The 'Introduce Yourself Here' thread

[dookie]

Greetings from the USA (need shipping help?)

Hello mates...or as they say in these parts, hey y'all! I'm across the pond and have been in the cycling world since the mid-80s!

I'm always happy to facilitate shipping for anyone, but you'll have to do the buying. Just PM me.

The current stable:
~1990 Scapin EL-OS roadie, w/complete Chorus 8spd Ergo group http://middlepath.gotdns.com/bikes/scapin.jpg
1992 Paramount PDG90, mixed bag, just posted in 'Readers Rides' http://middlepath.gotdns.com/bikes/pdg90.jpg
1999 Kona King Kahuna http://middlepath.gotdns.com/bikes/kona.jpg

Previous rides:
late 80's Miele road, Columbus Cromor w/600 Ultegra group - stolen
late 80's Shogun Prarie Breaker Pro, Tange Prestige w/XT
mid-80's Miyata Terra Runner, lugged Tange #1 w/Deore

 

[polo66]

hello,
i'm new for this forum (excuse my english, i'm french!).
I practice mountain bike since 1991 with a Giant coldrock (purple and white). I had after a Scott Superlite in aluminum and Deore DX group.
I had a Stumpjumper M2 in 95 (i ever got it) and a ground control in 97.
I've got now a Specialized Epic Sworks and a Emery titanium (french brand which produced betwen 91 and 95) with a Mag 21 SL Ti, a Cook Bros crankset, Paul/Proshift brakes...
A nd i leave in the south of France, near the mediterranean sea ( less than 2 kilometers), near Spain.
I also practice road bike, tandem (mountain bike) and kitesurf!

 

[shedrat29]

Gidday, really enjoying this retro thing. Got most of the parts for my first bike while living in Mill Valley Ca in 83.Got a new set of Stumpjumper wheels from Mill Valley Cycles, they got me a tubing set from Tom Ritchey then built it up late 83 when I returned home. (still got that puppy)Did a lot of racing over the years, got to the 88 Worlds at Mammoth which was a hoot. Had a couple of bikeshops , the coolest which was the ChainGang (in New Zealand with US ChainGang Garys blessing) now long gone. Still got a bit of a collection of some of my bikes and a few others. Just starting to drag them out of the loft and ride them again, some of them are down right scary (21" toptubes and 150mm stems) I'm looking forward to being a regular visitor,some great history in England.

 

[kd498]

Hello,
Finally been forced to join to answer a wanted request.
Can't say i ever made a choice to be retro, but it just looks right.
And can fit around the budget if I am realistic.....
That is until the weight weenie thing raises its ugly head.
Single speeding everything keeps the weight and costs down though.

Giant MCM from around '96 in the stable, i'll post shortly.
Dynatech MT4, currently as a bare naked frame.
Specialized Rockhopper Comp Nitanium, build in progress.
Raleigh Technium Heat - too big, white, aging - build not going to ever start.
As an OT - Bianchi Road bike of unknown late 80's era, build in progress.

 

[spline72]

Hi all, well i have posted once ot twice here recently with My latest bike build , a N.O.S GT LTS 1998 LTS 1000 DS.

I have been into mountain bikes since i bought a second hand muddy fox courier comp way back in 1988 or so.
i remember it being a wreck when i bought it and upgraded it and resprayed it, so i suppose that was my first restoration project.

I then after riding that bike into the ground went on to buy my first propper bike, a Raleigh Dynatech voyager (1992) with complete campagnolo groupset, it was the first and i think the last mountain bike groupset they made, it had some god damn awful gripshift shifters that were the width of the whole grip and a small pebble on the train caused the rear derailer to shift into the top gear bringing you to a grinding hault. i lived with this bike for several years( it still lives in my garage waiting to be reanimated).

my third bike (1994) was a Chas Roberts White Spider Comp which i built up with pace RC35 AB forks and tricked out with USE components and a custom made"suspension" hub made by my Dad who makes CNC components for racing cars, had that front wheel snowflaked, and the mix of XT and boutique parts which i raced for many years until it got hit in a hit and run( how gutted was I ! )

then took some time out , got a job in London lived the life and then in 1998 walked past a window of a big chain of bike stores and saw an acid orange GT LTS 1000 DS smiling at me through the window, so had to buy that!
i have lived with this bike for 8-9 years now riding it every day of the week( commuting in the week and then bashing the trails at the weekend)

This bike has been so good to me and is upgraded over the years with peroid components and has only in the last month been hung up in favour for a Brand new GT LTS 1000 DS i have just built from a frame i got imported from San Francisco .

Rather than building this one up with period components i have done a what if? and built it up with 2007 components and i am looking into retro fitting it with a Fox float propedal off a Cannondale Jekyll to improve on the rockshox that is on there.

well sorry for all the waffle, hopefully it will give you a few bits of info about me.

hope your all still awake after that!

