Hi, new here.
Been riding MTBs since very late 80s / turn of the 90s. First attempt at an MTB, was a Raliegh Mustang, with the lilac fancy paintjob. Heavy as hell, but I changed a lot on it - some Rigida Alloy wheels (came with steel, un-brake-ables (and yes I meant brake not break ;-)), Suntour XC sommat-or-other gears and shifters, stem, seatpost and handlebars and the normal shenanigans.
First real MTB was a 92 Diamondback Apex - very similar to the one on around page 4 of this thread, 'cept that one must have been a year earlier, or so, as the 92s had that stripe / splatter thing on top of the red paint (the Axis was lime green with the splatter / stripe). Bought it largely because I'd lusted after an Ascent EX for a year or two, and the Apex had just had a great review in MBUK. Think it was a True Temper AVR frameset, Deore DX gruppo, with Sun (Avenir badged) rims.
I loved that bike - rode it for miles everywhere, on road and off. I've still got the wheels from it (Sun rims on Deore DX hubs, serviced by mine own hand, no less...) - albeit the back one is a bit taco'd. It's on a wheel jig in the loft, but I suspect is beyond help. It got buckled by a would-be thief, trying to kick it away from whatever it was locked to. The ne'er-do-well didn't manage it, but bent the back wheel, and chain. So at that point, ('95) I did some replacing of damaged bits, and slight upgrading - Campag rims with XT hubs, new cassette (11-28 IIRC), new Sedis chain, and new rings on the front with middle and big being 52 and 42 - by this point, practically all of my cycling was on-road.
I'd just about got it fettled with those bits, when some scally nicked it out of my then girlfriend's dad's garage. Gutted wouldn't be adequate to describe it.
It got replaced with what was then the current Apex - a 95 version, which is what is still currently my main bike - and I'm rather sentimentally hoping it will be forever. Matt navy blue paint-job (think it was also available in matt red). In some ways I've been happier with this bike - it was an improvement, thoroughly lighter, and the frame was now spec'd with the bike above (Axis) as opposed to my previous Apex which was really spec'd like an Ascent EX with better bits.
True Temper TT Lite steel frame, Mavic M230s - probably a bit too light for heavy off-road, but more than adequate for on-road. Largely Deore LX throughout, with the odd exception (Sugino chainset). Only things I've really changed are seatpost (I think), lighter handlebars (albeit not by much, as the Bontrager ones were already quite light), what was then the de-facto MTB road tyres (Tioga City Slickers) are still on, and some Tioga Surefoot VI pedals (still can't get along with spuds).
I'll post some pics of it, when I get chance, but as a warning - it's never been off-road, so looks a bit domestic, with some plastic clip on mudguards and road tyres.
The only problem I've had is the rear LX rapidfire-plus-thingmy kept losing all it's tension (due to a few years of it not doing much), I tried the flushing it with WD40 once sucessfully, but the 2nd time, it was no go. So had to get another shifter for it. Got a job lot of new stuff (Alivio I think) from the 'bay, temporarily, at the time, to tide me over. Main problem is it's cantis as stock, but levers seem to be mainly V-brakes, now. So I've just had to bung the Alivio (or is it Acera - can't keep up with 'em...) shifter / brake lever combo, and put a V-brake on the front. Haven't messed with the rear brake and lever and shifter combo yet.
I've got some separate XT shifters, and Deore Brake levers (V) to go on, at some point. I must confess, though, I still prefer cantis, ever-so-slightly, over Vs.
The irony is, I bought a cheap (£50) hack bike recently so that I can use it for when I need to leave a bike locked up somewhere, and not risk my Apex being nicked, it's an Apollo Cafe 2 thing from a few years back. Probably wouldn't be offensively heavy, if not for the daft lump of suspension fork on the front. It's got really narrow Alesa 700c rims (on Maillard hubs) on it - but here's the kicker, it's got V brakes on - and no signs of cantis (no hangers anywhere), but the shifters are a mismatch of Deore LX and STX (I think) but the brake levers are canti not V brake - so stopping the thing is a little, well, different.
My plans for that, are build some wheels (I'll probably use the rims as is) with a freehub on the back (it's currently got a 7 speed screw on cassette), bin the suspension fork for a rigid one.
Not that I'm a luddite, but I like my bikes rigid, lighter the better, and ideally with cantis - I see the benefit of V brakes - easy to setup and get working, and no need for cable hangers. I just wish that there wasn't such a difference in mechanical advantage (or - I recognise not in their interests - the manufacturers had been cleverer with their brake lever designs so that either could be adapted).
I'll post some pics when I get chance. I think I've still got the brochure for my 95 Apex, and probably the 92 one - maybe even the MBUK reviews, so if I ever find 'em, I'll see if I could upload scans.
A Newbie.
