Maxipedia
Retro Guru
I finally managed to get this one and what better place to expose it than here! You see, sometimes you need to chase old ladies around in order to get a special bike...
As I may have said here before on various topics, I find bike hunting cool and I keep seeing retro bikes at people who obviously don't have a clue and don't give a damn about them. At some point I figured that this has to be the winning formula: offer the people another bike; they don't care what's written on the frame and probably would be better suited with something newer and more functional than what they have but can't cherish. Right?
So I met this lady in her fifties for the first time about 3-4 years ago, riding this mid nineties Breezer. I talked to her, told her I like her bike, but bever quite had the nerve to ask her whether she'd be selling it; I guess I didn't wanna look intrusive. Time flew by and I saw the bike at some supermarket late last summer. It was locked outside, so I borrowed pen and paper and wrote a message that sounded like "If you want to save this nice old bike, give me a call" plus the number. I went back to the city center and I stopped at a crossroad to talk on the phone. I was a bit surprised when the lady with the Breezer caught up with me and asked if I was at this supermarket and left her a note. I said yes and we talked a bit about bikes and she said she was willing to give me the Breezer for another bike that would be right for her (size, weight etc.). We both agreed there is no need to hurry, so in the time since then I thought how to get a bike for her that would be both cheap but still good enough. First I thought to buy the least expensive aluminium bike from Decathlon, but it would've still been too expensive and not too good. So I began scrapping parts together.
Last week I put the bike together. I managed to get a 2009 Kona Fire Mountain frame pretty cheap, I cleaned it, used a little touch up paint on it, got an older Suntour fork with a bit of play and pretty boinky (but I knew it would still be better than her blown off Marzocchi XC 700), build some wheels and got everything else together. In the end it cost me around 130 EUR without the parts that I already had, so it wasn't quite cheap, but a pretty good bike came out. The only parts I am not pleased with are the shitty Promax brakes, but I just had them and I didn't want to spend more money on the bike. I made sure they work as fine as possible by their standards.
The partlist:
frame: 18"Kona Fire Mountain 2009
fork: early 2000's Suntour SR MG
headset: Cane Creek loose ball
stem: Bike Positive (Hungarian brand much alike Acor or Point)
handlebar: Bike Postive 620 mm riser - new
seatpost: Zoom/Kalin
collar: Bike Positive
seat: Bike Positive by Velo
grips: SRAM - new
bottom bracket: Chin Haur loose ball - almost new
cranks: Suntour XCT V2 - new
pedals: no name plastic - new
chain: KMC - new
cogs: SRAM 8-speed casette - new
rear derailleur: Shimano Alivio
front derailleur: Shimano Altus - new
shifters: SRAM MRX Comp - new
brake levers: Promax - new
brakes: Promax mechanical disc calipers
hubs: Joytech disc 32H
rims: Sun Ringle CR18 - new
tubes: Maxxis - new
tires: CST Traveller - new
(add fresh cables, housings and spokes to all that)
So I gave her a ring yesterday and I went over to give her the bike. She was pretty pleased with it, but she wanted to keep her saddle and the newish Schwalbe Landcruiser tires. I switched tires on location and went away with the Breezer. I also told her that I would help out if she needed work done on the bike.
I bet the Breezer looks like it's in a sorry state compared to a lot of garage queens over here, but it's functional! I guess it's a 1995, although the part spec isn't identical to the one listed on Bikepedia for this model. Fork is the aforementioned Marzocchi XC700, handlebar and seatpost are Ritchey Comp Lite, stem is a curious Trek System 2 and it also has Onza barends, thrashed grips, Grip Shift SRT-500 shifters, Suntour XC Pro levers, XT front and rear derailleurs, LX brakes with XT pads, XT M737 hubs with Ritchey QR's, Ritchey 415 rims and a Deore LX crankset. Headset is a mixture of (Dia Compe) Aheadset with a threaded headset nut as a spacer and a plastic Tioga top cap.
Pictures of the two bikes:
The Kona:
The Breezer:
So, what do you think? Was it worth the effort and the story?
