Private Repress

Looks great, but most importantly… how does it ride? Enjoying the disc brakes?

Sorry to hear that, wishing you a speedy recovery!

This is a lovely build! Looks brilliant! How are you getting on with it?

Really digging the retro rides at the moment. So here’s a few I’ve built / been building recently: Cannondale F700 retro mod. Rides great, took it for a spin around Sherwood pines on Friday and it handled it surprisingly well: Alpinestars CR400. Got the frame and fork super cheap, welded some disc mounts to it, building it up with some shiny parts. I’ve had it built up already and it’s a great ride for winter off roading. No fuss, BB7s and wide tyres on a 1x. Thinking a dropper post would be fun: Sunn Tonic: the French rival to Kona. The super thin shiny silver tubes drew me in on this 1998 MTB. Naturally I’ve changed a lot, including upgrading the brakes to avid arch rivals. The wheels are Mavic / Hope ti-glide, more modern bar and stem, and some Billy bonkers to aid the gravel / road riding I have in mind for the summer:

A couple more ‘under bikes‘ I’ve been working on: 1995 Alpinestars CR400 Built as a low maintenance mud machine for winter riding. A few finishing bits to add. and this is a 1998 Sunn Tonic: This is my street ripper. It will be a 1x soon

I couldn’t get my head around that, how the guy that front flipped the gap only ended up in 8th! Had to be the riskiest move, and he nailed it. Having said that I don’t see his second run

I’ve been really getting into ‘underbiking’ recently, which for those not familiar with the term basically means using a bike that is not all that well equipped for the ride you take it on. I’ve built a fair few 90s mountain bikes, even welded disc mounts to one. If you haven’t tried underbiking, you absolutely should - it’s incredibly good fun and relatively cheap- you can get a 90s or early 2000s MTB for peanuts. I’ve done a fair few rides on my local trails on fully rigid old skool bikes with v brakes and it really does make a mundane route (when ridden on on a full susser) come to life with new challenges to overcome. But it did get me thinking about a hardtail with front suspension for something in-between. A Cannondale in blue and yellow with a headshok was a bit of a dream bike when I was starting trials biking in the late 90s. Having been to see Martyn Ashton a month back do a talk about his career, it reignited my want for an old Cannondale. I was lucky enough to have an ashton beast of the east way back when which I massively regret letting go. We’ve all been there eh! A bit of eBaying and I found a seemingly good example in XL that looked fairly original from the photos: The main issue was it was in London, I live in Nottingham and posting wasn’t an option. So after work one night I decided a road trip was in order. I knew immediately that stem was going to feel awful for the more upright riding position I’ve become used to. The stars kind of aligned as I managed to find a 90mm more modern version in the relatively rare 1.56 inch steerer tube clamp size. To top it off, it was also in London, 15 minutes from where I would collect the bike. The stem is a bit high on rise but needs must until something lower becomes available. Upon collecting the bike, it was immediately obvious it was completely original. Even down to the Hutchison mosquito tyres. I was blown away by how good condition it was in. Even the Julie brakes were sharp, surprisingly so! That said my intention was always to tweak the bike with components that were up for a bit more ‘abuse’. I still like the odd bit of trials when out on the trails. Fast forward to today…. I’ve changed almost every part 🤦🏻‍♂️ It’s almost in its final form. As mentioned, I’d love a lower stem, possibly shorter. Bits I’ve changed: Wheels: WTB i23 rims, built onto hope pro 2 hubs. Relatively light weight and super reliable. Tyres: originally I had billy bonkers, but they were awful on mud. These are made by baldys. A budget brand but my goodness are they an improvement. Really impressed with them. And they have a little bit of a retro look. Thanks to Alex Shovlin for the recommendation. Brakes: keeping the magura theme going, I used a set MT Trails, running them the opposite way around though, 2 pot on front and 4 pot at the rear (once a trials biker… always a trials biker). Running gear: Shimano deore 10 speed shifter, clutch mech and cassette: 42-11t. Chain is a KMC. Cranks: RaceFace turbine LP cranks, with a blackspire snaggle tooth 36t NW ring. I did run some polished middleburns with a beautiful Medium chainring, but they are far too ‘blingy’ for this build and looked so out of place. I do have an another project they should work well on though. Pedals: some cheap but cheerful plastic ones from Ali express. They are temporary whilst I rebuild some DMR vaults (Brendog signatures) Bars: my least favourite bit, nuke proof bars, they feel okay, but I’d like some thing with a bit more rise (2.5inch), preferably a glossy black finish for when I replace the stem…again. Seat: coda 700 (selle italia) to replace the cannondale saddle that came on it. The yellow logos were much needed, it’s also a very similar profile to to a flyte saddle, which I like. Having been out on a few local rides, I’ve fallen in love with it. The long top tube and shorter stem makes for a modern feeling bike with your weight planted quite centrally. I’ve been riding it on routes that I would have previously ridden a 2015 cannondale trigger full susser. It’s nailed them, and made it much more fun in the process. I also left my mates behind on this… which I haven’t done for a while on the trigger. The perfect bike for such rides. The headshok has really taken me by surprise, this one has 80mm travel, works well and exceptional over small bumps due to the no stiction design with needle bearings. I’m sure my view will change when it comes to servicing it though 😂

