Alpinestars AlMega DX (bright!)

[Jamis Diablo]

I bought this bike a few weeks ago, but didn't have time to show it yet due to moving house.
It comes from the first owner and is completely original and in very very good shape.
The coulours are so bright! It looks like is hasn't seen daylight last 20 years.
But... of course it has a crack... Such a pitty, I did see it when I bought it, so got it for a nice price.
Is it ok to ride it on the road? It would be a shame to hang it on the wall and never touch it again.
On the other hand, it is a bit to big for me, so riding wouldn't be very comfy.
I don't feel like replacing the stem for a shorter one, as it is all original.

Sorry for the lousy phone pics, they turn out better usualy, but the light is pretty bad today.

 

[incorrigible]

Re:

Such a beautiful bike. Shame about the crack.

I don't think I'd trust that a crack so close to the rear dropout wouldn't fail catastrophically at the worst time. If it were me, I'd repair it before I'd dare ride it, even if it's just to tightly wrap several layers of wide plastic tape around the seat stay crack, and even then, I wouldn't take it offroad, nor would I take it very far in case I might be walking home. Maybe a pro welder could give it a proper repair so it looks original, but I imagine that would be expensive.

Gotta love those Ritchey MegaByte tires, though. Best tires ever IMHO. In my experience, the tread would stick like glue, both on road and off, no matter how hard I rode. If they're not dried out, maybe you could mount them on another bike and get some good offroad mileage out of them? I wish Ritchey would bring those back. I really miss them... :cry:

 

[Jamis Diablo]

I agree on the tires, they are pretty good, I got some black ones on another bike and really like them.
I might get the crack repaired one day, for now it is hanging on the wall.
This is one of the bikes I was drooling over when I was riding my own cheap Dutch brand bike and saw a kid with an Almega. He was a motorcoss rider sponsered by Alpinestars.

 

[AyJay]

What a fab bike. I remember them so well. I raced against many of them. What a great find.

 

[Jamis Diablo]

Thanks, what bike did you race back then?

 

[AyJay]

Thanks, what bike did you race back then?

I had a few over the years. Started with a Scott Boulder then an Orange Clockwork, a Stumperjump FS and a Marin Team Issue. Good times the 90's!!

 

[regan_ev]

Superb! Time-capsule find! Devastated for you it has the crack there.

 

[Jamis Diablo]

Yeah, that is a pretty shame... luckely I saw this when I bought it, so wasn't disapointed later.