Thanks for your patience!
Mx
As I may have said here before on various topics, I find bike hunting cool and I keep seeing retro bikes at people who obviously don't have a clue and don't give a damn about them. At some point I figured that this has to be the winning formula: offer the people another bike; they don't care what's written on the frame and probably would be better suited with something newer and more functional than what they have but can't cherish. Right?
So I met this lady in her fifties for the first time about 3-4 years ago, riding this mid nineties Breezer. I talked to her, told her I like her bike, but bever quite had the nerve to ask her whether she'd be selling it; I guess I didn't wanna look intrusive. Time flew by and I saw the bike at some supermarket late last summer. It was locked outside, so I borrowed pen and paper and wrote a message that sounded like "If you want to save this nice old bike, give me a call" plus the number. I went back to the city center and I stopped at a crossroad to talk on the phone. I was a bit surprised when the lady with the Breezer caught up with me and asked if I was at this supermarket and left her a note. I said yes and we talked a bit about bikes and she said she was willing to give me the Breezer for another bike that would be right for her (size, weight etc.). We both agreed there is no need to hurry, so in the time since then I thought how to get a bike for her that would be both cheap but still good enough. First I thought to buy the least expensive aluminium bike from Decathlon, but it would've still been too expensive and not too good. So I began scrapping parts together.
Last week I put the bike together. I managed to get a 2009 Kona Fire Mountain frame pretty cheap, I cleaned it, used a little touch up paint on it, got an older Suntour fork with a bit of play and pretty boinky (but I knew it would still be better than her blown off Marzocchi XC 700), build some wheels and got everything else together. In the end it cost me around 130 EUR without the parts that I already had, so it wasn't quite cheap, but a pretty good bike came out. The only parts I am not pleased with are the shitty Promax brakes, but I just had them and I didn't want to spend more money on the bike. I made sure they work as fine as possible by their standards.
The partlist:
frame: 18"Kona Fire Mountain 2009
fork: early 2000's Suntour SR MG
headset: Cane Creek loose ball
stem: Bike Positive (Hungarian brand much alike Acor or Point)
handlebar: Bike Postive 620 mm riser - new
seatpost: Zoom/Kalin
collar: Bike Positive
seat: Bike Positive by Velo
grips: SRAM - new
bottom bracket: Chin Haur loose ball - almost new
cranks: Suntour XCT V2 - new
pedals: no name plastic - new
chain: KMC - new
cogs: SRAM 8-speed casette - new
rear derailleur: Shimano Alivio
front derailleur: Shimano Altus - new
shifters: SRAM MRX Comp - new
brake levers: Promax - new
brakes: Promax mechanical disc calipers
hubs: Joytech disc 32H
rims: Sun Ringle CR18 - new
tubes: Maxxis - new
tires: CST Traveller - new
(add fresh cables, housings and spokes to all that)
So I gave her a ring yesterday and I went over to give her the bike. She was pretty pleased with it, but she wanted to keep her saddle and the newish Schwalbe Landcruiser tires. I switched tires on location and went away with the Breezer. I also told her that I would help out if she needed work done on the bike.
I bet the Breezer looks like it's in a sorry state compared to a lot of garage queens over here, but it's functional! I guess it's a 1995, although the part spec isn't identical to the one listed on Bikepedia for this model. Fork is the aforementioned Marzocchi XC700, handlebar and seatpost are Ritchey Comp Lite, stem is a curious Trek System 2 and it also has Onza barends, thrashed grips, Grip Shift SRT-500 shifters, Suntour XC Pro levers, XT front and rear derailleurs, LX brakes with XT pads, XT M737 hubs with Ritchey QR's, Ritchey 415 rims and a Deore LX crankset. Headset is a mixture of (Dia Compe) Aheadset with a threaded headset nut as a spacer and a plastic Tioga top cap.
Pictures of the two bikes:
The Kona:
The Breezer:
So, what do you think? Was it worth the effort and the story?
Thanks for your patience!
Mx