HSean

These are my two. well now one Specialized Stumpjumper Fs mountainbikes. the one with a bad picture taken of it had a damaged frame but very lovely upgrades of its time, most of that is now on the other one, full shimano deore xt now.



Also have a slightly newer one behind this one in picture, never really seen one of those in them colors before.

nikku 

Latest project bike...'86 Beast of the East that has undergone an interesting transformation:

Still gotta figure out the chainline and handlebar situation (will prob need a tensioner, and will be adding a riser stem with straight bars) but this is pretty close to finished.

neo_pop_71

Hey nikku,

That's funny you mention the "interesting transformation" as that would be a progress photo over on the drop bar conversion thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ar-Conversions

Maybe the thread will inspire you to complete the build... multiple hand positions!

bigmig77

I have a number of vintage mountain bikes but this one is no longer mine; I sold it a few years back and it went back to where it came from; Fairfax, California and the home of Charlie Cunningham. It is a Cunningham Racer. I had it custom built for me; why I ever sold it I will never know. If Geoff subscribes to this Forum and would oblige me; I would love to have it back.

Elev12k

Nice Hope you will be in the position to acquire it back some day.

Lamplight

Whoa.

nikku 

heh, yeah some nice rides there. But I'm pretty set on straight bars...for now
honestly though, by "interesting transformation," I mean the paint job and component swap the bike underwent by the hands of its previous owner...not bad any means, just interesting . Rattle-canned an army green with stencils leaving the original yellow paint underneath spelling out "Cannondale" on the top tube, the components pulled off and replaced with newer parts in flat black--it will make a great knock-around SS.

neo_pop_71

D A M N ! ! !

That is my holiest of Holy Grails by the Aluminum King himself and in my ideal geometry for a C.C. Racer! Charlie Cunningham is one of those bike hero types, like John Tomac, that inspired me then and still does to this day! bigmig77, Geoff in Fairfax must have paid you a pretty penny... no regrets in life... I do hope you are able to one day reacquire that gorgeous gem!

Thanks for sharing, I love knowing there are Grails out there, gives me hope that I will one day own one!!!

-D-

pcdmiele

mostly finished 1992 Paramount PDG70. It is rideable and it climbs like a beast. but I would like a matching set of brakes and a riser handle bar. I stripped the paint and blackend the Frame with caswell plating cold tool blackening solution then clear coated with rustoleum. I made a couple of stickers for the top tube to hide the two dents and swapped on the spinergy wheels. (thanks for the spoke wrenches Neo_pop) weighs about 22 lbs on the bathroom scale. The front derailer is a suntour XC pro the rest is Deore XT 8 speed with XTR cassette. it des not like to shift up in the front under load. I think the derailleur plates may be a bit bent out. I'll have to play with those. under a light load or no load the front shift perfectly.

Italuminium

^That's absolutely badass. Cool frame finish, and those wheels make it look very fast.

neo_pop_71

Hey pcdmiele, cool, glad the wrenches arrived... thanks for the Ned Overend print! My daugter was runnin' all 'round the house looking for free space on the wall to hang the portrait of "Deadly Nedly" but I think pee-wee is going to lose the interior design argument with my wife. Thanks again!

Man R., I wish you were closer or the shipping wasn't so much, I'd have you do the same treatment to one of my spare frames, the frame came out great! Yours is the nicest PDG Paramount that I've seen. I have a spare road frame that your be ideal! I do have a spare bike bike just taking up space, maybe I'll bite the bullet if you're game to do another frame... interested?

What size clamp is your front derailleur? Top or bottom pull? I might have a XT that will work for you and complete the group and possibly solve the shifting issue. If it works out, I'll swap you straight across, my MB-1 is all XC Pro and a back up couldn't hurt to have in the bin.

Peace,

-D-

Aemmer

Hmm,
At this point in the in the game I think it is time to write it off as a fond memory. Hopefully the money got was spent on something well needed. At least you got to ride it for a while. That looks like my size. It must have been fun dealing with CC when it was made.

pcdmiele

[QUOTE=neo_pop_71;15930912]Hey pcdmiele, cool, glad the wrenches arrived... thanks for the Ned Overend print! My daugter was runnin' all 'round the house looking for free space on the wall to hang the portrait of "Deadly Nedly" but I think pee-wee is going to lose the interior design argument with my wife. Thanks again!

I agree, more of a garage/shop type of art


Man R., I wish you were closer or the shipping wasn't so much, I'd have you do the same treatment to one of my spare frames, the frame came out great! Yours is the nicest PDG Paramount that I've seen. I have a spare road frame that your be ideal! I do have a spare bike bike just taking up space, maybe I'll bite the bullet if you're game to do another frame... interested?

I'd blacken a frame for you but it would just be cheaper to order the stuff from Caswell plateing. it cost about $25 for just the blackening chemical. it mixes with water and should be enough to blacken 20+ bikes or lots and lots of bolts, wrenches etc...(anything ferrous). https://www.caswellplating.com/metal-...te-1-pint.html I f the frame is nice (no dents etc...) I would probably clear powder coat instead of rattle can and clean up the braze joints more( see pic).


