Retro MTB '88 Diamond Back Arrival Budget Build

ad990's bring back memories of BMX when it was acceptable to have brakes.

a couple of yellow flexstems in completed listings recently for not much money on eBay. maybe try retro bike forums?
no idea what it would be like to ride though, but that's secondary to style eh?

I mean it has to look good because it's nearly the same price as what I paid for the frame + forks.

@bigshape Absolutely haha, definitely going to have a look about and see what's on offer. So you have used the AD990's? What they like?

I remember them being better than single sided dia compe calipers, this was probably 20 yrs ago though :)

I might have a black XT (or maybe DX) U-Brake you can have cheap. Send a pm if you're interested, I won't be able to look for it for a few days.

Quick update, parts I needed have now arrived to complete the build.

Now having a bit of bother with chaindrop which I believe is from a cheap, nasty tensioner from eBay. Played around with the chainline and it's constantly the same issue so I've ordered a Gusset Squire then hopefully it should be good to go.

Looks great bar the sketchy tensioner, good call on replacing it. I do however have the dreaded question: are you sure you installed it correctly?

Surely the chain should be a good few links shorter, then the sprung tensioner would be closer to horizontal and the chain wrap would be better.

Looks good though!

It's installed correctly. It physically will not fit any other way other than with the pin against the 'lip' on the derailleur hanger and it won't move any further under the chainstay, it appears faulty to me. I've had the spring out and flipped it etc and no good.

So for reference, this is an old Trek I had which had the same setup and worked faultless:

I cannot match that angle with the gold tensioner I have now. A shame as it's nearly 30°c outside!

Bit of an update on this. All fully setup now, took it out for a spin along the tracks down the river Tyne and the Arione crushed my bollocks. So a quick look on Gumtree got me this nice Brooks for twenty quid. I've decided I like the bars and want silver stem and seatpost to match. Needs a rear brake, too sketchy with just a front V on gravel.

Looks fun!

Bike looks great. Are you on the bridge at Wylam there?

Yep, the old rail bridge. I've actually never cycled any further on than that point but I know there's a nature reserve down that way. Will have to head down someday soon.

Love this build! Silver finishing kit will make it perfect

Paintjob is rad

Cheers. Paintjob is definitely my favourite thing about this bike too.

Just need a decent framebag now and some 9 speed gear on there. Was looking at SRAM earlier so will sort it next week and post some updated pics.

Thought it looked familiar. I got my first proper mountain bike, a Diamond Back Ascent (if I remember correctly) in around 1996 from Rickerby's in Hexham.

I'm not local to that area. I'm over toward Gateshead so the only time I'm up Hexham way is on my bike. Often ride up there then through Linnels/Slaley/Derwent etc.

There's a load of old DiamondBack mountain bikes for sale on eBay. You should have a look, you might be able to buy it back! Haha

Nice. I'm actually living in Canada now but it would be nice to have something in the shed at my parents for when I'm back! I'll have a look!

Got a nice NOS Tranz X brass seatpost bolt to replace the awful eBay one that was on there and scored a nice made in England CNC'd X-Lite Seatpost... Mmmmm CNC.

Also have a yellow Selle Italia Turbo on the way to match the stem and thinking about brazing on some disc brake mounts hmmm.

Also this is potentially going on:

Looks great! Of course you should use that cage. They’re meant for each other

+1 on the cage. It would look great. The X-Lite seatpost was a great find too.

Also this is going on

FTFY

thinking about brazing on some disc brake mounts hmmm.

'Budget build'...haha yeah we all think that at the beginning

Looks great though, and that pink splatter bottle cage MUST go on the bike.

I mean we all know that but never admit it.

Cage is en route. I have a 9 speed 11-32 SRAM cassette lying around somewhere so I'm close to ordering an X5 trigger and mech. Will update.

Looks great and reminds me of my carrera krakatoa from back in day. Good find on the frame in that condition. i keep thinking about doing something similar but all frames i come across are really tatty and anything near mint are silly money for a bike I'm probably not going to ride that much

It's been a really fun project and although I've spent more than I had initially planned. I haven't exactly broken the bank with anything I've bought so far.

Filter out the auctions that are, as you say, often overpriced and just filter by Buy It Now and sort low to high. Keep on looking, I scored this for <£100. That said, it's an awkwardly large frame and that's my second main gripe after the inability to use anything other than a U brake for the rear. Still, very charming to ride and takes me back to the 90s. Great fun.