wallonie11
Retro Guru
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I found this 'old mountain bike, needs work' on the local marketplace for £20
It looked worth the risk
I picked it up from a lovely guy who had enjoyed it when he was younger, but it had recently been left outside for a few weeks to make way for a modern replacement.
I got it home and it stripped really easily, no stress with removing BB, forks still smooth. Only issues were a split sidewall, rusted chain and cables, and wrong size seatpost that had been stuck in place with duct tape.
I had a lovely green 853 Kili before and parted with it with regret. This is a slightly lower range Tange Prestige, but still with Ritchey dropouts, wishbone stays etc.
However, the major issue, is it was released at the end of 1998 for the 1999 season, so doesn't belong in this forum thread at all (regardless of purple anodizing on the pedals). [Apologies mods, just looked again and see there is a 1998 plus thread]
Cleaned and built up it is pretty clean.
It's got pretty neat build kit, XT hubs, mavic rims, LX transmission. Downsides are a cheap crankset (EU Bicycle Corp?) and Alivio v brakes which seem to work fine, but look less good.
I plan to keep it long enough to have some fun on the trails and get it properly dirty, but at some point I'll need to recover some space in the shed and my £20 investment
Did anyone have one of these new? I think the frames look fabulous, but at same time consider 80mm forks and four arm cranks as an unfortunate aesthetic development.
It looked worth the risk
I picked it up from a lovely guy who had enjoyed it when he was younger, but it had recently been left outside for a few weeks to make way for a modern replacement.
I got it home and it stripped really easily, no stress with removing BB, forks still smooth. Only issues were a split sidewall, rusted chain and cables, and wrong size seatpost that had been stuck in place with duct tape.
I had a lovely green 853 Kili before and parted with it with regret. This is a slightly lower range Tange Prestige, but still with Ritchey dropouts, wishbone stays etc.
However, the major issue, is it was released at the end of 1998 for the 1999 season, so doesn't belong in this forum thread at all (regardless of purple anodizing on the pedals). [Apologies mods, just looked again and see there is a 1998 plus thread]
Cleaned and built up it is pretty clean.
It's got pretty neat build kit, XT hubs, mavic rims, LX transmission. Downsides are a cheap crankset (EU Bicycle Corp?) and Alivio v brakes which seem to work fine, but look less good.
I plan to keep it long enough to have some fun on the trails and get it properly dirty, but at some point I'll need to recover some space in the shed and my £20 investment
Did anyone have one of these new? I think the frames look fabulous, but at same time consider 80mm forks and four arm cranks as an unfortunate aesthetic development.
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