Retro mountain bikes

wow, your collection is like a tick-box list of all the most eccentric and rad tech of my teens ! I think you still need a Foes Fab, a Trimble and a set of the Girvin forks that pivot back toward you!

@Retro_bastard @Jay75 Thanks for the information.
I was looking on the Rock Lobster website and there was an email address for Paul Sadoff, so I thought I'd try and contact him and send the pictures.
I didn't really expect to get an answer, but within the hour, he came back to me.

"On 18 Jun 2020, at 17:41, Paul Sadoff swiggco@pacbell.net wrote:

Hello, Stewart. I definitely did not build
That one. Might be a UK issue export frame
Made for Merlin Cycles , Ltd. I designed those frames for
Them and licensed out my trademark.

Cheers,
Paul"

So basically, none the wiser.
I probably paid too much for it, but had some disposable income so thought, why not.

'94 Orange P7 I just built up.

'Goals' as the nippers say. Absolutely lovely bike mate.

Though it probably belongs in the 'monstour' thread, seems like this thread is all about catalogue correct rebuilds of MTBs. Though I'm always surprised how many of the original MTBs had eyes for mudguards as standard, even though seldom used.

Even the very high end ones. My 1991 Panasonic MC Pro (back then a 3500 € bike designed for pro racing...) has them.

My 1995 Scott Team Racing. Without eyes for mudguards. 😉

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Wow thats some serious customer service from the man himself. Mine was from merlin back in the day and i always assumed it wasn't hand made in santacruz at the price i paid but it was still easton 7005 and a good frame at the time. Whilst Paul said that it was possible that it was made under licence for merlin not 100% confirming that i would expect that to be more than likely. I did spend best part of an last night playing spot the difference on Google comparing it to every frame I could think of from that era so i can give you a pretty long list of frames it definitely isn't but no bingo moment I'm afraid. It's a shame i have got any pictures of my old one for comparison. It seems like it's not a fake fake and if you wanted to sell it on being totally honest what you advertise it as rocklobster uk edition? Could have been worse it's not like accidentally buying a post Trek Klein And you could go and spend nearly £4000 on a brand new colnago and Ernesto himself certainly won't have made it.

Orange P7 with some reasonable components for £250 BIN on eBay here, seems a reasonable deal to me

new project arrived. Swapped my Cinelli frame for this 1998 Saracen Kili Comp (my first bike made from Reynolds 853 tubing).

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Love those forks

If I am going 1x, do I always need a narrow wide chainring?

How do I see all these cool looking retro MTB 1x conversion with nice old school looking silver single rings? Surely they aren't NW?

You can get by with a standard chainring if you are just cruising around.

Ah ok. Guess a lot of those said bikes are just for cruising around. Just struggle to find a nice plain looking silver narrow wide.

Think J&L on eBay do them

Cheers. They don’t have in stock currently but I’ll keep an eye out

I have been handed down this Raleigh RSP called "orange peril". It had a tough life since 2006 when my friend bought it off a colleague, having been mtb, long distance tourer and commuting rig for 2 other friends over the years. Now its living with me and is put to work as intended again.
Its rusty and probably none of the components are original but I like it.
Two questions: what year and model is it? Its probably from around 1999 as dimensions and features are like this 450 . Reynolds Optima means its newer than 1994.

Second: I would like to change the cranks as they are worn, get stuck on my shoes and I prefer 170 mm. I do like hollowtech II but wonder if it will destroy the look?

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I’d love a Trimble for sure! Had a full suspension proflex in the 90’s with a Girvin fork on it But the rear suspension felt so sloppy kinda put me off Girvin.
Finished the muddyfox courier yesterday put a blb rack on the front, came out nice I’ll take a pic today....but saw a Yeti FRO on Monday for not a lot of cash, looks repainted gonna pop back and take a closer look today to see if it’s real, if it is I’ll unload the Muddy fox and get it.

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courier prestige is looking good - they were great bikes.
re: old-school suspension, I just found a pic of my mid-90's downhill frame.
American Cycles world force. It had cable routing for a front mech and brass grease nipples at all the bearings. All steel with Breezer dropouts... It wasn't light but it flattened out everything

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You could try http://www.velosolo.co.uk They sometimes have some silver mountainbike chainrings.

That Courier Prestige is beautiful.

never heard of that. Was it good?

& @Rik_Van_Looy thanks, it looks nice but personally feels a bit drab to ride compared to other old steel rides.
That Saracen looks awesome!!!

lush!

Thanks. It's going the right way. ;-)

That kind off answers my question #2.
Very tasty!