RFC

Lately, I have developed an interest in vintage mountain bikes. Part of it is that I am C&V road bike saturated (I have all that I need or want), part of it is that I am looking for a new mod/wrenching outlet, and part of it is that vintage MTB's are rapidly gaining some traction. Your thoughts, are we seeing a spike in C&V MTB's, particularly at the higher end, Fishers, Ritcheys, Specialized, etc?

Really, in a way, this trend is very similar to Muscle Cars and age groups -- what was hot when you were 20?

BTW, let me add that, in an effort to find training variety, I am doing more MUPs and trails, which favor bigger tires.

LesterOfPuppets

Spike in old MTB demand hasn't hit here yet. Maybe a bit of money can be gotten for pre-1984 Stumpjumpers, any Ritcheys, any Bridgestones.

Recent crazy low prices for nice MTBs include GT Karakoram in pristine condition for $50. Really nice Rocky Mountain with all XT for $85 (had a crappy aftermarket fork, but primo besides that>)

My thoughts? I better make space in the spare room for more sweet rigid MTBs.

RFC

I think it is more national (including Canada) than local. Now that's fun. I've got two 88 Fisher Procalibers and want an 88 Stumpjumper in the cool colors.

realestvin7

Me, too. I'm about to tear in to a Scott MTB.

LesterOfPuppets

I'm more of a mid-90s midrange guy myself I guess. Midrange bikes had got down to 25 lbs by then, steel frames were cheap and decent rigid rigs were still somewhat available.

I almost got a Scott at the Salvation Army a couple of weeks ago. Figured I'd wait for half price day but it was gone by then.

I almost shelled out the full $35 for the rough and rusty machine though, just so I could have the AT-3 bars.

LesterOfPuppets

Almost forgot that I do have a possible late 80s (possible early 90s) winter project.

Elev12k

With me it went the other way round. 1st had the mountainbike hobby and when I were saturated and market went upward I bought myself a Koga-Miyata FullPro-L and found out roadbikes are cool too.

When I were young I were fan of early downhill monsters like the Miyata Elevation 12,000 and the Yeti ARC AS LT. Later I discovered space age materials and suspension are not my thing in daily use. Current riders are bikes like '89 Koga TerraRunner, 80's Champion Mondial ATB, '95 WTB Phoenix SE. All proper steel.

If you're looking for a bike for on the trails with a frame that allows fat tires, a Fat Chance Yo-Eddy! could be for you. The Yo was designed to allow use of 2.5" tires. It has assymetrical stays, so the driveside curves neatly round tires and rings. No ridiculous q-factor. Take into account it has a racy cockpit however. The Yo had a slightly less expensive brother: the Buck Shaver. Same design, but with monostay and slightly smaller diameter tubing. A little more comfortable according many in particular lighter riders.

The Grove Innovations Hard Core is an interesting neatly built bike especially for the trails. It is a bit radical: very high bracket, not so compliant.

randyjawa 

Funny this thread should appear. I have, in the past year, come to realize that I too have an interest in vintage mountain bicycles. I have picked up a few, in the past few months. I intend to start putting them on the road and riding them. If I like what I am doing, I will set up a vintage mountain bicycle section for MY "TEN SPEEDS".

At the moment, I have a very old Nishiki, a Rocky Mountain Hammer, a Specialized Rock Hopper, a Raleigh Technium, a Trek 820 and a Peugeot Explorer. Just yesterday, the Dump coughed up a very clean old Specialized Crossroads...

frantik

I like them but here they are not popular here.

IMO high quality vintage mountain bikes are one of the best values. Mine gets ridden a lot more than my road bike

clubman 

Me too. I've currently got an early '83 Norco Bigfoot on the stand that's going to be my winter commuter. It's the first mountain bike I ever lusted for.
Then a beat '87 Fisher Montare that needs everything from the ground up. Pics soon.

wrk101

I like them just fine, but I can't make any money on them here. They compete with the low end Walmart crap, as the only people buying them are the recreational riding crowd, looking for a cheap bike.

mparker326

I'm into it as well. My first bike I bought after college was a 1994 GT Karakorum. I've been moonlighting some in the VRC forum on MTBR. To get a good priced vintage MTB, you pretty much have to find a mass produced bike that flies under the radar of the serious collectors.

I've since acquired a couple cool older MTB's in great shape for under $200. I like the early to mid 80's models because they still made 23 inch frames. I'm 6"5' and need the extra inch of frame that isn't offered in the newer MTB's.

1985 Raleigh Crested Butte Mountain Tour
1986 Schwinn Cimarron
1985 Fisher Montare
1986 Schwinn High Sierra

Chris_in_Miami

mparker326 - how would you compare the Cimarron and the High Sierra? I've always wanted both of those since I first looked at them in the showroom in my youth.

