robtown

Old school Schwinn Paramount PDB Series 70 MTB
MTB C&V, I think it has style after 22 years.

redcaymatt

What's the story with those forks? Are they bottomed out or do they have a hidden mechanism? I've seen tons of 90's suspension tech but haven't come across these before.

cyclotoine

A 5" travel full suspension XC/trail bike can easily come under 25 lbs today and will out climb anything rigid on single track. period.

IthaDan 

They're bottomed, most likely from shot elastomers.

Well, no sh*t sherlock. What the hell is the point of this post? Take a look around, this is C&V, it's not about the numbers, never has been.

E: I think I get it now. The quote button is your friend, don't be afraid.

cyclotoine

Yes laziness it too blame. I figured the conversation had been going on long enough in the last couple pages that the thread was follow-able without quoting.

It just irks me when people talk about how great C&V bikes are and allude that they are not giving up any performance or may even perform better. The reality is that is just not true. And the recent trend back to steel hardtails and even rigid is cool, but no body wants to seriously ride a full rigid mtb for the same type of riding as todays full suspension bikes are designed for. Looking at something like that trek fisher, who is going to do more than ride that on a rail trail is the point. Those guys were bombing mt Tam as hard as they could on cruisers, but they pushed the limits of technology and developed the mountain bike so they could have more fun and ride faster on more complex terrain.

redcaymatt

another reality of todays bike is that they are overkill for most of the riders that ride them & I've got to add it's pretty rare that I get out climbed by riders on full suspension xc bikes when I'm on my rigid bike. There is a skill level that you reach riding a rigid bike that you will never get on a full suspension bike, just plowing through every obstacle doesn't give you finesse it allows you to be sloppy. Just my opinion here , it shouldn't be considered the gospel truth. I will say I've been mountain biking since the mid eighties & BMX before that so i'm not a later day steel is real convert.

Sixty Fiver

Chris Igleheart is the original designer of those forks as he worked for Fat Cycles as a builder and was telling me these forks are one of the most requested items for him to build and he does of course put them on his own custom bikes.

He is now building out of Portland where he started and has been doing work for King and Breadwinner as well.

IthaDan 

I tend to agree with this. I grew up riding a rigid mtb. A LOT. I've noticed that the skills I learned riding that thing over terrain I had no place riding over has translated to all of my riding. I've been over 200# my entire adult life, but I tend to be far easier on parts like wheels and frames than my younger friends that come in under 160#. I ride 'light' in exactly the way they don't.

dveneman

Not a valuable collector or a hi performer. It's just odd and was cheap . I had to have it. For a while. Bianchi Grizzly

robtown

Yes, the the travel was about 1" from what I can google. I bought from the second owner who said they hadn't worked for the last few thousand miles. I posted because it is C&V and the bike has a sleek refined look that appeals to me.

With slick tires the bike, as is, works fine on rail trails, pavement, and surfaces like the C&O (had pack dirt, gravel, clay).

redcaymatt

Truth is Igleheart was already gone from Fat when the Yo Eddy & Big One Inch were designed. Although he does make a nice version of the fork he was not the designer & never built them while at Fat. Ask him, he'll tell you the full story.

Lamplight

I remember those Tange forks well. I don't remember them being particularly popular, maybe do to the meager (even for the time) travel.

redcaymatt

I love those Paramount mountain bikes! The forks are interesting & could be made to work with not much trouble. In case you want to repair them which is an easy job
https://www.suspensionforkparts.net/e...iewCat&catId=2

pcdmiele

how is this for C&V MTn bike? saw this at a local thrift shop.

Sixty Fiver

I have spoken with him at length... perhaps I misunderstood him when was telling me about his custom forks and how they got developed when he worked for Fat Cycles.

Bimdapogs

Recently (re)built 1994 Litespeed Obed. Only been to the trail with this once - arms were sore for a couple days.. It's more like a commuter now..

