Stif

[brocklanders023]

Got the bus as well, X84 (I think) from Skipton. My mate and me used to stop off in Otley for a look in the R/C shop on the way home

Not sure of his name but I think there's a chap there that used to work in the original shop.

Otley Model sport and Stif... we must have bumped into each other at some point!

Used to visit both of these on as frequent basis as possible in my early teens.

We probably did mate! Didn't usually go in Chevin though as they didn't have any Oranges :roll:

I remember Freewheel in the centre of Leeds too. Got the 1990 mag and read it cover to cover at least once a week.

 

[brocklanders023]

The Skyrack was always a good place to stop for 'refreshment'... Lots of good student totty as well

Still is.

 

[jimo746]

crikey, this was bitd :shock:
I always weighed my Orange Prestige on the scales when I went in there down a proper little backstreet in Headingly it was.
About the time they moved into the 3-storey place on the main street I moved away from Leeds, but I visited their new place out in the sticks last year... bloody middle of nowhere it is! :roll:

Stif have always been purveyors of the finer things in mountainbiking

 

[Radar]

Any Leeds Student Alternative Cyclists lurking? Still got my little pink button badge somewhere.

Skyrack, my word. Tended to drink in the city centre (with exception of The Chemic). Fenton, Whitelocks (got in trouble for leaving beer rings on my marking of homework thanks to that pub), and the Duck & Drake near the corn exchange (decent freehouse). Onion bhaji or mushroom bhaji kebabs on the way home from the takeaway opposite the Uni steps.

All rides started at the end of our road on the ridge then meandered all over Leeds off road. Who was the editor of Mountain Bike International? Rode with him a few times - he lived Hyde Park Corner way if my memory serves me right. Had a very nice Specialized as his hack bike.

Me? I pootled round on a zolatone Marin Eldridge Trail (dark grey with frie engine orangey red forks and decal). For some reason I usually wore a pair of purple and green Troll climbing tights over my bike shorts. Must have clashed horribly (what with the grenadine coloured Patagonia fleece and green and white Etto helmet).

 

[justbackdated]

I have done a few services for Stif, bought all there stock of retro Pace bits a while back.
Used to to do servicing demo's for various visiting mechanics from Stif and Chevin[amongst others] when i was still at Pace, I was always really nervous but most enjoyable with a group of interested tech folk

 

[toff74]

All my mountain bikes over the years have come from Stif.. Stating with the Kona Lava Dome (not the paint speckled one, but the years after model). That was when Stif was the cool loft, just round the back of the Skyrack.

Then i bought the Orange Prestige. Now Stif (the mountain bike part anyway) had moved downstairs and had a proper showroom and workshop.

Finally the Pace RC200F2.. this was from the the swanky 3 floor premises. At that point i sort of lost interest as all the bikes were going FS and the the people there were getting unfamiliar.. i also got a belly and started drinking beer

DT, i remember him.. He worked there from the start. Then, i think, he got a sales job with GT. He did return after a few years though. I also remember the tall blonde haired chap who was the road rider.. always fascinating chatting with him. Then finally Paul the Owner. I didn't see much of him after Stif moved to the 3 floored place.

The biggest thing i remember though was that they were always friendly and never told us cheeky kids to 'go away' and 'stop asking questions'. Oh, and the bling!!!

I lived in Headingley and from the age of 14 till i was 18, I think I went there ever night from School.. Goooood Times

 

[Dossa]

My little 'nod' to Stif...

 

[mattyromper]

Re:

Aye - it was my second home as well. Two buses to get there (and a Chippy lunch in Otley on the way home ).

Do you remember the guy called DT ? Wonder if he's still there. This was in '91, '92, '93 though.

Yes DT was the guy with the glasses worked in the Original shop , the owner was Paul... when they moved to the new shop.
The mechanic`s was John King who used to work at Chevin cycles and a blonde haired kid called Robin.