Retro MTB that can perform today

[oligali]

I've ended up with and F600 in blue.
It was all going so well until i found out size large is 18" not 19". I have long-ish legs so the seatpost is truly on the limit.

if you´ve got the disc version of the F600, you could squeeze in 650B wheels, a 2" tire should just about fit, if not too knobby...
it weould be some sort of a cheat, but it could make the race easier in terms of braking and rolling resistance...

 

[Baulz]

Hard tail or 4-banger? Straight-6?

I still ride my 4-banger converted to straight 6 with my kids on our local trails.

 

[madjh]

You need something fast and light weight and you can keep up with the new Stuff. If you whant something of the 90´s the Element Team Only is a good start, but not with a Bomber, but with a SID like mine. This was mine: A Elemnt TO with a SID team, XT etc. It was 9,8 Kg and has not spececially light weight components (Wheels: Tune Prince pricess + ZTR 355)

If that was a fun and fast one. It has some isues: I didn´t like the head angle and the frame was ... flexi when you go down fast over rocks ... because this was a amazing fast bicycle. So there is a solution: a 2006 Element 70. It adds around 500gr more to the frame, but you can fit a 2018 or even more modern fork and has bearings, the other one not (that was the reason to sell, the furure will be a nightmare to find spares). This looks retro but feels so good ... So yes, 90´s but better 00´s

 

[youngsspeed]

Go big or go home!
Pull up on a Mountain Cycle San Andreas and watch jaws drop.
Also get the benefit of disc brakes.
The 2005/2006 DNA is a very good all around frame that can handle larger fork travel than the earlier frames.

 

[markjohnson76]

I still thrash my '97 Cannondale F2000 regularly. Light and agile it's a lot of fun and has never let me down. But I am 47 and hardly in the shape of Tinker Juarez in his peak....

 

[eri]

I still thrash my '97 Cannondale F2000 regularly. Light and agile it's a lot of fun and has never let me down. But I am 47 and hardly in the shape of Tinker Juarez in his peak....

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Amazing. Indeed they were amazingly supple when new but im surprised you kept yours running.

Multiple of those headshocks were very unreliable for my family. Im pissed at cannondale for leaving their customers in the lurch without parts. They were my first ‘never buy from again’ promise.

 

[Tommy27]

I've happily done 100km of gravel on my '89 Fisher and would choose that for anything gravel/ light single track that could be done on a gravel bike.

But having tried a modern bike on modern trails... I have to admit things have moved on. I got my first mountain bike at 8 in 91, rode and raced through the 90s, was riding a full sus by the end of it. Then didn't really ride mountainbikes (other than occasionally my Dad's 2003 Rockhopper). Was put right off suspension for a long time.

I've reluctantly decided a modern mountainbike, but in steel, wouldn't be the worse thing to have to ride modern trails and in all honesty if I was riding a long mountainbike route.

It's fun to ride the Fisher, it performs better than any bike I owned in the 90s, clearly having been somewhat ahead of it's time. I can still rip trails on it, but it's not as comfortable. Still gives me satisfaction to overtake someone on a full sus on a downhill though!

 

[longun]

Mid 80s saracen in the peaks, did just fine