Re: Re:
doctor-bond":af39xd75 said:
Boom - good spot! It is cool.
But is it really an important bike in the history of MTB as you suggest, or are we scraping the barrel as time goes by?
The difference in ride between things like this or early Stumpjumpers, Raleighs or Ridgebacks is surely hardly noticeable? Once lighter, heat-treated frames and decent wheels turned up, then things got interesting ....
What drives the importance here? Rarity? Nostalgia for those old adverts? Or is a direct line of influence between one early design and another?
Not sure its necessarily of any historical significance per se.
Its a production bike and of little difference to say a Specialized stumpjumper of its time.
I guess, the significance (for me at least) is the brand and its first foray into the relatively new world of "the Mountain Bike" or should i say the availability of the Commercial mountain bike, and its availability to the masses.
And Great Britain's version of it. Specialized et al.
It was the best selling model in the range for obvious reasons, well specd for its time and price, spawned off shoots like the Tushingham brand, that you could argue may never have gave birth to Orange mountain bikes, if this model had not been used as its focus point at the very beginning of that partnership.
And whilst it isn't the model that Jacquie Phelan was photographed with on the banks of the welsh river, iconic adverts like that did increase awareness and fueled the propaganda that fed an industry, leading to the early success of the brand and perhaps the mountain bike on the whole, especially here in the UK.
Like that early stumpjumper, this is one of the early purposely thought out mountain bikes, and one but for a few pieces is near complete, not rusty, not damaged, not needing refurb and getting on for what.... 30 years old..?
Cant be many left as good as, it doesnt have to be a BOTY, or even BOTM for me, its just a survivor, and a small piece of a fantastic puzzle.
