Bushman

LOVE those tires, have yet to find anything that works as well for snow or mud.

mishmashmusic

Here's my GT Timberline that I bought new in 1996...

Pompiere

I have an '86 Sierra in Black Chrome, it looks like chrome that has darkened , kind of like tarnished silver.

kramnnim

Very confusing... Brown didn't seem to be an option...but mine doesn't look anything like tarnished silver...

Do you have any pics of yours? Mine had very few original parts when I got it, it would be interesting to see what it used to look like.

alicestrong

Here's a great example of black chrome...

https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=2144604

Pompiere

It's not the best picture, but everything is pretty much the way I bought it in 1986. You can't see the stem in the photo, but the it is like a "Y" with a separate handlebar.

soreyes

I have the sierra in red with black accents, but since I have an eye out for other sierra's I have seen a few of the black chrome around seattle. In fact, two different ones in the same parking garage that I use. One of them is in fine shape, the other pretty battered.

It is true, as the black chrome fades it does appear to be brown. Even when its in great shape i suppose that one would say it's brownish. My stem has this same sort of faded black chrome now brown chrome appearance.

On a separate sierra color note, one I don't see too often is the red with white accents. That is one 80's looking oddity. White grips, cable, hubs, seat, rims!

I remember that during that period and a little earlier, schwinn also offered predators in the 'colored' chrome style. A friend of mine had a red chromed predator and his brother had a blue one.

soreyes

That stem is like a clamp on bullhorn. I believe it is also seen on the High Sierra. Maybe they changed from that stem to the black chrome with front brake pass through in 87.

My stem is showing some hairline stress lines at the tp part of the bar clamp. I am probably going to have to set it aside soon since I am using the bike heavily for commuting.

kramnnim

Thanks, guys! I wish I had the original parts...it's a complete mess now, with a conglomeration of parts thrown together...mostly from 1992-1999...

Here's a picture I took of my fork... I spraypainted the bike around 8 years ago, (it was just an old bike then, not vintage...lol) so there isn't much of the original paint left... The paint wouldn't fade inside the head tube, though, would it? (The pic is of the steerer tube)

On a completely different subject, here's a Alfrex/Miyata that I bought and cleaned up a few days ago-



It's a 1990 RidgeRunner, hardly ever ridden. It has Farmer John's Cousin tires...

(Thread about it here- https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=323687)

alicestrong

Here's that 87 Schwinn Sierra that I found awhile back. The chrome will probably never be great but I like the ride...

RB1-luvr

^^ alicestrong, cool ride. like the gangsta look

RB1-luvr

here's my Supergo Access Comp, 1989. Columbus tubing. just put v-brakes on it last night. can't wait to try 'em out Friday afternoon. not much original left 'cept the seatpost, headset and chopped down bars. it's on it's third gruppo. and yes, that's a Bernard Hinault Turbo saddle ;-)



also found the original ad from Bikeology in my files. sorry for the pic of it, i don't have a scanner.



and here's my friend Sam's old Fuji. love the new tires.

retrobikeguy

Ok, trimble inverse 4 finished for now, few changes to happen yet but its built and rideable now

Certainly noticeable, bit of a mix of old and not so old but I really wanted to be able to ride this with comfort and reliability.





also upgraded the black kestrel - tange switchblades hung up and now its fitted with some RS-1 forks

Lamplight

Kooka cranks! RS-1! I think I just had a wonderful flashback.

retrobikeguy

bit more

Lamplight

Man, I wanted some Kooka cranks so badly back then. The only ones I wanted more were Topline cranks, but looking back now those things look dangerously slim so maybe it's best I was never able to buy them.

luker

I think that maybe I need more color in my life...Toplines have a bad reputation for breaking, but I have two sets that have made it fifteen years under my fat butt, so it is not all deserved...

dookie

see https://www.retrobike.co.uk for lots more.

my (silver-brazed in japan) paramount:

Lamplight

I found this pair yesterday for cheap. They're nothing special but they're all original and ride like new. Plus they're all chromoly and have braze-ons for everything imaginable. Remember when mountain bikes were designed for exploring and camping?

hubbabubba

88 Schwinn Cimarron, just bought recently for $60. Looks great, rides great!

BobHufford

I saw that on the 'Bay. You stole it! Congrats. If you decide to get rid of the saddle ...

