curbtender

People are dumping a lot of quality 26" ers out here. Not bad... GIANT ANTHEM MOUNTAIN BIKE!

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Stowe and smuggs are less about downhill than whiteface and more about single track and both have a smattering of easily accessible machine made trails that beginners can get off the pavement on. Off the well-mapped and beaten path theres a lot of gnarly technical singletrack out there too that's largely maintained by hardcore vigilantes and only ridden by locals who know where the hell they are going.

Is a Specialized Hard Rock worth my time?? Bearing in mind I own a crapton of road machines and whatever I get is really only gonna be ridden on the road for the half mile between my house and the trailhead.

Clang

In my experience, Hard Rocks and Rockhoppers are priced similarly (~$100), despite Rockhoppers being the tier above. So my advice would be to hold out for a Rockhopper. I have a '93 Rockhopper Sport and it's a nice little bike.

You could get a Stumpjumper too, but around where I live, they're premium priced at around $200.

Clang

I took a look at Vermont CL and it's weird that it wasn't divided into smaller areas. I just wanted to see what was out there. Don't know how tall you are. Most of these are small to tiny (except for the Yokota).

1993 Trek 930 - $75 (Barre)

1 rd bike -2 mtn bikes


Diamondback Ascent EX 21 speed mtn - $80 (Hartland Vt)

Diamondback Ascent EX 21 speed mtn


Two Mountain bikes* - $125 (E.Thetford VT) (*Schwinn Sierra)

Two Mountain bikes


Specialized Rock Hopper Touring Bike - $125 (Waterbury Center)

Specialized Rock Hopper Touring Bike


Yokota Yosemite 21 speed 21 inch 32 S/O - $125 (Hartland Vt)

Yokota Yosemite 21 speed 21 inch 32 S/O

bane

I went through this a couple years ago and ended up with an early 2000's xc frame that I built up on the cheap. Bianchi's don't come up very often, but the Grizzly and team bikes (Martini and Motorex colors) are great.

2002 Bianchi Tycoon XL Boron by Peter Sims, on Flickr

The Jamis Dragon is a great steel frame that Jamis has been making forever so there are a ton out there. I would also look out for Salsa, Kona, Rocky Mountain, and VooDoo. Keep in mind that old suspension forks often need some maintenance if they haven't been looked after properly. Marzocchi's up to about 2001 have a reputation for being very durable. Old Rock Shocks SID is the opposite, wobbly and leaky seals.

LesterOfPuppets

Speaking of Bianchis, This is my favorite classic MTB on VT CL right now. Maybe they'd let it go for $200???

Bianchi Doardo Prestige Mountain Bike



Looks like the previous owner coulda used a shorter stem.

LesterOfPuppets

Small Ascent EX for $80

Diamondback Ascent EX 21 speed mtn

Darth Lefty 

I agree. I only mentioned the Hardrock because it's my frame of reference, so to speak.

My point was that 2002 vintage Specialized frames, with both disk and V brake mounts and 1-1/8 headsets, have the ability to carry nearly every modern convenience, and they had aluminum frame design and fancy suspension sorted out. So probably do contemporary Treks and Cannondales and Giants. Mid-1990's XC bikes still have elastomer forks and canti brakes and 1" stems; the premium bikes had experimental frames that might have been metal matrix composite (Specialized) or tubes-and-glue (Trek and Giant).

LesterOfPuppets

Plenty of 1-1/8" bikes were out there by 1995. Canti's took 'til 1997 to essentially completely disappear on quality bikes, but I kinda like cantis. You can run full length housing to the back brake or put a clamp-on cable stop towards the rear of the top tube to run Vees. As for the forks, I usually run full rigid but yeah, definitely go 1-1/8 if you wanna get good sproing up front. Even if you end up with 1-1/8" threaded, you can swap out fork and headset. Maybe $20 for an OK headset.

There are only a couple of good, light, straight-steerer 26" suspension forks available new, so you'll soon have to hit the bins for those.

LesterOfPuppets

I wouldn't go below Rockhopper in Spec land.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Thanks for all the suggestions, really helpful.


Yeah we have such a small population that if they broke it up in to multiple regions there'd be like 2 posts daily to each region/city. But i digress.

Lazyass

They were fine brand new and they're fine today.

I cannot stand rigid forks. I'm not sure why they've become popular. I don't like my fillings rattling out when I'm hammering through roots and rocks. The week after I bought my brand new '93 Trek 8000 for $1000 I bought a Mag 21. I like MTB's from the XTR M900, XT M735 and LX M560 8 speed era. Don't like anything earlier. Mag 21, Manitou 3/4, Marzocchi XC/DH3, ect. Around '93-'97 or so, when mountain biking exploded, there were countless builders, very cool bikes and some crazy parts coming out. That's my era for mountain bikes.

kunsunoke 

The Hardrock is low-end and heavy. The weight of the bike will become a liability in the woods. Also, the mechs probably shift...okay, but IMHO in the single track and on climbs, shifting okay isn't good enough.

