dgodave

Now, I LOVE those old mountain bikes from the early 80's. I bought my first in... 82 or 83 and rode the hell out of it. But today... those old bikes dont cut it for serious mt biking; not compared to a contemporary mtb. Its the geometry. They are only good for getting groceries pretty much, or a nostalgia ride.
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(Road bikes on the other hand: their ideal form was figured out long before the 80's, and you can ride a bike from that era without much compromise at all.)
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I'm pretty sure this holds for almost all mtbs from that early era. Are there any exceptions?
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The Golden Boy 

I don't know... I've got 2 "old school" hardtail, long wheelbase mountain bikes. They're comfy. They're stable. They're burly.

My guess is that 99% of the people that ride bikes are not "mountain bikers" or "racers." They're people that enjoy riding their bikes. Some commute, some run to the grocery store, some just ride for the heck of it. Things that are perfectly suited for a comfortable, stable bike. That's a whole lot of applications for an "obsolete" bike.

jgedwa

Well, yes and no. I suppose if by "serious" you mean winning real races, then yes they are obsolete. Rigid forks, canti brakes, heavy wheels, and friction shifting are not a good recipe for top performance. And 80's MTBs with long wheelbases are just not as nimble as newer bikes.

But, they are certainly worthy for their intended purpose still. Nothing like an unsuspended bike to force you to take good lines and think about where that front wheel is at all times. For that matter, you could put a modern fork on them and have a pretty nice hardtail if the original frame was good and light.

As for them forcing more comprimises than an old road bike, I am not so sure. One way to measure how big of a comprimise there is would be to count the number of wins each type is still getting. I think it is fair to say old steel bikes with friction shifters are winning the same number of real races as old MTBs: zero.

And as for their use "getting groceries" and such, I would not look down my nose at that. I happen to think that a good utility bike is a damn fine thing. I think if more people had them, then a lot more people would be doing things around town on bikes. Put a pair of slicks on a decent old MTB, and you have a perfect fun and tough bike to be part of everyday life.

jim

BluesDaddy

I just met a guy who is one of the main movers in the local mountain bike club. He is 30-ish and thus has grown up with full-suspension bikes as the norm. He rides a Cannondale Rush, I think. Several inches of travel front and rear. This is the guy who does most of the trail layouts around the area. He has put together some advanced singletrack that is literally unrideable with anything built before say 2000. I was out with him on my '97 ATX990 and I had to dismount more than usual, and I've been riding off-road for almost 20 years. So, to sum up, it may not be only the bike's fault, it could be the direction trail-building has taken in the last 10 years.

dgodave

Thats true. I should say: obsolete for their original purpose.
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dgodave

Well, I dont really count races. Sure, at the top end of the sport you have to have a modern mountain or road bike. I'm thinking of just the riding experience.
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The road bike "format" was pretty dialed in well before the 80's, and you can have a great road ride of any type on a decent 1982 road bike. But the mtbs of that era are just stodgy and slow. They made some pretty huge leaps in frame geometry in the next 10 years, to the point where I'd feel held back by my old 82.
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And nothing at all against the town-bike, but it is kind of like "retirement" for an old mtb.
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FastJake

I think you could win races on a nice steel 80s bike with a modern drivetrain. Maybe not Cat 1 races, but races nonetheless.

However, I just don't think this is possible with the earliest mountain bikes. They're just too heavy and the geometry is too slack. Comparing my 1995 Gary Fisher Tassajara (rigid steel) to my 1984 Ross Mt. Hood, there is an incredible difference. The GF is 8 pounds lighter, has much shorter chainstays, and feels so much quicker offroad. That's not to say the Ross isn't still fun, it's just not a racer.

Maybe those old bikes are best suited for downhill events. That's what they were originally intended for, right? Repack hill?

LesterOfPuppets

Actually a lot of bikes these days have super slack HT and ST angles of the MTBs of yore. Unless you're looking at XC race bikes, a 70 or less degree HT is not too uncommon on new bikes.

I think the worldwide mean MTB HT angle peaked around 1997.

dgodave

I remember when Specialized went completely the other way, and their team Stumpjumpers were parallel 74d (or 75d?) angles.
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(oh.... and they were pink.)
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Velognome 

ob·so·lete (bs-lt, bs-lt)
adj. 1. No longer in use: an obsolete word.
2. Outmoded in design, style, or construction: an obsolete locomotive.


