I used to work at a bike shop in the mid 90s during college... It was a great era for mountain-biking. The shop I worked at sold Trek, Cannondale, and Gary Fisher primarily. But we started carrying Schwinn when they started making good bikes again (the Homegrown series...great bikes). We also had some old Paramounts laying around... Anyway, rarely did I ever get a full paycheck because I employee purchased so much stuff. My suspension bike was a Trek 8700 with the carbon tubes and aluminum joints with the first gen Judy fork... My non suspension ride was the Trek 990 with the triple butted steel frame (such a great frame...) My point in the narrative history is that I could only afford the stuff my shop sold because I got it at cost. My dream bike in those days was a Litespeed titanium.
Fast-forward 23 years, three teenagers, no bikes (except kids bikes), and a real job... A month ago I walk into my friends office and see my dream bike... a '95 Litespeed Obed fs with full xt... only it is in a state of horrible disrepair... the tires and fork are flat, the stickers are chewed up, the chain stay is in rough shape, the cables are rusted... it had been "rode hard and put up wet" as they say. Nevertheless, I had to have it. It was going to get me back into biking. So, i ask him how much he wanted for it. He wouldn't sell. It had been given to him by a friend and he felt obliged to get it functional again. A month goes by, he realizes how much work would be needed, calls me up and gives it to me... for free. What?!
Now, it's not that great a gift as the whole thing need to be rebuilt. But it will be a fun project.
I am modernizing it:
Shimano 1x11 drivetrain- Slx cranks with 32tooth Blackspire snaggletooth chainring, xt bottom bracket, xt 11 spd rear derailer, xtr 11x spd shifter, xtr 11 spd chain, new shimano hubs front and rear...
Fox float 32 fork, Hayes disc brake up front, Crank Bros 31.8 stem, raceface riser bar... and a few other things here and there... repainting the rear triangle...
My question has to do with the rear suspension. This model of Obed FS has the AMP rear triangle... what I can't figure out is what kind of rear shock to buy... i want one with lock out for my commute rides but I can't find the specs on what's on there. Litespeed told me that they don't keep specs on bikes that old which seemed strange... So, any advice or knowledge would be helpful in regard to replacing the rear shock...
Fast-forward 23 years, three teenagers, no bikes (except kids bikes), and a real job... A month ago I walk into my friends office and see my dream bike... a '95 Litespeed Obed fs with full xt... only it is in a state of horrible disrepair... the tires and fork are flat, the stickers are chewed up, the chain stay is in rough shape, the cables are rusted... it had been "rode hard and put up wet" as they say. Nevertheless, I had to have it. It was going to get me back into biking. So, i ask him how much he wanted for it. He wouldn't sell. It had been given to him by a friend and he felt obliged to get it functional again. A month goes by, he realizes how much work would be needed, calls me up and gives it to me... for free. What?!
Now, it's not that great a gift as the whole thing need to be rebuilt. But it will be a fun project.
I am modernizing it:
Shimano 1x11 drivetrain- Slx cranks with 32tooth Blackspire snaggletooth chainring, xt bottom bracket, xt 11 spd rear derailer, xtr 11x spd shifter, xtr 11 spd chain, new shimano hubs front and rear...
Fox float 32 fork, Hayes disc brake up front, Crank Bros 31.8 stem, raceface riser bar... and a few other things here and there... repainting the rear triangle...
My question has to do with the rear suspension. This model of Obed FS has the AMP rear triangle... what I can't figure out is what kind of rear shock to buy... i want one with lock out for my commute rides but I can't find the specs on what's on there. Litespeed told me that they don't keep specs on bikes that old which seemed strange... So, any advice or knowledge would be helpful in regard to replacing the rear shock...
