Best race steel hardtail... ? ?

[Rio]

you might add the S-works steel to that list.

 

[theredchili]

Right then... I suppose this is a lot to do with personal choices ,, however I'd like to ask the opinions and views of the retrobike community ..


....in your opinion , what is the best retro race hardtail between say 92-99 ? and reasons why ??


Now .. I'm far too old and buoyant these days to actually race the damm things, but I'd love to own a retro race rig ..

So far the ones that are jumping out at me are :

Chas roberts dogswhatsits, Orange Clockwork ,Serrotta T-max,Fat chance yo eddy, Ritchey P series , Breezer lightning..

Any views on any of these ?? any good or overated ?

thank you all in advance..

rob..

All of the above are great bikes, in the right hands could all be race winners, just down to personnel choice, what stands out and slaps you in the face !
For me I love Fats, others oranges,konas etc
you can't make a bad decision from those listed above

 

[stubbsy]

dont forget alpinestars, cheap to buy and great up hills

stubbsy

 

[mikee]

yup +1 on the astars cromegas

hate to say it but early 90's steel stumpys were good race bikes

and the much underated DB axis/apex are a great race frame

 

[yo-eddy]

Right then... I suppose this is a lot to do with personal choices ,, however I'd like to ask the opinions and views of the retrobike community ..


....in your opinion , what is the best retro race hardtail between say 92-99 ? and reasons why ??


Now .. I'm far too old and buoyant these days to actually race the damm things, but I'd love to own a retro race rig ..

So far the ones that are jumping out at me are :

Chas roberts dogswhatsits, Orange Clockwork ,Serrotta T-max,Fat chance yo eddy, Ritchey P series , Breezer lightning..

Any views on any of these ?? any good or overated ?

thank you all in advance..

rob..

First hand info (biased by me )

T-max,hort toptube! s Nice and good frame, pretty stiff
P-series, light and flexy
Breezer Lightning, light and flexy
Yo-Eddy, stiff (non tapered chainstays) a bit heavier, my favourite
Roberts DB, classic, Brittish, never ridden one
Orange, had a prestige, nice and light bike, understated looks. Never ridden an Orange though.
Grove Assault/agressor, wild paint, superb TIG, not too well known but better than most above

 

[Retromtber]

Wow!! thank you for all your replies..

Difficult choice as there is so many beautiful and finely crafted cycles around , mostly on this site me thinks.. lol...

The dogs do dah is one of the bikes that really shines to me, as has been said in this thread its an iconic bike in more ways than one, built by a master craftsman, and to be honest .. to me .. at least would be 'the' british race bike to buy, over and above the likes of yates etc..

The clockwork to me was the 'affordable' race entry level bike , and did so much to get people into the hobby bitd , although I suppose being picky its not built to the same high quality standard as some of the others.. but that said it was not the same price ticket as some of the more exotic steel listed..

The T-max was one of those bikes I remember reading(dreaming) about ,,that florescent paint job, .. wow.. how cool was that bitd.. lol .. from my poor memory I believe the tubeset was an italian Columbus Max Or steel tubeset ,, which I remember 'tapered' and changed profiles towards the joints , which I loved and still wonder how well/different this would ride over ,, say a prestige tubeset . ? of which is my favorite riding frame material..

Yo eddy's.. remember that these looked the mutts , hemmings on the front cover of ? Mbuk.. ,although I've been doing some research over the last few months and it seems that they have not withstood the test of time too well, regarding rot and decay,, and maybe I'm looking at a small fortune to get a good one.. ?

The P series of Ritchey bikes.. how racy did these look, that red white and blue fade mmmm.. and did not thomas friscn?? win virtually ever thing on one of these frames ? ..although did these not break easily ? , do I remember right they were suppose to last a year ?

and the last one I remember was the black and white breezer lightning ,, looked really nice and understated,, but looked sooo right .. full xtr too iirc..

and one that nearly slipped my memory was the green ? mountain goat , whisky racer , that looked a work of art , did this not have fancy 'lugs'

I suppose I sort of expected the type of replies,, as when I asked the original opening question "I suppose this is a lot to do with personal choices"

Nice to know from the replies that , most of the bikes I considered to be good are indeed worthy additions. thank you.

So maybe , lets discuss , which is likely not to snap under 14stone of lard and make me get to the top fastest lol.. hmmmm

 

[We_are_Stevo]

Explosif every time for me...

 

[Bristol]

Timax = Titanium
T-max = Columbus Max OR (Cromo)

Ah I see! That's where I made a mistake then.

I've got a frame in the flouro yellow/green/pink colours.

 

[Retromtber]

I've got a frame in the flouro yellow/green/pink colours.

I'd love to see some pics of that bristol..

Explosif.. interesting choice,, I have seen quite a few of these on here,, no doubt they can look nice bikes,, but for me there is a certain something missing.. and tbh dont really appeal to me..

 

[Bristol]

Been keeping this frame back in storage for a little while now. The plan was just to build it up as a rough rider as its the right frame size and I really like the colours of it. But will happily move it on if its holds any significant value to anyone else.

I didn't realise these frames were as desirable as they are! Fancy me thinking of building it up with a mixed period LX groupie and some Stif wheels I had lying about and then thrashing it around the local singletracks.

17.5"