Hold out for at least a Rockhopper. If timing is right, and you're willing to move fast - you may bag a Stumpy instead.

Mountain bikers tend not to be as concerned as roadies about parts, groupsets, etc. They will bust your chops if you forget trail etiquette (uphill riders have ROW), leave trash around or do anything to destroy the trail (skids).

I've also found they do appreciate old-time classics. Japan-built Bridgestones & Specs or boutique built bikes from the Golden Age (Fat Chance, EWR, BREW, Merlin, Bontrager, Yeti, Ventana, Ibis, Mountain Goat, IF, Brodie) usually get love on the trail, particularly if they're dirty, scratched and showing signs of love through the ages.

gomango

Two recommendations from me:

Any Bridgestone MB1 is a great vintage mtb.



I would also recommend a mid 90s Yeti ARC if you can find one.



I've seen nice examples of both of these in the $3-400 range.

Don't forget to put on modern mtb tires and brake pads. Those are the two most important upgrades to make.

I like Shimano XT as a cost effective groupset, but Deore works great as well.

XTR is a luxury item, but heh, if the used bike has it that's great.

LesterOfPuppets

+1. And twos and threes are just about as nice, but often cheaper.

If you don't mind driving a bit, there's a sweet MB3 on the Boston CL asking $160:

https://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/bik/5161415137.html

Definitely needs bar plugs and probably needs tires... maybe more.

CannedPakes

If you plan on doing more than beginner trails, rigid will be very uncomfortable.

gomango

I did that for years.

Last winter I bought a Niner Air 9 and built it with XT.

Full squishy rocks!!!!

I still dig these vintage mtbs though.

Loads of fun, utility and charm.

lotekmod

I guess my first question for you is why vintage? I know that might be an odd question on this forum, but as much as I love vintage road bikes, I embrace all the modern advances when it comes to mountain bikes. Disc brakes, large volume large diameter tubeless tires, 100+mm of smooth, plush suspension... I want it all when I'm heading down through the rocky trenches.

Do you want vintage because it's affordable? Can't fault you there, old MTBs are dirt cheap compared to the $2k "starter" bikes out now. If it's for the street cred you mentioned then prepare to cough up some dough. You won't get any cred on a 25 year old Rockhopper, and a Ritchey or Fat Chance will cost you dearly.

If you really want vintage I will echo what others have said and get something from the mid '90s. Those bike will have frames made for front suspension as well as having 1-1/8" headsets which will widen your fork choices. I'm kind of torn on vintage suspension forks. I think most of them are so inferior to modern forks that I would rather ride a rigid fork. I still ride my '94 Kona which is set up rigid. It is a challenge to ride that bike on the rocky trails near my home, but I enjoy that challenge from time to time, sometimes just for the nostalgia of what it was like to ride that bike when it was new. I can't ride it for as long, or as fast, and I would say not as safely as my modern bike though.

If you're looking for an affordable bike to get back into mountain biking I would say go vintage but do not dump any money into it unless it is something truly collectible. Get new tires and get the largest sized tires that will fit in your frame and fork, and run them at the lowest pressure you can without getting pinch flats. I ran 2.0" tires at 50-60psi in the early '90s like everyone else. We were all idiots. Now I'm running 2.35" tires at 20psi... all the difference in the world. Larger tires at lower pressure= faster, even the roadies are getting it now.

If you get hooked on mountain biking again invest in something new.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Lotek! Thanks for the words.

I've never actually ridden a full suspension bike. All the mtb'ing I used to do was on a rigid bike. I've got a 90s Specialized Ground Control maybe I should put together. Are those any good?

curbtender

I see flip/upgrade opportunity...

1 rd bike -2 mtn bikes

gaucho777 

HTFU with a rigid fork. It's good for the guns.



Don't sleep on Parkpre either. They aren't as well known so tend go fairly cheaply. Sledge Hammer (no suspension) was the top model in the early 90s, then replaced by the 925 (suspension fork) in 1995. These usually come equipped with Deore XT. The bike above was my former teammate's bike; he won the Junior World MTB Championship in 1990.

Vintage Ritchey, Ibis, Fat Chance, Klein, all have street cred, or is that trail cred? FTW (Frank the Welder, fellow Vermont resident) makes some awesome MTBs as well.

dgodave

I recommend a susp fork.

Done tons of rigid riding, and tons with front susp. The difference in pain and suffering is real. I dont really think rear susp is worth the weight/hassle/cost.