Post rare retro bike parts that took months to find here.

[shaun]

I will start this thread off with my rare seatpost find that took 7 months of searching.

I bought a 1999 Kona explosif built with Reynolds 853 tubing about 7 months ago and decided that I needed to simply change the in-line Kona 27.0mm seatpost to a nice quality retro looking one that had layback.

Simple I thought, but I was wrong and didn't realise how rare a 27.0mm size was! I originally wanted a 27.0mm Thomson, but I could only find an in-line version. I have heard too many bad stories about shims and others that came up were all either cheap and heavy, scratched, too short, etc, but last night after 7 months of looking I finally found and bought a 27mm x 400mm minty Raceface XY with layback for only £23.

After buying this I was still not sure if it was going to be as good as the Thomson that I wanted, so I searched the net for some reviews when it was new and this is what they had to say at the time:

What Mountain Bike - July 2003 'The XY Post is a lovely bit of engineering in a relatively light package, it's a perfect match to the Dues stem and is a great lay-back post with a guarantee of strength. The beefy clamp is machined from 6061 aluminium and the mechanism allows easy and individual adjustment of tilt, fore/aft positioning with a 5mm allen key. Side clamps are beefed up in the vital area for increased strength and it has helpful height lines on the shaft. The XY post is a classic and the 400mm variety is ideal for the taller riders needing added strength. VERDICT - Expensive but worth it for the guarantee of strength, quality and good amount of layback.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBUK Nov 2001 - 5/5 'The clamp is a work of art...,which makes finding the perfect set up easy. Verdict: Great design, excellent performance'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GoFar-mtb.com April 2001 - '....it really is possible to micro-adjust the saddle on this post, whereas the reality with more conventional designs is often very different.... way light.... a very fine piece of engineering'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBUK February 2000 - 'The XY has become our benchmark seatpost by which all others are judged. We've tried hard to bust all the ones lying around the office, and while we've knackered plenty of saddle rails in the process, all the posts remain unscathed'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBR October 1999 - 'A mega-adjustable lightweight post'...'it's top quality'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maximum Mountain Bike September 1999 - 'the saddle's easy to fit and adjust, solid as oak when fitted and the post offers up to an inch of layback'...'A great post'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cycling Today May 1999 - CT Choice 'Expensive but well worth it for peace of mind'...'It's good looking too'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBUK May 1999 - 5/5 'Race Face are still producing what has to be the best seatpost of all time'...'the whole thing is made to a standard NASA would be impressed with. Put simply, this is the best seatpost money can buy'...'Strong, supportive, well made and simple to fiddle with'


IF YOU HAVE ALSO SPENT MONTHS OR EVEN YEARS LOOKING FOR THAT 'CERTAIN' PART, POST A STORY AND PICTURE ON HERE AND SHARE THAT WONDERFUL MOMENT WHEN IT FINALLY ARRIVES!

 

[Maxipedia]

Hm! I feel a little bit guilty because I have this very post on my A'Ha and I did nothing special to get it. But, nevermind that, it still comes with a story! Or two...

I got this post with my 1999 Chameleon which got stolen in 2002. Long story short, I hitchhiked to the World Champs in Kaprun to see my heroes for the first time in flesh and the bike was nicked from my room back home while I was away. Apparently my folks forgot the gate to our home open... I never got the bike back and, needless to say, I was devastated. Especially because I starved myself for one year during my second year in university (literally - I mainly ate yoghurt and bread to be able to save money for that frame) and it took me one more year to get the parts together. I only rode it for a few weeks and then it was stolen. I don't know why, but before I left I swapped the Z2 on the bike with a CrMo fork and took the seatpost and the Santa Cruz seatclamp out... Maybe it was a premonition, who knows? The thing is the clamp is now on my BMX and the seatpost on the A'Ha.

But the other story is how the seatpost is a survivor. Over here in Romania we've had a golden era of mountainbiking of our own during the mid to late nineties. The sport was booming, a few sponsors were around and we even had an Answer/Manitou and Giro official dealership! A few spoiled guys got everything they wished for from a generous guy who now is behind the Fusion brand in Germany. He moved a lot for mountainbiking in Romania and if there is a place to be grateful, then this is, so thank you Gabi! Moving on, one of the guys who became sponsored was a guy from Cluj (the university town I moved to for 8 years) and he was great with promoting the sport to the kids and taking care of them. A real mentor! On the other hand, he had some ridiculous stories like the one how a grip came completely loose mid-air during a jump, he looked at it in disbelief, put it back to the handlebar in one breath and then landed safely. Yes, that kind of epic person! At some point he was riding this Ballistic full-suspension for the downhill races and I guess he was pretty unpleased with its color, so he gave it to the father of a friend, who promised him he would strip the paint with some "special" acid, to make things go faster. The XY post was on that frame and what he got back after the acid treatment was just the post and fistful of aluminum dust. It was all what remained from the frame... Don't ask me how, but my friend who sold me the Chameleon got the post and then sold the frame plus extras to me.

I don't know how entertaining this was, but the above are true stories with real people. Take care of your bikes, cherish what you have and don't forget to go out riding! It's the cure to a lot of things, really!

Be safe,
Mx