bigwooly

So my brother in law recruited me to help my sister get him a mountain bike for his birthday. Are there any certain vintage ones that would be good but may need wrenching. I'm not familiar with the older mountain bike world and am just looking for some tips on what ones to look for.

I have a thread over in the mountain bikes forum with a few options. I'm not really sure any of them classify as vintage. If anyone cares to take a look at the ones i've found. here's the link to that thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...dvice-needed**

Thanks,
Wooly

CardiacKid

The first step is to figure out the proper size. The bikes you have identified seem to be all over the place in size.

oddjob2

For a 30" inseam a 15-17" frame.
I'd almost do the search by component group, ie Deore, STX. There are a lot of Specialized and GT bikes, both excellent marques. IMHO, steel over aluminum for durability particularly when you want vintage.


Nice vintage Stumpjumper for $150,but the ad is old

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/bik/3072100254.html

Gary Fisher Wahoo

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/bik/3168773187.html

GT Outpost

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/bik/3144278110.html

Captain Blight

All used mountain bikes are purple. Once you accept this, things get easier. Well, except the ones that are green.

As far as a *good* one, you will spend barely more for something pretty nice than on total junk, so don't cheap yourself out. A Schwinn Impact, High Sierra or Cimarron would be choice, esp. The Cimarron. Oh, and the Moab models, ery well thought of at the time. Bianchi Grizzly, ditto. Some of the early Ritchey, Gary Fischer, and Kieth Bontrager units are still floating around, and those are some pretty sweet frames with nice kit. I wish I knew more about this stuff, there's a lot of it out there.

oddjob2

Almost forgot, if you get a vintage bike with Shimano Altus brakes, you can count on at least 1 or more of the gray plastic spring retainers on the cantilever to be broken. As no spare parts are available, you'll need to spend 10-$18 per axle for a new brake, but at least the new ones come with new pads too.

bigwooly

Thanks for the responses. Now to narrow down choices and get the sister to fork over the dough for the bike so i can do my job of getting it safe to be ridden :-)

wrk101

My basic tip on vintage rigid frame mtbs: aim high, real high. the difference between a low end brand bike, say a Trek 800, and a high end bike, say a Trek 950, might be $50. For that extra $50, you get much better frame, much better components, much better wheels, lighter weight, on and on. That $50 difference might buy you a bike that originally sold for $900, versus one that originally sold for $250.

On the Schwinn Impact, I had one, I was not impressed. Now the Cimaron and High Sierra models are nice.

In a large market like Atlanta, surf the C/L ads that are 2, 3 or even more pages from the front. Buyers are lazy, and often don't look past the front page. While many of the old listings are sold, some aren't. I've found a few deals over the years on the 5th or 6th page. Seller didn't understand why he wasn't getting any response....

I like that Stumpjumper. Probably gone, but maybe not. Worth a check!