br0qn
Retro Guru
This bike marks firsts for me - It's the first I've owned since middle school (some GT BMX), the first I've purchased myself, the first I (will) have built, the first mountain bike I've owned etc...
This was initially spurred on by the need for transport while I'm away for work. Over the course of several trips/months I was renting & riding the city's shared ebikes until I realized I was spending close to a $100/ week commuting on those awful things. I then borrowed an old single speed raleigh road bike/townie which I was riding around on for some time but trying to tackle the same hills I was on the bike was awful. I started to think I'd be better off if I just spent a couple hundred bucks on something of my own that had gears. I asked a friend what he rides - a Rivendell, in set the sticker shock - and then I asked what I should look for instead - a 90's mountain bike can be had for what I was looking to spend.
So back in March I started casually looking at local CL listings and finding all sorts of stuff I knew nothing about and running them by my friend. At this point I didn't even know bicycles came in sizes! Combing a thousand plus ads that came up for vintage mountain bike / 90s mountain bike / 26" bike I landed on one that I liked that my friend said was unique and had cool parts - an '89 Muddy Fox Courier located just north of the city.
With a message to the seller I had a time set up for the next week to go have a look. Meanwhile over the weekend I was out riding around on the raleigh, headed to north beach to catch some sun in the park and ... I woke up dragging the bike off of the street. Still I don't know what happened. The car that was behind me pulled over (a couple, the guy was in spandex kit and a bike on the roof of the mini and the lady was a nurse) and was telling me to take it easy, they were calling an ambulance. I objected and decided I'd try and walk it off but realized I couldn't lift my right arm though it didn't hurt. Started to feel around and ...ya something poking up in the shoulder area. Another kind passerby was walking her dog immediately offered to store the bike in her garage and give me a lift to the hospital - sometimes people don't suck.
A trip to the ER and a few more firsts - first time I drank a bag of water through my arm, maybe the first time I had a tetanus shot, who knows, first cat scan. Head was good fortunately but I had a fair amount of road rash and tore three ligaments that hold the collarbone in place, that's called a separated collarbone. I got back from the ER and was pretty bummed about the whole thing. I text the Muddy Fox owner and said I wouldn't be riding a bike anytime soon, sorry.
A couple weeks passed though and I couldn't stop thinking about that Muddy Fox. Slinged up with surgery on the horizon I started to look at ads again. At some point I found this board. This quickly morphed into an obsession marked with countless late nights staring at photos, looking at listings on CL/ebay/FB marketplace and then researching every make & detail in those listening's, reading this board, pouring over original bike and component manufacture catalogs (pdfs of course) trying to get a sense of what was what. The rabbit hole opened beneath me.
Another couple of weeks steeped in research and I was chomping at the bit for something, a project. I came across an ebay listing for what looked like a pretty classy bike in good shape and made an offer.
This was initially spurred on by the need for transport while I'm away for work. Over the course of several trips/months I was renting & riding the city's shared ebikes until I realized I was spending close to a $100/ week commuting on those awful things. I then borrowed an old single speed raleigh road bike/townie which I was riding around on for some time but trying to tackle the same hills I was on the bike was awful. I started to think I'd be better off if I just spent a couple hundred bucks on something of my own that had gears. I asked a friend what he rides - a Rivendell, in set the sticker shock - and then I asked what I should look for instead - a 90's mountain bike can be had for what I was looking to spend.
So back in March I started casually looking at local CL listings and finding all sorts of stuff I knew nothing about and running them by my friend. At this point I didn't even know bicycles came in sizes! Combing a thousand plus ads that came up for vintage mountain bike / 90s mountain bike / 26" bike I landed on one that I liked that my friend said was unique and had cool parts - an '89 Muddy Fox Courier located just north of the city.
With a message to the seller I had a time set up for the next week to go have a look. Meanwhile over the weekend I was out riding around on the raleigh, headed to north beach to catch some sun in the park and ... I woke up dragging the bike off of the street. Still I don't know what happened. The car that was behind me pulled over (a couple, the guy was in spandex kit and a bike on the roof of the mini and the lady was a nurse) and was telling me to take it easy, they were calling an ambulance. I objected and decided I'd try and walk it off but realized I couldn't lift my right arm though it didn't hurt. Started to feel around and ...ya something poking up in the shoulder area. Another kind passerby was walking her dog immediately offered to store the bike in her garage and give me a lift to the hospital - sometimes people don't suck.
A trip to the ER and a few more firsts - first time I drank a bag of water through my arm, maybe the first time I had a tetanus shot, who knows, first cat scan. Head was good fortunately but I had a fair amount of road rash and tore three ligaments that hold the collarbone in place, that's called a separated collarbone. I got back from the ER and was pretty bummed about the whole thing. I text the Muddy Fox owner and said I wouldn't be riding a bike anytime soon, sorry.
A couple weeks passed though and I couldn't stop thinking about that Muddy Fox. Slinged up with surgery on the horizon I started to look at ads again. At some point I found this board. This quickly morphed into an obsession marked with countless late nights staring at photos, looking at listings on CL/ebay/FB marketplace and then researching every make & detail in those listening's, reading this board, pouring over original bike and component manufacture catalogs (pdfs of course) trying to get a sense of what was what. The rabbit hole opened beneath me.
Another couple of weeks steeped in research and I was chomping at the bit for something, a project. I came across an ebay listing for what looked like a pretty classy bike in good shape and made an offer.