Italuminium

but boy is that a sexy beast.

plodderslusk

I am amazed at how this frame and Surly 1x1 fork handles washboards and light singletrack.

LesterOfPuppets

In the movie one guy was holed up in a bike shop for a while waiting on a fork replacement - one of those Cannondale Lefties, IIRC.

likebike23

I love this quote! I think that it is true that the advances made in mountain bike technology have made for some fantastic performing machines. As I've aged and evolved in my riding style, I'm finding the vintage mountain bikes to be extremely fun and useful. You can trail ride, commute, tour, kid carry, put drop bars, etc on these bikes and have a blast. My problem is, I really don't see all of these really nice performing full suspension rigs being practical for any other purpose after one's "extreme" phase is over. Can you see a 50 year old guy putting north road bars and getting groceries on a 5" travel dualie with disks and a triple tree front end?

neo_pop_71

It's all about the engine powering the bike and the technical riding skills... the most advanced bikes only make good riders better and mediocre riders adequate. My buddy Mark that owned TCB in Fullerton was a single speed and cyclocross trail killer. I can't tell you how many times I watched him blow by high end full suspension rigs on his rigid bikes. He could do the Fullerton Loop on his CX bike in 28 minutes and 33 minutes on his rigid single speed, compare that to pro level riders that raced (full suspension and hardtail XC) for his shop who were putting up 35 to 38 minute times. Average weekend warriors are pulling 45 minutes to an hour to do the loop. Mark's background as a top BMX racer in the 70's is what he attributed his riding level to, those BMX skills. I also raced BMX in the late 70's, you had to pick a good line or your race was done. I still apply the same principle to trail riding. I can out climb just about anything on my MB-1 and I pass full suspension bikes on the descents because I pick a fast line and hold it. What I'm about to say is purely based on my personal experience and it's not a blanket statement... so many full suspension riders are incredibly sloppy and pay little attention to their lines because they know the bike will compensate for their lack of riding skills. I'm not bashing full suspension bikes, I love my Psycle Werks WildHare, it's a total blast on certain trails but I know how to ride it. I ride the same trails that other rider do and I rarely have to true my wheels, yet at the shop where I wrench from time to time, almost all the wheel truing is done on full suspension bikes.

The point I'm making is a bike is a tool, one you either know how to use well or not, but based on my personal experiences I see a good many riders hammering nails with a Crescent wrench!!!

neo_pop_71

Hey pcdmiele, did you buy that sweet old poster? Ned "Fill Fill You With Dread" Overend aka "Deadly Nedly" was an early NORBA cross country XC god and had one of the longest careers in professional mountain biking. I think, if memory serves that Ned won the NORBA Championship 1986 through 1992. Amazing! That print from his days with Specialized riding his signature frame with first generation Rock Shox is pretty cool! I hope it wasn't too much scratch and you bought it, I would have. Thanks for sharing!

Bikedued

I must have the touch then. I have seen some completely ruined wheels as well, in my 3 years of wrenching. Never bent a wheel on ANY of my 26ers, or yet on my 29er. Not enough to where it couldn't be repaired with a few turns of a spoke wrench. ,,,,BD

Sixty Fiver

I taught my boys how to first ride the trails on rigids so they could develop good handling skills before they moved on to suspension designs and they benefitted greatly.

I prefer my steel hardtail (Rocky Mountain Blizzard) as it can handle pretty much anything, climbs like a mountain goat, and with a Reynold's 725 is as light as any of it's contemporary aluminium framed bicycles... have been thinking that if I roll those 2.35's I might swap the front fork and go full rigid as it would be like bombing my Pug on the trail where there is so much squish a suspension is not needed.

plumberroy

My $10 flea market ross . I let a co worker in need of a solid bike have my raleigh C-30 . So I needed a tinker bike to fix up found this bike. A ross mt mckinley, Figuring standard ross quality got it home found it had araya rims and shimano deore componets I believe it is a 92 left shifter was broke. I found one that works on ebay. I lubed it and have been dialing it in

Roy