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You know, the old "seatmast" Spesh FSRs, Trek Y-Frames, Orange Sub 5s, Cannondale Jekylls, SC Superlights and Bullits etc? The bikes I lusted after as a poor student in the late 90s/ early 00s?
Almost never see them ridden - they are unlikely to be SSed, commuterised or freecycled and the numbers falling into retrobiker hands must be minimal. Presumably very few actually end up broken, so what other possibilities are there?
Scrapped or gathering dust in a shed somewhere?
Still got a Sub 5 that has been rebuilt and is still now regularly used.
My Trek VRX went on ebay. I have a friend who has the weirdest full suss I ever saw - can't remember what it's called but has strange cantiliver front suspension. Interesting, but rubbish. He labours under the misapprehension it's worth a fortune...
prst1?
Fopster, sounds like an AMP.
My old full sus frames have either been sold on ebay or stolen by theiving gits.
They get moved on to new owners, their value decreases, someone else buys it for next to no money and then it just sits in their shed.
Fopster. Your mates sounds like a Preston. Whyte prst. Always fancied one!
I guess they get handed down and handed down until someone gets it who knows nothing about bikes, they think "ah this old heap,s not worth anything" and they chuck it in a skip. Not even knowing what it is/was and no idea of how much it would be worth.
Think of how many nice bikes have been lost like this. I read a story of a Hetchins that was abandoned in a train station, had a rough rattle can paint job and crappy components.
God bless retrobike!! 😉
Every suspension bike I have owned is either in my garage........cracked or been returned to the manufacturer...........cracked.
I suspect the owners of PRST1s decided they would no longer spend the equivalent of the GDP of a small African country on bearings and abandoned them for something that wasn't just a good idea in theory.
Someone posted a nice video on here once of a bicycle crushing machine.
They go [url= http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6210 ]here[/url].
Still got my 04 Enduro,still look at it now & again
Took mine to Zermatt for some retro DH action 14 years old & it didn't miss a beat.
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They get moved on to new owners, their value decreases, someone else buys it for next to no money and then it just sits in their shed.
Yep, a sad end for most early FS bikes, but usually thorougly deserved.
My SC Tazmon is still trying to go on though...
Mine has a Weeride seat on the toptube so I can take the little'un out on it 🙂 (01 FSR comp)
00 Sub 5 died in 2001. Replaced by Orange with a Patriot - still going strong and still my favourite bike ever.
If it dies - I will cry.
still got 2001 superlight. tends to be winter rig and was pretty useful in last years snow season.lets see what happens this winter...
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I still ride it 😳
I've got a 2001 intense tracer in a box in the garage roof. Hardly a mark on it as it was always my second bike. I guess she'll stay there until I need the space.
those Marins were made after 96 only Shirley?
i still use a 6" travel Super v...ace frameset and still mint 😮
problem is most old framesets are not worth selling for all you get despite there cost when new.
yet alot esp single pivots are fine,stick a modern shock on and away you go...
My Stumpy fsr from 2001 is currently sat in the shed stripped down.
I was riding it up to Jan this year, but the shock has got some scratches on the piston & I decided it was time to replace it rather than spend loads on a new shock.
How old is a retro bike and why was that age chosen? And does the year owhen bike become retro change with the normal passage of time?
Funny how expensive old bikes get reused... was in cardiff the other week and on a run down into town to see the bay a guy in front with a pannier and kid in a kid seat.... built onto a mid 90's litespeed ti frame.....
Remembered what my friends bike is - a Proflex. A profoundly strange machine (but was clearly quite the thing at one point - carbon fibre forks etc.). To make it weirder, he has a road cassette on it...
My 2001 Stumpy FSR was handed down to my son this year.
Proflex was from the makers of the flex stem.....
We had a carbon Trek Y-11 and a '97 FSR in our group in Morzine this year.
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I've got a 2004 Mongoose sus frame sat in the shed - needs new bearings and a paintjob - no-one would want it, it's a bit crap to be honest, probably end up in the skip
My 2001 Stinky is still in regular use, in fact it's my only bike!
Still running the same forks, shock, most parts except the cassette, chain and rear mech.
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The recession hit me about 2002, haven't been able to afford a decent replacement in the last 8 years...doesn't bother me that much, something lighter and better on the ups would be nice but for south Wales trail centres and playing around the woods it does the job just fine.
The Proflex's crop up fairly regularly on Ebay and it'll have Girvin forks by the sounds of it.
I'm holding on to my now quite rare and extremely ugly Trek DH Pro from 1998 in the hope that one day Trek will need it for a museum and pay me silly money for it. I keep meaning to build it up as it is indestructible.
I still have my Scott Octane, the nicest full-sus bike I've ever ridden.
My mate's still rocking his 1997 Specialized FSR... here's a photo of him at Whistler on it. We just did Moab this year too.
He describes it as his "4 inch travel antique".
And indeed it is...
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All mine have cracked (Orange X2, Orange UFO & an old-style SC Heckler), except one that got bent in a crash (another old-style SC Heckler). All replaced under warranty or insurance. So I've only ever bought one properly - my Orange X2 (in 1998?). My '03 Heckler is going strong still.
still got my 01 superlight and 01 bullit. both still going strong and see no need to replace yet
i have a GT DH LTS frame collecting dust in a shed. and also a really old KHS full sus
Friend of mine got a Sintesi Bazooka in '98 (Lime green and blue - same design as this one)
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He used it as a DH bike for a few years, ran it into the ground as an XC bike to get fit. (6" travel both ends - stupid amounts of travel in 2001)
It got stolen, recovered 6 months later, he gave it to me, I used it as an XC machine.
It died when the last remaining gear hanger snapped in two - I tried every distributor in the world trying to get a hanger; getting a custom one made was stupid money as it was pretty complex. The frame now lives in his bike shed as a memento.
still using my 99 mount vision, in fact this morning fitted a new (to me) coil over shock as the air shock has about had it.
However, it is rather more burly than when purchased (130 forks, 203 discs, etc)
Doesn't that Sintesi (mainframe) look remarkably similar to several 'new' designs !
my current steed ,a giant nrs xtc team circa 2004.
they dont go away they just get upgraded and maintained.
my first full susser or second if you count a proflex 950 in th 90s.
will keep it and replace when i find my feet at the trailcentres after a 15yr break.
There was a Trek Y-frame at Swinely today, retrotastic 😀
That orange Sintesi was mine! Went through several builds, before it was retired.
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Now riding a Patriot '00, and 222 '02.
just came back from a 3 hours ride with a good friend of mine..
she is still riding her 1991 YETI ULTIMATE,
accutrax fork,campagnolo mtb-parts,factory turqouise powdercoat..
complete bike is original as I build it for her back then...
(except tires,chain and brakepads)...