Standard Issue

Considering the popularity (and rising cost) of vintage road bikes and the abundance of cheap mtbs for sale, i'd say thats a sound prediction.

frantik

do want!!!

frantik

luckily sensibility is never in style

realestvin7

Yes. Poor man's cyclocross/touring rig.

RFC

Love the bike. That's the one SJ I keep looking for.

due ruote 

Thanks for the compliments. Truthfully, I should probably be kicked off the thread, because I've returned this bike to the stock bars. It just wasn't seeing much mileage, and I needed the shifters for another bike.

I do like the bike, though, with the exception of the u-brake, which I find to be a PITA. This bike is a 1988; the 1989 seems very similar but loses the u-brake in favor of cantis. I'd look for that one. https://www.mombat.org/Specialized_Specs.htm

frantik

ubrake = looks sexy and good braking power, but not as easy to use as cantis

great color scheme btw.. u did a good job working off the accents for the bottle cages and bar wrap


btw.. has anyone ever put downtube shifters on their mtb?

tashi

My DeKerf, masqureading as a cyclocross bike:

inkandsilver

Love this thread. Wish I could contribute.

WickedThump

@ frantic:

I noticed the Apex in your sig. I got an 88 Apex a couple months ago, which I stripped for parts for my Cx bike. I still have the frameset and wheels, so I was thinking of "Urban Hybrid" as well. I'm curious what gearing and tires you're running.

frantik

u can click the name for pics and more info (or go here https://velospace.org/node/37032) but it's 46t front ring and 13-28 cassette in the rear. it's a good range, though i mostly use the middle 5 gears and not the top or bottom. Tires are Kenda K838 fat slicks which i highly recommend.. very smooth riding and lots of volume for a cushy ride. 60psi will give you a great ride, 80psi is stiffer but you feel faster too...

Sixty Fiver

I do not think it is masquerading... early crossers used mountain bikes and suspect my Moulden may have been built or used for this very purpose. The sloping top tube and super light frame makes it very tossable.

Also interesting to me that my Moulden is 22 years old and it's design is very close to what many modern mountain bikes look like... know that many larger companies came here to look at some of the local work as a lot of our local bikes were built for racing and our shop even produced a handful of competition mountain bikes and we have one at the shop that is in mint condition and is un-ridden.

echo

Now THAT'S a seatpost!

ThermionicScott 

BAN HIM! j/k

Yeah, they struck me as a little fiddly to set up/maintain and possibly prone to getting clogged up. You guys can tell how I solved that problem if you look close enough.

KonAaron Snake 

This is one of the bikes I've most enjoyed. I'm so glad it survived the "incident".

Chris_in_Miami

That's an interesting point, but I tend to agree with frantic's comment above. On the other hand, I've never tried to sell a drop bar conversion, but judging by how people fawn over it when I take it out on a group ride, maybe it would sell quickly. Have we just stumbled on a solution to the low value of MTBs that wrk101 mentioned earlier?

tashi

Yep, sloping top tube and 90's race bike geometry make for a real long post. I run it just past* the min insertion marks to get proper leg extension. I raced this bike with a super dorky looking high-rise stem that made it fit almost right.

*I still have proper insertion into the frame, it's OK

pretzelkins

Finally finished building up this MB-2 after buying the frame on ebay about a year ago. Been riding it all over the Berkeley hills after work lately. I really wanted something that could tackle serious trail riding but could also handle long road rides (getting to and from remote trail heads) and this bike does the trick nicely. It's a 58cm frame and I put a Schwalbe Marathon Extereme in the rear and Smart Sam in the front -both low volume, grippy, yet low rolling resistance tires.

mainstreetexile 

Loving this thread!

+1 to all of that.

Got bit by the vintage mtb bug last year, it's almost a little too easy to pick up nice, cheap, vintage mtbs so they make a great platform for customization for pretty much any purpose. I've even bought a couple small frame high-end ladies mtbs because they're usually so lightly used, they make great parts donors for other bikes.

wrk101

My only advice when you pick a bike to start with, is to aim high. Around here, a lower end vintage Trek MTB might bring $125. Meanwhile, a top of the line might bring $175. For the $50 extra, you get a bike that originally retailed for close to $900, versus one that might have retailed for $299. So everything is better on that higher end MTB: better wheels, much better frame, much better components, much lighter weight, etc. And if you shop a lot, and are willing to take on a project, you can find those higher end models for $75 or less. The Univega I started this thread with cost me $40, and I bought it from a DKO flipper. Now it was missing its wheels, but used MTB wheels are cheap. The DKO guy just didn't want to mess around with it.

+1 I buy MTBs as donors all the time, for cranks, seat posts, and other assorted parts.

blilrat

Probably pushing the vintage envelope a bit - it's a '93, but here is my favorite single track trail rider with dirt drops.

Barchettaman

I saw this on another forum, it has zero C&V content but is such a cool build IŽll put a picture up anyway and risk incurring your wrath.

The builder did it on a low budget, closeout frame and fork from Nashbar if i remember correctly.

Barchettaman

I did exactly this over the winter. I would post a picture but my neighbour has ŽborrowedŽthe bike and left it in bloody Dietzenbach. Hopefully it will retrun to frankfurt soon...

This is a smaller version of the donor frame:



The TT is a little long but a short stem kind-of fixes that. The steering is very, very slow. Anyway IŽll post pictures when it returns.

calstar 

and

Loving this thread!


Originally Posted by Velognome
I like how these builds develop in character. Gravel grinders, grocery getters, some still ready for singletrack. They seem to adapt to their enviroments rather well. Watch out Fixies, 650B-ers and Carbon Jockeys...you might be looking at the next hot trend?



+1 to all of that.

Got bit by the vintage mtb bug last year, it's almost a little too easy to pick up nice, cheap, vintage mtbs so they make a great platform for customization for pretty much any purpose. I've even bought a couple small frame high-end ladies mtbs because they're usually so lightly used, they make great parts donors for other bikes.

Ditto! I'm inspired, out to the parts bin I go.

Brian-

KonAaron Snake 

Big time +1...the better stuff sells for similar numbers to the mid-range and below.

I bought the above Litespeed ti frame for $100. Most of the parts came off of a stumpjumper that I paid $55 for. The only things I bought separately were the tektro levers, commands and bars. It is a budget build and it is an AMAZING all arounder. it is one of the most fun bikes I've owned.