This forum is too addictive and will lead to the missus leaving me!!!!
I stumbled on this site and have been lurking for the past few weeks....with the nice weather, I had an idea to drag my old (93 I think) Raleigh Apex (Reynolds K2) out of the cellar after about 15 years of non use and get it road/trail worthy again.
Although it was in good cosmetic condition, it needed loads of work (BB, Freewheel, crankset etc.) which I didn't really have time for - so I bit the bullet and bought a cheap 2000/2001 Marin Palisades off the Bay (with front suspension).
After riding that for about a week, I've decided I hate it(!) and have reverted to the original plan of rebuilding the Raleigh. Or so I thought....
Since then, I remembered that whilst the Raleigh was OK, it wasn't a patch on the Marin Bear Valley I had stolen a short while before buying the Raleigh - so I began my search for a 90s-ish Bear Valley on the Bay.
Then another development.... whilst clearing out the cellar to make way for space to build these bike(s), I found an old box of components that hadn't been touched for years - imagine my delight when I opened the box to find an almost complete XT groupset virtually brand new (I recall buying it off a mate who stripped it off a brand new bike years ago - it's complete apart from crank & hubs (even includes an XT seatpin, headset, sharkfin and rear U brake - but best of all, the XT thumbshifters). Also found a couple of syncros stems and half a cooke bros crank.
So my plans have now changed (yet again) - going to pick up a nice retro frame or knackered bike with good frame off the bay and rebuild the bike I would have dreamed of owing back in the day (a high end Marin e.g. IFT, Kona or even Orange if I find a reasonable priced one in a large frame size).
The missus ain't going to be happy....
I stumbled on this site and have been lurking for the past few weeks....with the nice weather, I had an idea to drag my old (93 I think) Raleigh Apex (Reynolds K2) out of the cellar after about 15 years of non use and get it road/trail worthy again.
Although it was in good cosmetic condition, it needed loads of work (BB, Freewheel, crankset etc.) which I didn't really have time for - so I bit the bullet and bought a cheap 2000/2001 Marin Palisades off the Bay (with front suspension).
After riding that for about a week, I've decided I hate it(!) and have reverted to the original plan of rebuilding the Raleigh. Or so I thought....
Since then, I remembered that whilst the Raleigh was OK, it wasn't a patch on the Marin Bear Valley I had stolen a short while before buying the Raleigh - so I began my search for a 90s-ish Bear Valley on the Bay.
Then another development.... whilst clearing out the cellar to make way for space to build these bike(s), I found an old box of components that hadn't been touched for years - imagine my delight when I opened the box to find an almost complete XT groupset virtually brand new (I recall buying it off a mate who stripped it off a brand new bike years ago - it's complete apart from crank & hubs (even includes an XT seatpin, headset, sharkfin and rear U brake - but best of all, the XT thumbshifters). Also found a couple of syncros stems and half a cooke bros crank.
So my plans have now changed (yet again) - going to pick up a nice retro frame or knackered bike with good frame off the bay and rebuild the bike I would have dreamed of owing back in the day (a high end Marin e.g. IFT, Kona or even Orange if I find a reasonable priced one in a large frame size).
The missus ain't going to be happy....
. I'm on my 3rd retro ride in a year and the Mrs is becoming increasingly suspicious at me spending so much time in my man cave 