What size clamp is your front derailleur? Top or bottom pull? I might have a XT that will work for you and complete the group and possibly solve the shifting issue. If it works out, I'll swap you straight across, my MB-1 is all XC Pro and a back up couldn't hurt to have in the bin.


clamp is a 28.8 bottom pull but it is a bit rough and there is some pitting that doesn't show in pic. I'd love to swap you out to "unitize" the group and hopefully fix the shifting issue.



not sure how to make these bigger

Royal

likebike23

@pcdmiele: How did you apply the blackener? They say to dip the part, seems a bike frame would be tough to dip. Also, why didn't you use their sealer?

pcdmiele

I used a piece of scotchbrite dipped repeatedly into the solution and wiped onto the bike. the more you reapply the darker it gets and you can lighten it up by scrubbing with the scotchbrite. I worked each area until I got the shade I wanted and it was even. then I rinsed with water and dried quickly with compressed air. It will rust with the blackening if you leave water just sitting on it. I only have the wax sealer and it leaves a waxy film that stays sticky. I do not have their sealer. clear rustoleum is what I had. and because of the large dents in the top tube I could't justify a Powder coat.

Royal

wintermute

Picked this up off craigslist this weekend - I think it's a 1991 Rockhopper (any help on age?) it has a Suntour gruppo with rapid fire-type shifters (sorry, been out of the MTB market for a long time). I went to look at it mainly to get wheels for my Kuwahara ATB build for cheap. I get to the seller's house, the wheels are mismatched, but I really liked how the bike felt. So hey, another bike! It needs a little work, and the top tube has a couple of dings in it, but it'll still be a fun ride.

neo_pop_71

It might be easier to date things by nailing down the Suntour components, check out MOMBAT for a Suntour history with a year by year break down. Here is a link:
https://www.mombat.org/Suntour.htm

On your rear wheel, is that a "BX-23" with a "Specialized" and "Wheelsmith" sticker I see on the rear rim? If so, that is the same hoop used on my 1991 matte gray Stumpjumper Comp, that bike was full XT... what hub is laced to that wheel? I recently recycled those wheels on my Yeti Ultimate inspired '90 Nishiki Ariel, the black anodizing is great on a very durable hoop design. Specialized sold an unbelievable number of bikes in the early 90's, you should be able to track down a front to match. You can see the same stickers, only the rear has the Wheelsmith sticker but the other two are pictured.

Smokinapankake

No offense NeoPop, but that fork just looks so wrong to my eye. Every Nishiki with elevated chainstays I've ever seen had an oh so graceful and sexy straight bladed, unicrown fork. Looks like you did a bang-up job on the paint, though. I've been contemplating a Yeti-esque paint job on my old Montagna Sommita with its Answer Accu-Trax fork lately, but the original paint is so nice I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger.....

neo_pop_71

No offense taken Smokinapankake, my long time riding friend said the same thing when I was building the bike. I like the look and performance of the Richard Cunningham designed Nishiki 4130 bikes, I have three of them ('88 Ariel w/out e-stay, '89 Alien w/e-stay, and this '90 Ariel). The '88 Ariel is stock, the '89 Alien has been rebuilt into a 1x9 96'er using a Rick Hunter SuperCrown fillet brazed straight fork... see I have love for the bladed forks. The point of this build for my daughter and I was to recycle as many parts as possible, the SOMA Cross fork was damaged, so modifying into a useful fork was inline with the build. My point in going with curved leg fork was three fold, first was to recycle parts as I mentioned, second I wanted to build something different than the other two bikes, and lastly (and most important) I wanted a more forgiving ride as I'll be doing a lot of pavement and gravel grinding with this bike. The straight blade forks are perfect for knifing through single track but they tend to be less forgiving, however the Tange Infinity of the lugged Cross fork is plush compared to the stock double butted 4130 fork on the '88 Ariel. That said, no rigid fork that I've owned or ridden compares to the SuperCrown, it's in a league all alone, Rick is a genius and his fillet brazing is a thing of beauty. I've included a photo of a raw steel SuperCrown fork... pretty brazing!!!

Javelingunner

I picked up a '90s Klein Pinnacle with this crazy looking fork attached. Any idea what it is?

LesterOfPuppets

It's a Marzocchi of some sort.

Slammin

Yes, it
looks like an XC series fork. Though none of mine have those valves.

Squeeze

I have just read this ENTIRE thread and I'd like to thank you guys for helping me decide on a commuter bike.

I had been thinking I'd need to spend $600 at a minimum for a new bike up to the task but I'm going back in time via craigslist instead. It's just a matter of time now until I find the right one.

One question for you vintage MTB experts: what do I need to be looking for if I want to mount a rear rack, fenders on both wheels, and have the option for a front rack too? Little holes in the frame around where the wheels attach?

Sorry for the super-newb question but I am a super-newb at this. Thanks.

nikku 

What you want are "eyelets," essentially just a small nut that is welded to the frame on the front fork and rear dropouts. What you want is a mid to late 80's rigid frame steel mountain bike, from pretty much any maker. I think they almost all had eyelets for racks and fenders. I know my '86 ATB does. Your options are almost limitless, vintage MTBs are plentiful and cheap, and really pragmatic as far as two-wheeled transportation is concerned (braze-ons, tons of wheel clearance, lots of them had nice robust components like Deore, cantilever brakes which are easy to maintain and service). Good luck!

Squeeze

Thanks nikku! Much appreciated.

It might be tomorrow or it might be a month from now but buying an old MTB is now my mission in life!