 

[JeRkY]

Hi, Been into mountain biking since 1990 when i slapped some flat bars on my peugot racer and some "chunky -ish" tyres in an attempt to create my first "off road bike"

In 1994 i got my first real bike after a succession of raleigh heavy weights . My marin bear valley. The same year i went serious on my savings and put together my marin team (steel) with full XT and pace rc35 forks.

Along the way other bikes came and went but ive always kept the marin, and that is the reason i ended up on these boards, looking for info to assist me rebuilding in order to get back cycling after a break of 8 years.

(just ordered a new set of elastomers for the RC35' )

Reading some of the threads here has truely inspired me.

 

[kingroon]

Giant MCM from around '96 in the stable, i'll post shortly.

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing the MCM!

 

[splodge]

Hi all....

I thought I'd better introduce myself as I've posted a few comments about stuff already.
I originally found this site after researching information regarding the KIRK REVOLUTION.
As I didnt know much about the bike itself, it was good to read all the comments about what peps thought !! :roll:
Anyway...as the bike is mint (stored indoors, rode about twice) I thought I'd just see how much...if anything they were worth. Turns out...watching e-bay and this forum...it's a bit up & down.
I will have to sell it as I just havent got room anymore, got to get it out of the bedroom...real turn off !!
My latest project has been a restoration of a Raleigh Burner..now complete...and I have a Barracuda ? (Nevada). I'm in the process of a strip & re-build.
I found this whilst out on my other crappy mountain bike ...dumped...2 flat tyres...no pedals...but better than the crappy one I've got !! I think the full suspension did it !!....anyway...I dragged it home...got a few funny looks along the way and proceeded to strip it down....turns out it's pretty dam decent...so I'll get rid of my crappy MTB and use this one when I've re-built it.

Anyway...am rabbitttinnn now....if anyone is interested in the KIRK, let me know and I'll sort out some photo's.

Cheers

Tracy AKA Splodge

 

[DJC]

Hi all from David in sunny Nottingham.
Been riding for many years, keen roadie in my younger days, as was my dad.
Has a succesion of road bikes Mercian, Holdsworth, Carlton, Dawes and a weird 1950's 3 speed Simplex Sun tandem with footbrake (?) that my brother and I used for transporting fishing gear.
Returned to the paths + trails early 90's with a GT and a Muddy Fox that were nicked from my garage, ended up with a 96 Gary Fisher Marlin, and a 96 Marin Nail FRS, and a recent Orange Gringo. The oldest lad has decided to show more interest, and have cobbled together a GT Arrowhead in safety orange, as well as buying a strange thing, think its a Raleigh, nickel plated frame , 24 speed with six on the back + 4 rings on the front ?? Well odd.
Will post a technical question shortly about updating the Manitou Mach 5 fork on the Marin, my aging back needs a touch more plushness that it can supply !.
Cheers, David

 

[Jeroen]

Well, this should be my first post on this website. I've been lurking a bit lately. A few years back I was pretty 'active' on the German classic boards, switched to MTBR.com and for some reason I kinda laid back a bit the last couple of months.

My name is Jeroen, some of you might know me, some of you might know my bikes, some of you might not know both... Im a 25 yr old mechanical engineer, designing machinery. Born and live in the Netherlands. Bike nut since '97 and more or less started 'collecting' bikes after finding my second DeKerf. I was actually already pretty pleased to be able to obtain a new Team SL straight from Chris in '00, but shortly I stumbled across a nice Generation with Brodie Gatorblade fork and some M900 parts. There it began, the stable slightly expanded since...

Please excuse my lack of info on the following list of bikes in the stable. I will make some stories around these when Im less sleepy as Iam now. Let the pics speak for themselves for now.


'00 DeKerf Team SL
'96 DeKerf Generation
'95 DeKerf Suspension (sadly not built anymore)
'93/'94 DeKerf Team

-Horizontal dropouted RaceLite, early '90s
-'95 Prototype Steel Full Suspension
-Bontrager TiLite, cracked, but repaired and finished.

A couple of Bontragers
Bontrager prototype
Bontrager TiLite Repaired in december, brushed during Xmass by myself.

'90 Rocky Mountain Summit
'86 Ritchey Commando (cracked near dropout, too big for me)
'90s Ritchey Road Classic (My first road bike)
'94 Breezer Storm in its singlespeed setup with WTB bars. Will be back to gears soon.

One of my most precious belongings and embodies much of my own idea's on frame-concepts:

'94 WTB Phoenix SE (Sadly not anywhere near trail worthy, working on that asap)

Not quite classic, but (sorry) in my eyes the only right justification of the term 'Retro' (I more use classic/vintage, as retro is something new with a blink to the past), my own creation; designed this frame past spring and worked to gether with Darren Crisp of www.crisptitanium.com to form my idea's into a riding bike. Easy to see what my inspiration was/is....

'06 Crisp Titanium singlespeed


... more detailed stories when I get around them.