting *and riding* it decades later, because it won't be safe, the integrated headset will have ruined the head tube or the PF30 bottom bracket will creak like a vampire's coffin lid  ;)
But presumably you'll be able to replace a worn out suspension fork with a new fork of compatible length, which will probably work better anyway. Rear suspension might be a problem. And press fit bottom brackets are an abhorrence, but I'm sure I read of some way of cutting threads in them, or maybe it was some sort of insert; probably not possible in a carbon frame though.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #51 on: 31 August, 2020, 07:37:17 pm »

My 80s all terrain bike, recently out of retirement. Awaiting a rear brake. The chainset is temporary.
[/b]

You normally kick along then? Chapeau!!

Davef

Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #52 on: 31 August, 2020, 09:30:20 pm »

My 80s all terrain bike, recently out of retirement. Awaiting a rear brake. The chainset is temporary.
[/b]

You normally kick along then? Chapeau!!
The chainset is a double I had knocking around.  I will see if I can get a triple.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #53 on: 31 August, 2020, 09:41:59 pm »
A 1990 Kona Cinder Cone frameset won't wear out (in normal use).  Anything with suspension will, and you won't be able to get parts 30 years later.

Same goes for carbon stuff.  No-one will be collecting *and riding* it decades later, because it won't be safe, the integrated headset will have ruined the head tube or the PF30 bottom bracket will creak like a vampire's coffin lid  ;)

The wear in a suspension frame should be in the bushings/bearings that form the rotating part of the linkage and the shock.
If anything else is wearing out there's a bigger problem with the design.

As for Carbon Fibre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbBjz6mXKjM

Whether would have performed the same had he shunted it like John Watson did at Monza is another question.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #54 on: 31 August, 2020, 11:24:57 pm »
As for Carbon Fibre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbBjz6mXKjM

Whether would have performed the same had he shunted it like John Watson did at Monza is another question.
What's that supposed to show? Is that a 1990s car? Or what?  ???
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #55 on: 01 September, 2020, 12:02:50 am »
As for Carbon Fibre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbBjz6mXKjM

Whether would have performed the same had he shunted it like John Watson did at Monza is another question.
What's that supposed to show? Is that a 1990s car? Or what?  ???
Woops sorry context missing:
Worlds first fully carbon fibre monocoque  F1 car design from 1981 still being raced in 2019.

Would have been baked anytime between 1981 and 1983.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_MP4/1



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FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #56 on: 01 September, 2020, 12:06:23 am »
Just checked, that "car" won the US gp at detroit in 1982

Realistically it's only the tub (the monocoque) that will be original but that's the equivalent of a bike frame...

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Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #57 on: 01 September, 2020, 12:15:49 am »
Ah, now it makes sense! :thumbsup:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #58 on: 01 September, 2020, 12:20:00 am »
I also checked the Hull life of the carbon fibre Boeing 787, at 44k cycles its longer than a 747 at 35k but that was less interesting.

Supposedly what kills carbon fibre over time is sunlight or at least the UV in it, F1 cars and carbon bikes don't tend to stay out in the sun for most of their life.

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Davef

Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #59 on: 01 September, 2020, 07:29:14 am »
I also checked the Hull life of the carbon fibre Boeing 787, at 44k cycles its longer than a 747 at 35k but that was less interesting.

Supposedly what kills carbon fibre over time is sunlight or at least the UV in it, F1 cars and carbon bikes don't tend to stay out in the sun for most of their life.

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Well I would never buy a second hand carbon fibre jumbo jet  unless I was absolutely confident it hadn’t been crashed and repaired badly.

Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #60 on: 22 January, 2021, 05:03:37 pm »
Saracen now in enhanced utility mode, thanks to rack.  Better (at least) shopping capacity.  New lease of life  for the Tika panniers from early 90s... 

PXL_SRCN2 by a oxon, on Flickr
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #61 on: 27 April, 2021, 10:20:02 am »
Saracens were good bikes then.  They went through a downmarket phase IIRC but are now owned by Madison.  Thankfully, they didn't suffer the same fate as Muddy Fox - reduced to a sticker on Mike Ashley's BSOs.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #62 on: 27 April, 2021, 10:28:15 am »
Saracen now in enhanced utility mode, thanks to rack.  Better (at least) shopping capacity.  New lease of life  for the Tika panniers from early 90s... 

PXL_SRCN2 by a oxon, on Flickr
Sensible urban transport. Big tyres for the potholes, load lugging capacity, decent brakes(?), and most of all, looks not too nickable and like "ordinary bloke going to work/shops/pub/etc" rather than "a bloody cyclist"!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #63 on: 27 April, 2021, 01:15:51 pm »
I found a Saracen in a skip in the early 90's (no idea of date of origin). Had the geometry of what would now be called a hybrid.  I was my commuter for several years and actually the first bike I started long rides on.  In 2006 I used it for a London-Aberdeen 5-dayer. My luggage was a rucksack bungeed onto the rear rack.  I later discovered I'd threaded the chain the wrong way through the rear mech and it was grinding against one of the guides the whole way - I had wondered what that noise was  ::-)

I loved that bike. It was a good bike. It was yellow  ;D

Returned from whence it came (a skip )in 2008, with some sadness, but by that time I was hooked and treated myself to a Van Nic (still in use).  No room in the flat for sentimentality.
The sound of one pannier flapping

Re: In praise of early 90s MTBs
« Reply #64 on: 25 June, 2021, 12:34:22 am »
I was the happy owner of a 96 vintage Stumpjumper until a recent house move caused me to pass it onto the daughter's boyfriend (of 5 years). He loves it. She loves it when she can get ride it, and wants one just like it, and the same goes for the other millennials in the household. I wish I still had room for it, it was a great all-round ride. Still is, by all accounts  :)
The Stumpjumper lives. The boyfriend is gone and the daughter - very cannily - insisted that she keep the bike. She rode it on a short tour of North Kent last week :-)

She stopped off en route and I tweaked a few things for her: I must say, there was a twinkle in my eye as I worked on it :-)