Not obsolete more like evolved! In my neighborhood they haul bags of cloths to the laundry, are the most common commuter bike, make grocery runs, are basic transportation and for me it made a fine winter beater

dgodave

I mean definition #2... to the point where you really wouldnt want one for its original purpose.
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Otis

My original '86 Schwinn High Sierra is fantastic for running my dog on the local single track every day. I can get like three feet of air sometimes...........

balindamood

I agree 100%. As a public service, you may send all of your obsolete mountain bikes to me and I will dispose of them for you, free of charge (except shipping).

I would submit a slightly different perspective. While some of my old tanks may not be as nimble as newer bikes over more technical terrain, they will go over most of it. They will also cruise over pavement very comfortably where many of the newer bikes are not quite as good.

Just a thought.

kroozer 

I think there's no question that the old mtb's are pretty much obsolete for serious off-road riding. What everyone else is saying is that they're still very useful for a variety of other tasks. For rough streets/roads, heavy hauling, etc., they're probably the best option out there, bar none. In fact, they seem so practical that I'm kind of wondering when they're going to start making them again.

tashi

And a modern 5.5" travel lightweight full suspension trail bike will slay that one. I find modern mountain bikes (suspension and rigid) too awesome to ride anything else if high performance is my goal.

IMO: 80's ones are great for utility cruisers, and 90's ones make good cheap cyclocross or commuters. But not for hard mountain biking. 80's ones are too slow, rigid and brake and shift poorly. 90's ones have waaaaaay too aggressive a body position and have terrible suspension.

YMMV of course.

frantik

why can't you ride the hell out of one now?

vintage mtbs are awesome city bikes. most mtbs sold in the 80s never saw a mountain anyways

rhm

The best part of this thread, it seems to me, is the implication that someone is actually riding modern mountain bikes on mountains. I'm glad to hear that. I see mountain bikes all over the place... full suspension MTB's, knobby tires and all, riding the streets of New York... doing laps in Central Park... what's up with that?
This summer I was in my local bike shop on Long Island and was amazed at the number of "mountain bikes" in there, at a wide range of price points, and... uh, where's the mountain, guys? For those of you who haven't experienced it, Long Island is flat, and is too sandy for any real off-road riding. Evidently there's a market for MTB's even where there are no MT's, and this strikes me as a major failure on the part of an industry that's more interested in sales than in customer satisfaction.

jeepr

rhm beat me to it! Not many mountain bikes (in my area) have actually been off the pavement. I think they are great for a utility bike or a fire-road/2-track rider. Camping is pretty big in Michigan, and the older mountain bikes are perfect for gravel roads.

I have converted a lot of older mountain bikes to road-oriented tires for quite a few people. They like the fatter tires than what's on most road bikes. Less likely to ruin a tire or rim on a pot hole or curb. The most technical thing most of them will ever do is ride across the grass somewhere.

Back when mountain bikes started selling like hotcakes, there wasn't a huge choice. I think people liked the idea of a mountain bike, without the actual mountains. If you wanted a fat tire bike years ago, you had to get something like the Schwinn heavy duty, which weighed like 50 pounds. Mountain bikes bridged the gap, in my opinion.

20grit

I've never felt my early 90's Stumpjumper Comp frame was what was holding me back in some of the riding I've done. It was always the components, especially the brakes. I've actually put newer shifters on the bike since I last rode it but haven't tested them out yet.

When you get down to it though... the canti's couldn't compete with people riding V brakes. The people riding with V brakes couldn't compete with discs. I now ride my Cannondale with hydraulic discs when I ride with friends.

rootboy 

All old bikes are obsolete. Aren't they?

Velognome 

Damn rigid frame is whats holding me back


This thread needs photos of the "obsolete' beasts

mparker326

The OP needs to go on the road bike forum and post and see what kind of response he gets.

20grit

The bikes are far from obsolete. Many won't see mountain use again, mine did this summer. Mine will continue to get more off road use than a lot of older mountain bikes, but it will be used as a farm bike when I go home. It's not going to be doing any group trail rides any time soon.

People using them as grocery getters, commuters, tourers and the like prove their not obsolete. Re-purposing =/= obsolescence.

dgodave

Well, things had evolved a lot by the early 90's. I'm thinking more of the early 80's mt bikes.
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Chris_in_Miami

Always happy to oblige This rider needs to get a clue that he can't ride an old MTB offroad:



Just teasing, I know that was not dgodave's point and I agree with him that the sport has evolved beyond the technical limits of the hardware it was built on.

I will say that my old MTBs are still completely relevant for the type of riding that I originally intended to do.