fritz1255

My daughter and I were our for a jog along an old woods road about five years ago, and came upon an illegal dump site where someone had disposed of what looked like a pickup truck load of stuff. Among old lawnmowers and appliances was a mountain bike. Paint was faded and the crank was frozen, but I brought it home with the intention of salvaging some parts from it. As you can guess, I ended up fixing it up so it is at least in rideable shape. Put it side by side with my wife's new aluminum frame Trek hydrid the other day, and was astounded to discover that they both weigh about the same. I assume that this is not a department store bike. Does anyone know how much a Panasonic Mountain Cat 2500 would have retailed for when it was new (1980's, I think)?

Thumpic

I'm not sure what it retailed for new, but in pristine condition it will be worth 100 - 150 bucks. It was the middle of the pack in the Panasonic MTB lineup.

I bought this for 40$; it might fetch 100 except the paint is beat. Plus it's HUGE!! It looks like a swing set with wheels!

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fritz1255

Good grief, those are 26" wheels, I guess? That thing belongs in a bicycle freak show! But seriously,the components on yours look nicer. The front sprockets on mine are steel rather than aluminum. Also, the frame on mine is welded, not lugged. The stem looks the same, but that's about it. Not that it matters now, since I had to replace the stem with the handlebars - the old handlebars were an oddball diameter, and the replacements were too big for the original stem. Maybe Panasonic was using a different contractor when they made mine?

fritz1255

Made in Taiwan. This bike does not look like it was owned by anyone who would have bothered to change out components, so I would guess they are original. One odd thing - it has a sticker on it that indicates it came from "Bangtail Bicycles" in Bozeman Montana. We found it in New Hampshire.

fritz1255

Yes, I think you are right. Components look cheaper than ones in the pictures I have seen on the web. On the plus side, it is lighter than a typical department store bike, so it was worth saving.