Malverns Retro Components Memory Lane Gallery

ST XC Comp better than XC Pro detailleur?

Yeah, there was some absolute madness back then. Parts made of colourful cheese and anyone buying them doing the R&D for the manufacturers.
Think the brake levers are Tech Lite, and the headset on the brown Bonty is a Deore XT, from the days when a Shimano groupset included a headset & seatpin.
Those XT cranks are fugly, but they were a game changer for reliability at a sensible price. I’d argue that the ’97 XT groupo was the biggest leap forward until disc brakes took over. It just worked really well.

Wavey spokes? If it’s not snowflake I’m out.

Pace forks… got to hope you’d kept the original steel rigid forks for all the times the Pace’s had to be sent back for repair, so you could still ride.

At least the shops usually had the stuff they advertised in MBR etc in stock. Not like these days…

I loved my Hope XC4 brakes with their tiny 150/130 rotor combo, never suffered the brake fade issues like others did either. XTR95x was just great stuff, looked great and worked. (Apart from wearing the crank anodising off in the first ride)

I never understood the whole anodised thing, especially XLite, it was worse than the product they replaced and expensive.

I always wanted a Ritchey Soft-tail to go with my P20, it never happened though.

I’d argue that the ’97 XT groupo was the biggest leap forward until disc brakes took over. It just worked really well.

was that the first year with v-brakes? If so, you’re right, it was a brilliant groupset.
People forgot how good v-brakes were compared to canti’s, the parallelogram design was a huge step too.

DX seatpost? Hold my beer.

was that the first year with v-brakes? If so, you’re right, it was a brilliant groupset.
People forgot how good v-brakes were compared to canti’s, the parallelogram design was a huge step too.

Until the bushings wore and they squealed permanently.

can’t believe you even published the picture of that shocking cable entry into the Rollamajig. (Or that you spelt it “Rollermajig”—surely you must know that the overlap between retro bike nerds and irritating pedants is huge 🙂)

It had bigger issues…. it’s neither a rollermajig, rollamajig or any other majig, I think it was maybe made by DCD and it’s for your brakes to replace the Moodle on a v brake. Never going to work well on a mech.

Controversial XTR M951

Nothing controversial at all. Rapid rise is a brilliant thing – it was flappy paddle that was rubbish. My 9sp XTR RR and shifters were the peak of shifting and durability. In fact, I would love it on a gravel bike build…hmmmm

😜

I’ve still got an M950 rear mech on my old MTB. Still works perfectly.

I had a matte finish titanium XC race bike with a full M950 groupset, the whole matt grey frame/battleship grey groupset worked really well. 😍

I remember working in bike shops during those years and folk coming in every payday to get the next purple bit – it was usually 3x the price and about 1/4 the function of the part being replaced. 😂

And half the pages in MBUK were taken up with multi page adverts listing components and prices.

ROX t-shirts were great, I had loads.

Yeah but we didn’t know that!

I have a 1989 Kona Fire Mountain (5 quid tip rescue jobbie) that I had restored. Some new bits, some vintage and some (drive train ex shifters and brake levers) stayed on.  Took it out for a ride a couple of years ago ( to date my last solo ride) on the ride I used to do around my aforementioned Parochial Midlands Town.

The terrain isn’t exactly challenging but the bum up, head down position with narrow bars,  1.95 tyres on 26 inch rims made for a fun ride.  The thing is bloody heavy though but the memories it brought back are making me all wistful again.  25 years had done little to dull the memories although very little riding in the previous 10 or so years had seriously dulled this old duffer’s riding ability.

@crazy-legs, just looked, you can still get Rox t shirts on ebay.  I always wanted a Psycho Biker one….hey, I was still a teen back then.

They do kids sizes.  I may treat the eldest to one as like you say a bit lame now, at least on a 47 year old dad.  I reckon he’d be able to pull it off.  Maybe the Fear Of A Flat Planet one.

Cool story behind it though and props to the lad for having a go at reviving a wee bit of MTB history.

Remember the Look S2 pedals – had a pair of the Red Moab S2’s back in the day. Great pedals, solid platform but heavy and didn’t shift mud easily…

Oh yeah! The days of Chainring tattoos. Forgot how dangerously jagged those old chainrings were.

Forgot how dangerously jagged those old chainrings were.

Pedals were designed for just the same thing. Maximum injury to the shins.

Does anyone remember Fred Salmon Chicken Sticks? Brakes, but I can’t recall if they were levers or the business end. Googled but only found stuff about poultry products…

I’ve just finished restoring a 91 zaskar. The repro smoke/darts are still rubbish, the conti cross kings on my bontrager are fabulous though.

+1 for m950, but thumbies still rule.

Is that an Onza Chill Pill on the front brake?

Yup.  I’ll get some matching cable nipple’s at some point too.

The smoke/darts just don’t really have much grip and get too skinny these days. They look the it’s part though.