Hi everyone.
As stated above, I've got a wee jaunt in Africa planned for January-March next year - Dakar to Lagos. I've done a few tours previously, but they've all been in Europe and so I've taken my mid-90's Dawes Galaxy along. Unfortunately, it won't be up to this trip due to having 700c wheels.
So what I'm after now is a mechanically simple (no disc brakes, or anything else which will be difficult to fix on the road or in local bike shops), steel (for a local welder to fix if I have a bad crash... I've ridden a bike when the chainstay has snapped, so this is a serious consideration), 18-20 inch (I'm 5'11"), 26 inch wheel (again so that I can get spares if anything happens), go anywhere, do anything steed. It also needs to have braze-ons for fitting a rear rack, and in a dream world it would have three points to fit bottle racks, and the possibility of fitting a rack to the front forks as well (but if it doesn't I'll use some old inner tubes and a few cable ties) ----- So, like I said in the subject, basically, I'm after a 1990's mountain bike.
This is going to be (as it always is for me) a super-low-cost-budget tour. I'm training as a nurse, so I don't have many spare pennies, but luckily I do have a couple of spare months. So my bike budget is about £100, an absolute maximum of £150 if I can get something that is running smooth and needs no work.
If you've got something suitable, let me know. I live in Sheffield, but can travel to nearby towns to take a look/pick-up. It'd be lovely to have something with a bit of pedigree, or something that comes with some good stories, but what's most important is that it runs well and that it'll do me in the region of 4000 kilometres with all my gear. And who knows, I might even take it out in the Peak when I return and find out how much more skilled mountain bikers were 20 years ago!
As stated above, I've got a wee jaunt in Africa planned for January-March next year - Dakar to Lagos. I've done a few tours previously, but they've all been in Europe and so I've taken my mid-90's Dawes Galaxy along. Unfortunately, it won't be up to this trip due to having 700c wheels.
So what I'm after now is a mechanically simple (no disc brakes, or anything else which will be difficult to fix on the road or in local bike shops), steel (for a local welder to fix if I have a bad crash... I've ridden a bike when the chainstay has snapped, so this is a serious consideration), 18-20 inch (I'm 5'11"), 26 inch wheel (again so that I can get spares if anything happens), go anywhere, do anything steed. It also needs to have braze-ons for fitting a rear rack, and in a dream world it would have three points to fit bottle racks, and the possibility of fitting a rack to the front forks as well (but if it doesn't I'll use some old inner tubes and a few cable ties) ----- So, like I said in the subject, basically, I'm after a 1990's mountain bike.
This is going to be (as it always is for me) a super-low-cost-budget tour. I'm training as a nurse, so I don't have many spare pennies, but luckily I do have a couple of spare months. So my bike budget is about £100, an absolute maximum of £150 if I can get something that is running smooth and needs no work.
If you've got something suitable, let me know. I live in Sheffield, but can travel to nearby towns to take a look/pick-up. It'd be lovely to have something with a bit of pedigree, or something that comes with some good stories, but what's most important is that it runs well and that it'll do me in the region of 4000 kilometres with all my gear. And who knows, I might even take it out in the Peak when I return and find out how much more skilled mountain bikers were 20 years ago!
