My stable includes a 92 Trek 950 which I've owned since 94, a 94 model which I bought as a frameset when I got the shop, a pair of DynaTechs, a Marin Bear Valley and at least a couple of other frames languishing in the cellar.
Oh! And a purple Saracen Powertrax (which IIRC came originally from Tiermat) and was recently donated back by Polar Bear.
No pics I'm afraid, blame photobucket, rapacious thieving gits . . .
The sloping top tube is Kona's fault, since they popularised it (then Giant adopted it for the road). Kona admit it was a very old idea...
Strictly speaking, the sloping top tube is Joe Murray's fault. He worked for Marin before setting up Kona; you see a less radical approach on the late 1980s/early 1990s frames, so Murray certainly popularised it. But Charlie Cunningham (Jacquie Phelan's hubby) was also in Marin County and was building sloping top tube frames much earlier, so it's not unlikely that the early designers fed off each other.
My first full-size bike, and first bike that wasn't a gas piper, was a GT Timberline in 1998, when they were still rigid. That bike opened up the cliched world of possibilities, riding out of my door and escaping life through the woods. That bike has a lot to answer for.
Also, nobody ever try to sell me a Timberline frame. Please, please don't tempt me.
Of the steel bikes back in the day, I wanted an Orange Clockwork, but I lusted after a Rock Lobster (with the wishbone seatstay). Now they are built under license by Merlin. :(
There were only 2 alloy bikes I wanted - a Klein Attitude or a Pace RC200.
I've had a rush of blood to the head and picked up a mid-90s 'fully rigid' Saracen Powertrax in good nick - still with what looks like the original tyres (amber wall Ritchey Z-Max as per '95 catalogue). Frame is a 'Made in England', Tange Chromoly double butted, and whole bike weighs about 12kg. atm it will be for around town/Ridgeway etc.
Nice, I like the front rack.
Nice, I like the front rack.
Thanks, I bodged a rear rack to fit.
I've had a rush of blood to the head and picked up a mid-90s 'fully rigid' Saracen Powertrax in good nick - still with what looks like the original tyres (amber wall Ritchey Z-Max as per '95 catalogue). Frame is a 'Made in England', Tange Chromoly double butted, and whole bike weighs about 12kg. atm it will be for around town/Ridgeway etc.
I'm still riding my 1997/8 Saracen Backtrax in Kermit Green. It's had 2 new BBs a new crankset, chain and cassette, brakes and cables. Still on the original front and rear derailleurs and shifters. I span the wheels today whilst putting the Marathon Racers back on it - they are still smooth as silk. I now use this as my run-about with a rack on the back, and have been up to 50km on it at a decent enough pace.
Since that I bought and then resold a Be-One 29'er with front suspension. Sold it again because it didn't ride anywhere as nicely as the Saracen, even with the boingy front end - or perhaps because of.
I am toying with the idea of converting it to drop bars, but that would also need new quill stem adapter, stem, brifters etc, so I'm not thinking about it too hard. A 9 or ten speed conversion might be more useful overall.
My perfect mtb was a 1998 Marin Pine Mountain, closely followed by a Mount Vision Pro of the same vintage. If I ever found a Pine Mountain in 19.5",i think I might be tempted to see my first born.
I only found it recently, but I wonder if anyone can spot (may need the larger image) the slight 'frame building' mistake on my Saracen...
Nothing serious, but a bit irritating.
I only found it recently, but I wonder if anyone can spot (may need the larger image) the slight 'frame building' mistake on my Saracen...
Nothing serious, but a bit irritating.
A couple of idiosyncrasies might qualify.
There was a fashion for putting the seatpost binder bolt in front of the seat tube. Apparently to minimise water/ dirt getting into the seat tube but there was a greater incidence of fatigue cracking as a result. My fat thighs tend to annoyingly rub against such QRs.
Extending the top tube past the seat tube is just a styling exercise but it worked for GT.
Putting the rear gear cable along the top of the seat stay guaranteed it would collect water and muck but was much more common than routing it underneath the seat stay.
The seat tube bidon bolts should be a shade lower to avoid clashing with the front mech clamp, particularly if the biggest chainring size alters.
My 1994 MBK frame reborn in 2011 as a tourer, mostly as a proof of principle on the way to building an LHT.
(https://pbase.com/johnewing/image/139626062.jpg)
In the end I didn't much like either: they knocked about 3 kph off my average speed.
Yes. The front mech band is inbetween the bidon bolt threads, as the lower thread is too low. The band is currently sat right next to the thread, so can't be lowered, and in fact the front mech is 3-4mm above the largest chain ring...
My 1994 MBK frame reborn in 2011 as a tourer, mostly as a proof of principle on the way to building an LHT.
(https://pbase.com/johnewing/image/139626062.jpg)
In the end I didn't much like either: they knocked about 3 kph off my average speed.
I'd have thought that modern wide, easy-rolling tyres would reclaim a lot of that lost speed but retain the comfort on rough roads. That top tube and stem combination looks somewhat longer than I recall your road bike having.
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.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.
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 ;)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200825/7412b618af2c2b118b4e778ba8000af5.jpg)[/b]
My 80s all terrain bike, recently out of retirement. Awaiting a rear brake. The chainset is temporary.
The chainset is a double I had knocking around. I will see if I can get a triple.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200825/7412b618af2c2b118b4e778ba8000af5.jpg)[/b]
My 80s all terrain bike, recently out of retirement. Awaiting a rear brake. The chainset is temporary.
You normally kick along then? Chapeau!!
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 ;)
As for Carbon FibreWhat's that supposed to show? Is that a 1990s car? Or what? ???
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.
Woops sorry context missing:As for Carbon FibreWhat's that supposed to show? Is that a 1990s car? Or what? ???
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.
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.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.
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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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...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"!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50862842353_117e216d9f.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kuzmZP)PXL_SRCN2 (https://flic.kr/p/2kuzmZP) by a oxon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
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 :-)