20grit

I like my early 90's Specialized Stumpjumper Comp. That said, for serious mountain riding, it just can't hang compared to my newer bike. I have continued to upgrade/overhaul the stumpy. It's soon going to be my farm bike. It has its place and I like riding it. It's just not going on serious trails anymore.

scozim 

I haven'y fully moved into the mtb world but will say mine get ridden several times a week. And, I've sort of focused on the early to mid-90's as well. Although I do really like riding my Trek Antelope tank converted to drop bars.

The market it pretty tough from a selling perspective, good if you're a buyer. I've got a too short Scott Sawtooth frame and wheelset (mid-fork braze ons, long chainstays for commuting) that I haven't been able to unload - even real cheap so it will just sit in the shed for now.

due ruote 

I think they're great bargains; good if you're on the receiving end and bad if you're the seller. I love my '88 Stumpjumper and did 40+ miles on it the other day on the road. I can't really imagine doing serious trail riding on it, though.

RFC

I agree that more modern MTBs with front shock forks are much better than rigid fork models on anything other than relatively smooth trails. I started riding MTBs in about 1990 and spent plenty of time on nasty, rocky singletrack. Those rigid forks will bounce you all over the place.

20grit

My roommate/coworker rides a rigid 29er. I'm riding a hardtail 29er and at times feel like I'm being beaten to death on some things we ride. I still don't know how he does it. I used to ride rigid before I quit riding years ago. I didn't do much in the way of rocky riding back then. Most of the time if I was in heavy rocks, it was on a climb. I don't think I'll be going back to fully rigid.

mparker326

I'm going to do a car comparison.

Caprice Classic = High Sierra
Cadillac = Cimarron

I love my High Sierra, but the Cimarron is just a nicer, lighter, higher grade components, and better made bike.

If you come across a Cimarron, snap it up. I found mine on the Atlanta craigslist & had a friend pick it up for me until I could come get it.

Roger M

Back when I was about 30, this is what appealed to me. It's on the boarder of being vintage(1994). I bought it new, when I had 'more dollars than sense'. I'll never let this one go, my kids, and hopefully their kids will get to enjoy this. Back in the day, this was high tech suspension. Horst Leitner designed this suspension.



FWIW, Specialized are not high end mountain bikes, no more than Bridgestones, or this Ross. They are good bike, that people can relate to. Some of them are worth money due to nostalgia/history. High end in old MTBs would be Yeti, Fat Chance, Klein, etc.. (but then again RFC, I like my apple butter)

I picked up this Ross bike (minus wheels) for $50. It is as good as an old 80s Stumpjumper, but less recognized. It's heavy and big, but makes for a great commuter,forest service road, and snow bike.



The MB1 is a great bike and has an excellent feel about it, but I dont get the 'magic' behind these. I think the folks that rode these back in the day, smoked too much doo doo weed.

$60



Sort of off topic, but here is a bike that was in the free CL section. It's just an old Hardrock, but will serve my daughter nicely for a couple of years(after I fix it up for her).

My daughters friends for the most part are riding dept store Schwinn MTBs. Their folks are spending upwards of $150 a pop for these bike. I know the kids like em because they are new and shiny, but they are just throw away bikes. The parts are very low end, and wont last.

I'm thankful that my kids don't ask for new bikes. They know that I can put together something that they will have fun on.

Free

icemonkey

Hi. I just was thinking about this thread as my main mountain bike is a 1997 Kona Lava Dome which I ride and race a obsessivly in the Rockies. I dont see vintage bikes becoming as big a force as vintage road bikes if only because they are tough to ride in their intended world. Road bikes are sorted and have been for a long time, you can jump on a quality 50's 60's 70's 80's 90's bike and if your lungs and legs can handle it ride with the best of them. Mountain bike design was embryonic - still is really - and that means riding an 80's or even early 90's MTB can be really hard work. Often the bikes are excessivly heavy or twitchy or slow. I love my Kona, but has new shocks, modern brakes and a new(ish) xt group and it beats me up.

RFC

All excellent points. I agree re the difference between vintage and modern MTB performance, and I've ridden bad trail on both. However, the rigid MTBs do make good city, trail, path bikes, and even touring bikes.

753proguy

How about a Santana Moda...?

RJM

I put one of those forks on a 1995 stumpjumper back in the day. I loved it, rode like a fixed fork on flat trails but took a bit off the bumps when they came along. Modern day suspension is better functionally, allows you to take on heavier duty stuff, but those older bikes still did fine on the trails.

guzziee

Here's a pair: