Always wanted a Klein Mantra! Too expensive to justify these days for a bike that reportedly has very odd handling. The most extreme URT bike ever made I’d have thought. Don’t they try to catapault you over the handlebars every time you go downhill?

Would quite like a Mantra frame just to put on the wall of the garage and admire.

Newrobdob, my dad has that exact frame/fork sitting in his garage, think it’s even a similar build. Who did the restoration for you? The chainstay bridge on his looks awfully corroded, put me off the idea a little.

Firestarter, is that a new paintjob or the original?

Both: easy enough to get new period correct decals?

Might try and persuade my dad to get it restored after all, was great fun to ride.

Love the P20, P20. Those Avid brakes are so hard to find…

13th, all done myself. I’ll find a link to the build.

EDIT http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=237961

All done myself!

It cost me waaaaay more than it’s worth to restore it but it has sentimental value and it’s still the best bike I’ve ever ridden.

Decals can be bought from Gil at the Bike Shed, he has hundreds on file scanned or designed from originals.

The tubing decal can be reprinted but this one I have is a NOS one which is miles better. It cost me £20 ish just for that decal.

Tried to find original parts OR new parts which matched the originals. Only change really was the V-brakes as the original Kona cantis were beyond crap even for cantis.

NOS XT chainset wasn’t easy to find but easier than the original spec Sugino one.

Joebristol – yep the handling was “interesting”, I stuck slightly longer forks on it (100/120 can’t remember) to slacken & raise the front slightly – actually rode ok as long as you kept your arse on the saddle & didn’t try anything steep too quickly… early Klein produced ones came with a rigid fork iirc but Trek apparently didn’t think they’d sell that way & the fluorescent pogo stick / space hopper hybrid was born 😆

Newrobdob, including the paintwork etc? Impressive!

My dad actually has the XT cranks that came with his, and some nice Syncros stuff. Unfortunately I ‘borrowed’ the titanium X-Lite handlebars that it came with and destroyed them in a crash 🙁

Got a 98 Zaskar I still ride, not really a retro bike though as I fitted 100mm Recon Silver forks and upgraded the drive train to Hollowtech2. Not sure I could be bothered doing the whole obssessive original parts searching.

Brakes are v-brakes but stop really well, I did have HS33s but never bothered getting more when they finally gave up sealing properly.

I really like it, in fact I’m about to flog my Spitfire as I haven’t really used it, I was going to get a steel hardtail to use instead but still keep thinking the Zaskar is enough for me.

It’s a bit harsh, a bit steep but does everything I need it to do.

“Newrobdob, including the paintwork etc? Impressive!”

I didn’t paint it myself, LSN in castleford did that for me

The MTBs I currently have:
1988 Cannondale SM500 (first mtb)
1991 Giant ATX 760
1995 Giant ATX 870
2001 Giant XTC
2014 On One 456 EVO2
2016 On One Codeine 27.5
(Note that I haven’t kept any of my bikes after 2001, and there are a few missing from the older ones that were either stolen (‘Goose IBOC Comp, Giant AL1.75) or broke (02 Stumpy FSR), and of course, they were the more expensive ones as well)
I don’t ride the ‘Dale anymore; it is wall art (and just as well, the stays are looong). However, I still love riding the Giants, especially the XTC; I can do things on these bikes that I can’t do on more modern slacker, lower, longer bikes (at least not as easily), especially when it comes to technical and trials riding. Of course, likewise, there are things I can do on my Codeine that I wouldn’t even consider trying on the old bikes, especially at speed.

I’ve got a SM500 too! Does your one have the splatter effect paint? I had great fun on that bike.

That Kilauea is lovely. I’ve got a 91 Lava Dome I was thinking of selling. But its threads like this that change my mind

Those 90s steel Lavadomes/Cindercones were definitely a sweet spot in mtb history. Lovely frames setup rigid or a 100mm XC fork they fly. Have had one of each and a Kilauea that I never got around to building. Always miss two of my retro bikes the most:

– 1994 Lava Dome w/P2s, XT Vs, riser stem/Monkey Bars
– 2k Cannondale F500 (upgraded with riser bars and SLX hydros)

Also miss the ’98 ‘Dome before I converted to S/S then moved on hereabouts as couldn’t manage it on the Hills! doh! (Ignore test pedals!)

All currently in loft!

And my winter bike, Marin alpine

I’ve got an unridden ’92 Specialized Stumpjumper in my garage.

DSC_1077 by Will Jenkins, on Flickr

DSC_1081 by Will Jenkins, on Fl

DSC_1086 by Will Jenkins, on Flickr

“retro” 1996 dmb ascent, avr true temper tubing. I got it free. New/old mixed parts.
this got me from bmx into mtb game again.

First, from 2012 this was brakeless fixed gear for trail riding and some fgfs. It was great fun to ride singletracks like that. Educational for flow. I used to do it a lot, but it was super hard for my knees and ankles. Somehow gears and brakes came along in nov 2014. Till august 2015 this was my hard ridden mountainbike n.1. The frame started resonate and flex way more than it used to so I kinda gave up and jumped into “real” mountainbikes from this. Also started wearing helmet. Good decision.

After that I rode some SSXC races with it. Did even quite few first places. This bike made me believe that I can really, progress and be good at on every kind of riding I want to.

Racing setup was temporary. This became to be my everyday beater and later even my work bike. Gears came back again etc.

Its ugly, but one of my most faithfull bikes. I even bought another similar 1996 Ascent for spare if this cracks or gets into accident.

Last photo is from somewhere summer 2016. Full mess setup. Now it got full lenght fenders and large wald basket mounted to nitto front rack.

Lx/105 1×9 gears, surly chainring, CHAINDOG
Narrow mavic/deore wheels
XT M739/m760 brakes, sunday linear, salmon koolstops for life
wild titec stem, ns district bar, animal edwins

wheelie monster

I have multiple retro mtbs, but this is on another level

Some of mine….


[url=https://flic.kr/p/cnSms5]Milanya!1 017[/url] by Bigbroondug, on Flickr

I enjoy riding mine when I do(not too much at the mo if I’m honest) much the same way I’d enjoy driving about in an old DS or MG or whatever. No they aren’t as capable as modern bikes but in the right circumstances they’ll do as well or sometimes even better. The craic at the Retrobike rides is always good and I look at my old bikes in a way that I never do with the most of the modern stuff I own. If bikes for you are all about a tool for the job then retrobikes will probably be a bit of a mystery. If you pored over mtb pro’s and mbuk’s bitd, if you appreciate quirky design, great paint jobs, beautiful craftsmanship then a retrobike is a great thing to own. I’m no luddite and know that there is some amazing stuff pushing the same buttons being made just now but there is a lot of great old stuff too.

My 93 Cindercone owned from new. Not much left from the original bike other than the frame. Had it modernised by Argos Cycles a few years ago who added the disk brake tabs and repainted it in epoxy.

Still playing around with various tyres and components to get it setup nicely.

Tyres are a problem as the rear cannot accommodate anything too big. Also the seatpost is a Control Tech which has an internal reinforcing bar up the middle but it has still bent slightly and I am not that heavy. Would be impossible to replace as nothing decent available in 26.6 anymore.

[url=https://postimage.org/]post img[/url]

Those steel Konas have proved to be great investments – and still look magnificent too.

“Strong, light, cheap, pick two”

Or wait around 27 years and pick this up for 120 Canadian Dollars!

Although funnily enough these days it weighs more than almost any bike in our shop and they have bigger wheels, many inches of suspension, disc brakes, dropper posts etc! It’s pretty rad though.

wohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh