JonTom
Senior Retro Guru
I first saw this neon yellow Pine Mountain for sale many months ago on US Craiglsit, San Francisco region. The seller was asking US$1000. At the time, I'd never seen one with this colour scheme (although I've since seen a photo of a well-used one on Instagram).
As the weeks and months passed by, the asking price lowered - until one day the ad disappeared. I figured the bike had been sold.
A couple of months later the bike appears for sale again, from the same seller, with a greatly reduced asking price. The seller (Robert) had left his mobile number in the ad, so I sent him a text asking if he'd be OK to pack it and ship it to LA. From there, I could get it shipped by sea freight to Sydney. At first he was suspicious, but after I paid him a deposit he was just brilliant - he packed it, organised a courier to LA, patiently waited for bank transfers to clear ... what a legend!
He'd bought the bike in 1991 from Midtown Bikes, a Marin dealer he knew in Palo Alto, California. The dealer had originally used it as an exhibit/demo bike for a big motorcycle race meeting at Laguna Seca. After that it had sat around the shop until Robert bought it. He rode it a few times (less than 100 miles he reckons) and then - for whatever reason - put it into storage for the next 23 years or so.
The original seat has been swapped for an Avocet, there's a black Ritchey bar where there would have been a blue one (I'm guessing), and I put the Panaracers on (it arrived wearing slicks), but everything else is original spec and mint condition.
As I said, I've not seen this colour scheme before. I've seen photos of the blue and yellow Euro bikes, which this is a reversal of.
Here it is out in the daylight the day after being unpacked:
As the weeks and months passed by, the asking price lowered - until one day the ad disappeared. I figured the bike had been sold.
A couple of months later the bike appears for sale again, from the same seller, with a greatly reduced asking price. The seller (Robert) had left his mobile number in the ad, so I sent him a text asking if he'd be OK to pack it and ship it to LA. From there, I could get it shipped by sea freight to Sydney. At first he was suspicious, but after I paid him a deposit he was just brilliant - he packed it, organised a courier to LA, patiently waited for bank transfers to clear ... what a legend!
He'd bought the bike in 1991 from Midtown Bikes, a Marin dealer he knew in Palo Alto, California. The dealer had originally used it as an exhibit/demo bike for a big motorcycle race meeting at Laguna Seca. After that it had sat around the shop until Robert bought it. He rode it a few times (less than 100 miles he reckons) and then - for whatever reason - put it into storage for the next 23 years or so.
The original seat has been swapped for an Avocet, there's a black Ritchey bar where there would have been a blue one (I'm guessing), and I put the Panaracers on (it arrived wearing slicks), but everything else is original spec and mint condition.
As I said, I've not seen this colour scheme before. I've seen photos of the blue and yellow Euro bikes, which this is a reversal of.
Here it is out in the daylight the day after being unpacked:
