Originally Posted by
RiddleOfSteel
Interesting to hear that vintage MTBs continue to really take off. I've known for a little bit that they make excellent (city) commuters as they are rugged, stable, have tons of tire + fender clearance, and dirt cheap. Add in some super sweet paint jobs and a 'customer' base that cares not too much for lugs vs. welds (like, to the high degree that us vintage roadies do), and the world is one's oyster.
I never understood why the early 90's iteration of the Specialized Sequoia never took of. They basically took a Rockhopper (I think, pretty sure it wasn't a Stumpjumber) frame, moved the canti posts to accomodate 700c tires, and added a braze on to the seat tube to so you could control a Union generator light. Sturdy tubing, lots of clearance (well, relatively, I think you could only fit 700c x 38 if you used fenders, lots of braze ons, it seemed like a great idea. If only the frame I have in my basement were ~5cm larger than the 58cm it is, I'd have built it up long ago. I keep thinking about doing it with a long seatpost and a big stem, but then I think about the other frames I have to build up first and it keeps getting put off.
Originally Posted by
RiddleOfSteel
I'm at the point that vintage frames get built with STI/Ergos and priced decently because 1) It's a built bike 2) it functions in a modern, appealing fashion 3) yet is still classy and affordable.
I'm with you completely on that. As someone who is 40 and grew up with a mtb that had SIS shifting, I can appreciate downtube/bar end shifters (and have been known to use them in friction on a commuter that I didn't care if it got banged around), but I just don't have the nostalgia factor for someone who grew up with those.
Originally Posted by
RiddleOfSteel
The market for complete vintage 63cm+ bikes is small. The market for that size of frameset to buy and build is even smaller. There are what, a couple dozen of us total? Hahaha.
Yeah, the limited market for our sized frames has led me down the dark path of buying things too small and trying to make them fit. On the other hand, once I got rid of those, my stable is much smaller than that of many of the people here, and my wife appreciates that (or she would if she knew what I wish I had).