Can retro MTBs still be ridden hard?

[widowmaker]

Another reason I like taking out the Retro is the conversations it starts, like oh I had one of those, I ride one like that etc etc.

Out on the Rockhopper last week in the New Forest and chatted to a guy that had the exact bike, could have chatted for yonks

It's never oh that's a lovely Giant Trance your riding, not new bike hating but they are just 'samey' to me. The guys at work bang on about £300 dropper posts, 2 foot of suspension travel, blah blah blah.

If I chose the trail route I would smash them, if they could choose the route they would smash me, but I would have more fun on both

 

[The History Man]

I like riding my retro because people stay away, shielding their children’s eyes, staggering in amazement at the presence of such an appalling concoction.

Then they notice the bike.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Just adding a note here to a page one question. Aluminum does have a shorter life span than good old steel. It is more brittle, flexes less than steel. Be sure to check out the welds in high stress areas such as under the down tube where it meets the steerer tube. Aluminum can still be useable, just take care when assessing the frame.

*This is advice that I disregard as soon as I see the bike taken out of the seller's trunk.

 

[hawkhill97]

I used to ride a 1997 Marin Hawk Hill as my main MTB on a variety of blue/red built trails and fairly technical cross country loops.

I found I could pick my way down pretty much anything on a retro MTB, and there is definitely an extra degree of satisfaction in manhandling it down a tricky descent compared to a modern bike.

If you do then get back on a modern full sus and ride the same trails, it's ridiculous how much faster it is (and how much easier on the body).

Main limitations of older kit I find are

1) threaded headsets don't stay well adjusted as long if you're slamming them through rock gardens all the time
2) lack of a dropper post has really caught me out a couple of times
3) vees/cantis are completely adequate in the dry but can be terrifying in the wet
4) I don't trust old tyres if they look a bit perished so tend to worry slightly all the way down the descent that they'll disintegrate

 

[velofrog]

Depends how loose-fitting your shorts are I guess

 

[prezza]

I used to race retro MTB’s in the mid 90’s…


In the mid noughties I then used to ride a full carbon specialized s works marathon bike that I’d take to hamsterley forest regularly…
Then kids came along and I didn’t get why I was driving 1.5 hour round trip to a trail centre when I could be actually riding a bike and getting exercise too straight from my doorstep…

I was then riding the s works on the railway lines as time became precious when some dude on a cyclocross bike literally flew past me.
I gritted my teeth and my natural competitiveness made me catch him before he said ‘I used to ride those too’… then proceeded to whizz off again!

I sold my s works soon after and got into cyclocross but kept my retro bikes as they are quite simply good enough for the likes of riding on the local lines and enjoying simpler cycling rather than having to replace frame bearings or constantly adjust shock pressures and torque settings or keep up with the Jones’s. For a retro bike the ‘Jones’s’ are long gone and buried!

I’d say that if u are heavily into off roading and want to get the most from a bike at trail centres then you should have a modern mountain bike as bikes have evolved for a reason.

But if like most of us, if you have little leisure time, competing hobbies (I’m a motorcyclist too) and a family then defo retro maybe coupled with a modern gravel bike would cover all bases.

If I could only have one bike it would be one of my modern CX bikes as they do it all….

But I much prefer the look and profile of the retro bike as my occasional ride and there’s something good about preserving and reliving a part of your youth

All just my own opinion obviously but that’s what I’ve concluded over the years…

 

[2manyoranges]

I used to ride a 1997 Marin Hawk Hill as my main MTB on a variety of blue/red built trails and fairly technical cross country loops.

I found I could pick my way down pretty much anything on a retro MTB, and there is definitely an extra degree of satisfaction in manhandling it down a tricky descent compared to a modern bike.

If you do then get back on a modern full sus and ride the same trails, it's ridiculous how much faster it is (and how much easier on the body).

Main limitations of older kit I find are

1) threaded headsets don't stay well adjusted as long if you're slamming them through rock gardens all the time
2) lack of a dropper post has really caught me out a couple of times
3) vees/cantis are completely adequate in the dry but can be terrifying in the wet
4) I don't trust old tyres if they look a bit perished so tend to worry slightly all the way down the descent that they'll disintegrate

View attachment 580508

HawkH - excellent 1-4 spot on.
Headsets were never really up to the job until tapered and oversize headsets appeared.
44mm parallel work, and that was the first standards which really became capable.

 

[Nabeaquam]

They are fun, work well but real rocky stuff has to be ridden slower and a little more care to line choice. Here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA the trails are narrow through the woods, drop offs. If I go too fast on my vintage stuff I’m afraid I’ll bounce into the bush or sideswipe a tree.

 

[legrandefromage]

big volume modern 26 tyres play a big part, it brings the rotating size of that 'old' 26 wheel up a bit and helps on the trails

headsets, well so many 'standards' come and go but the original 1 1/8 ahead with cartridge bearings will sit there quietly for years if everything is set up correctly - just dont let water get in there

drive trains - many new bits fit the old and the worlds gone 1x mad but theres issues with just how fragile modern kit is hanging out at the back. The long long mech, skinny chains and big dish cassette have their own problems as much as a triple and front derailleur placement did

around here, its flat, a 32t front chainring is laughingly small but up in the hilly bits it makes sense

so an old quality frame with a careful choice of parts will give a nice ride but dont ever expect to be faster/ slower/ rad skillz over someone on a later bike

and you have to be fit

or just buy an ebike, then you wont care about anything

 

[hamster]

Just adding a note here to a page one question. Aluminum does have a shorter life span than good old steel. It is more brittle, flexes less than steel. Be sure to check out the welds in high stress areas such as under the down tube where it meets the steerer tube. Aluminum can still be useable, just take care when assessing the frame.

*This is advice that I disregard as soon as I see the bike taken out of the seller's trunk.

Not quite true. Aluminium is not more brittle. Unlike steel it has a finite life before it fatigues and starts to crack. You can flex a bit of steel until the end of time (provided it's below a certain loading) and it will never fatigue. Ever. Aluminium will crack eventually after a lot of load cycles.
To give Aluminium a decent fatigue life, it has to be very rigid, which is why aluminium frames are stiffer as they have very thick walls to the tubing. Aluminium itself is less stiff than steel (hence the thick walls). The art in an aluminium frame is to make it such that the fatigue life is very long...say 20+ years? It always seems rare to hear of cracked Alu Konas, they seem to have been cautiously designed. Usually it's the exotica which were intended for a short racing life that go.

There are plenty of 1930s steel frames around. A steel frame can crack if you design or fabricate it badly.

I agree with the conclusion - check the weld areas when you give the bike a major service. Usually it goes around the head tube, occasionally bottom bracket as these are the highest-stressed parts of the bike.