Bob

epicurean

Here's my Nishiki Ariel. This restoration took longer than I anticipated--I hate overhauling bottom brackets, and most of the steel screw heads were rusty. I'm not exactly sure of the year, guessing it to be about a 1990. The original shifters were early DX rapidfires (push-push), and were pretty shabby, so I replaced them with a nice set of LX rapidfire triggers. I'd appreciate it if anyone could date this accurately.

RB1-luvr

^^ that's a good looking bike

ken mirell

Part of collecting old MTB's for me is the history or story behind the bikes and who made them. This latest resto is certinally unique and only 1 of 2 known to exist today.

A '83 uh.......not sure what to call it. I suppose a Stuber/Drake/Shickle, sounds more like a law firm.

This bike was the effort of 2 physics professors and a grad student at UCSB, Santa Barbara in '83. Mountain bikes were not readly available and these bike enthusists decided to build there own, well, because they could.
Rudi Stuber was head of the physics dept and machine shop at UCSB, now retired. Greg Shickle's official title would be nucular physicists/physics professor. I bought the bike from him off Craigslist ad and when I picked it up you could tell he likes making things. He is sorta semi retired but runs Tech-Alloy, https://www.tech-alloy.com/ He also custom builds choppers, the $100,000+ kind! Barney Drake was a grad student in Physics and a bike racer. He went on to become a leading pioneere in nanotechnolgy (atomic microscopes,etc.) and retired at an early age. Hes still racing road bikes in the masters class and is a fellow RenoWheelmen although I have yet to contact him about this bike.

I was able to track down Rudi Stuber and he explained that back in the day MTB's weren't readily available and the ones that were had very slack angles. He wanted to be able to ride and let go of the handlebars. He was very critucal of how MTB's were being welded and the heat applied. In his Swiss ascent he gave me lecture about metallurgy, welding and all the many special parts he made for NASA, nuke subs, etc, etc, over the years. Rudi had a road bike built by local a frame maker in '82, Greg Diamond, and was able to borrow his frame jig to setup in the UCSB machine shop. This is the same frame jig used to make the '84 Pawley/Diamond bike that's in FirstFlights collection : https://www.firstflightbikes.com/1984_Pauley_Diamond.htm

Working after hours this group produced 3 frames, made of 4130 Cromo aircraft tubing. The angles are somewhat steeper than your typical early '80s MTB. They wanted a clean look and went for internal cabling. There's stainless tubing running inside the toptube/downtube and Rt. chainstay for this. The seat tube is really ovalized at the bottom bracket shell and overall a very well made frame. The tig welds are nice and clean, much, much better than my '84 Fat Chance. The drop outs are Shimano and has the usual rack / waterbottle mounts, including a shoulder strap mount. The fork is a early Cromo Tange boxed crown unit. They were outfitted in the standard '83 componets of the day.

Rudi still has his bike and rides it occasionally, he had had it professionally painted white and blue. Barney Drake's bike was stolden about a year after he made it, bummer
Greg was just happy to see his go someone who would appreciate it. The bike had hardly been used but had many paint chips from being moved around the shop. It hung on a wall for last 15 years.

I repainted it with a silver metallic base and a transparent cherry red top coat. Looks more razzberry but changes depending on the light. The build is Shimano's 1st mountain group released in '83, the M700 Deerhead componets.

I built it up with :
M700 shifters, brakes/levers, front and rear derailleurs, Shimano HP-6207 600 headset, Shimano MF-6208 600 6 speed freewheel, high flange XT HB-MN72 hubs/Arraya 7x rims, Scott Mathauser brake pads, Nitto aluminum bullmoose bars, Grab-on grips, Sugino AT Crankset and bottom bracket, sedisport chain, SR Laprade seatpost, Suntour XC pedals, Brooks saddle, Specialized crossroads tires.
Sorry for the longwinded story

luker

The paint turned out really well! A classy bike, and a good yarn to go along with it. I'm slowly cobbling together a Ritchey Ultra, and the seat tube on it is ovalized as is this bike. I don't think I have seen this feature on a bike earlier than yours...