1991 Diamond Back Axis Team

[piripiri82]

This is my first ever Retro Bike post. Behold is my recently acquired 1991 Diamond Back Axis Team. It has chips and scratches and numerous rust spots but it's straight and it rides really nicely. My brother had on in the past and it actually rides much better than I remember. It's not perfect by any means but I intend to use it!

The saddle has got to go. It's a massive gel-filled, unbranded monstrosity. I know it's not in the spirit of Retro Bike but I've ordered a Charge Spoon saddle in black. A Flite would be more befitting but they're too expensive, a Turbo is too uncomfortable.

Since I have already decided that it's not going to be solely retro parts that are going on it I've also decided to upgrade the brakes. I've heard v-brakes work well with SLR plus levers so I've ordered a set of Deore ones in black to stick to the original colour scheme.

The stem is being swapped back to its original Tioga t-bone if I can find a prestige version. The tyres, which are currently some unknown Kenda models, will be replaced with a modern tyre, hopefully, skin wall. As much as I have fond memories of the old tyres, the new ones are just so much better!

The drivetrain works really well so that's staying as is, even though it has the original push, push levers. Everything else works as it should except the front hub which has a bit of a rumble but I can live with it for a while.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5DYtRp8BKr1yeBUu8

 

[T'boo Ted]

Love those axis's!
I thought slr levers worked especially bad with v-brakes, was the non slr that worked...but I guess you'll find out, been a while for me.
Charge sponns are great saddles, although you can soemtimes find the flite re-issues on sale (they are eirther really cheap, or really exxy)

 

[MT62]

Really nice bike,
just that I thought about the same about SLR and Vs, would personally just check brake pads and possibly change them if they don't work properly.

 

[piripiri82]

So I've made a few changes to the axis since I last posted several weeks ago. I've ditched the tyres for more modern 2.25 Schwalbe Racing Ralphs. These are tubeless ready so maybe, just maybe this Axis will eventually be too. I've replaced the saddle with the ubiquitous Charge Spoon which is mega comfy and it makes the Axis appear more like the race bike it is.

I bought v-brakes but I haven't installed them because the levers I bought have built-in STI's! I thought it'd be simple enough to remove them but there's a massive plate I'd have to hack saw off. That can perhaps wait for another time.

However, on MT62's advice, I replaced the brake blocks with Koolstops so I can now come to a halt silently and safely. The blocks I removed from the front brakes were XT so I can only assume these were the originals. There were a lot of bits of embedded aluminium in them anyway!

I've ridden this bike off-road several times and it's wonderful. It ascends so quickly and smoothly. As is common to bikes of this age it isn't amazing on the downhills but that may be down to my age! It pedals really well, it's just comfy and nice to ride and gets up to speed quickly.

I've been thinking about the future of this bike. The drivetrain has definitely seen better days. It needs a new cassette, the STI shifters are pretty hopeless and it also needs a new bottom bracket. It might be controversial but I am considering modifying it into a 1x set-up.

Hope do a 1x Retainer chainring in a 110 BCD which would fit on my cranks. I have a spare 8spd rear wheel at my parents (Mavic 517 on an SLX hub) so all I would need then would be the shifter, chain, cassette and my some brake levers. I've also calculated that with a single 40t on the front and an 11 - 46t cassette I can get the full range of gears I currently have. It would make the bike much more appealing to ride IMHO. Moreover, the Hope ring comes in black which would match the original esthetic of the chainset. Ultimately to keep it more period correct I would love to get my hands on an XTR 8spd hub from around this era build up with a decent rim.

What do we think? I'm still wanting to put a Tioga T-Bone Prestige stem on it too as the flex stem no longer flexes. To be honest the bike could do with a respray but I kind of like it being a bit scruffy looking as it reminds me of bikes I used to ride as a young teenager. Does anyone know of anywhere that can do the splatter effect? I can get hold of the decals fairly easily.

What do we think?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NeUaDJ1GfZBuAa1e6