General Category > MTB

In praise of early 90s MTBs

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rogerzilla:
Steel, rigid, elegant.  I'm building up a 1992 Kona Kilauea but, for obscure reasons, have also acquired a cheap and complete Kona Fire Mountain (almost the same geometry but heavier) and it's a revelation.  I found my 2013 Kona Cinder Cone very disappointing to ride - it was fairly light but very stodgy to ride, and the fork lockout didn't really do much when riding on the road.  Probably OK for chucking down a rocky slope but not much good for anything else.  The Fire Mountain looks better and you can actually ride out of the saddle without it pogoing.  And you don't have to bleed the sodding brakes every six months when the fluid swells up and the rear brake starts to drag.

I think MTB design reached a kind of apogee around 1992/93, just before they all went fat-tubed and bouncy.  V-brakes were slightly later, I think, and are much easier to set up than cantilevers* so I'll maybe extend that timeline a little.  It no doubt sells bikes but makes them ugly and horrible for general use.  This may be why an early 90s MTB in decent condition sells for as much as a nearly new one on the Bay of Thieves.  They don't make them like that any more, there's nothing expensive to wear out like suspension, and a 25 year old steel frame is usually a good bet - a well-used aluminium one less so.

*there are two theories for the introduction of V-brakes; one is that they don't need cable stops so are easy to fit to a suspension frame but the other is a product liability one; a conventional cantilever setup (straddle cable and yoke) on a bike without mudguards can throw you over the bars if the cable from the front brake lever snaps, as the straddle catches the knobbly tyre.  Mind you, I've never broken a brake cable.

Morat:
I still miss my Cannondales of that era even though one of them dumped me unceremoniously with a snapped stem after less than a year of use.

rogerzilla:
I had a Cannondale M1000 and always regretted it...it was a good enough bike but I wished I'd bought a Kona Kilauea instead.  They were the same price in the Evans sale but the Kona had Suntour XC Comp kit and the Cannondale had Deore DX...it was obvious in 1993 that Suntour was finished because Shimano shifted better.  The Kilauea with DX would have been perfect but it was sold out everywhere.

toontra:
I love the Orange Clockworks of that period (I've had 4).  They make for the perfect all-round workhorse with mounts for guards and rack.  The one I'm using at the moment has been on many foreign trips and is my daily commuter.  I run them with bullhorn bars but they could be equally converted for drop-bar use.  Absolutely bulletproof.

From bitter experience I now make sure they are liberally internally waterproofed - the bottom bracket shell and chainstays are prone to rusting from the inside out.

As you say, shortly thereafter in the mid-90's the geometry of MTB's goes to pot with steeply sloping top tubes and raised head tubes.

Morat:
To be honest, I always hankered after a Kona but my LBS didn't stock them. Back then everyone wanted an Explosif like the pros or dreamed of one day being a millionaire and owning a Hei Hei.

I've scratched that itch now with a Roadhouse and a Jake the Snake. They've been worth the wait!

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