For what it’s worth I ran 180 rotors with magura MT5s and mine was fine too.

Yes mate, Retro Anonymous (RA) groups should be formed across the country to help people like us. “My name is Gavin, and I have have retroitis”

Retroitis is worse, the parts are often worse and cost more. I’ve got an appointment booked with the GP, but I’m worried there will be no cure 😂

@AdamR28 I was worried this would happen… 🤦🏻‍♂️

@AdamR28 what a coincidence we were sat next to each other! Really good to see you and catch up Adam. Dan and I have loads of footage of the old Notts rides, the Tech 04 comp and some of the Mansfield rides - so I’ll do what I can to get it digitised - would be great to see it again. The show was superb, far deeper topics discussed than simply trials. An amazing insight into Martyn’s world.

😂😂😂 Took me over 9 months to get my mine delivered post order 🤦🏻‍♂️

@Paperclip dude thanks for posting this! Wow that Spanish bb choice has a lot to answer for 😂 This frame is the one with the single gusset beneath the chain stay. Great to know the age of the frame, I’m surprised it’s as old as that, lasted relatively well! That makes sense about the gearing for the chainstay length, as I can’t run it slammed. The bb is indeed cut out. And yes @Ross McArthur mentioned the feedback he and @LEON gave to Marino to get the mounts sorted, I have the newer style ones on my 24. I have to say I think you did a great job with the geo, it is by far the nicest 26inch I’ve ridden. Kudos looking to get a bit my riding on it now it’s fixed. Had a few hours on it at the weekend at the local skate park and loved every minute.

On the bb side of things I can’t remember, the bb in the yellow giant has been there since I bought it new in the early 2000s. The black one came with one which I didn’t take out. A bb that can be used on both 68 and 73mm shells with an axel length of 118 would fit though.

Cheers @Bramblej Worth keeping in mind that d521 rims are relatively narrow by today’s standards, and the holy roller is a semi slick style tyre, so don’t have huge grip nobbles. The Michelin on the back of the yellow giant, on a wide rim is 2.25, nothing bigger would fit. The tyre is wider than what it states which doesn’t help. A 2.5 with lots of tread might not work, but depends on tyre and rim choice

I can’t decide 😉

Thanks 👍🏻 The rims are Mavic D521s that I powder coated black. The tyres in the pic are Maxxis ikon, 2.2 inch. Truthfully they are fine for a front wheel, but I ended up with a Maxxis holy roller on the rear which is 2.5 inch. For me these frames work perfectly with a 90mm stem, so that’s what I went for, with 7° rise. It’s an Easton EA50. Hope that’s helps, good luck with the build! Get some pics up 👊🏻

Oh and this is the bike in its complete state before undertaking the work: silver bar and stem to be added, I was running a quill adapter at the time. wheels will be changed to a set of Pro 2s on wtb rims. Cranks will be a set of old RS7s that I used to use on a trials bike, I’ve sanded them down and began to polish them while I wait for a hens tooth 36t 5 arm 94bcd chain ring to be delivered from France 🤦🏻‍♂️

I replied to @La Bourde before I read your comment @Swoofty. You are bang on in terms of how they have improved. I know first hand as I have a 24inch Marino that I bought from them in 2021. The build quality is far superior. I did consider taking the mount off all together and starting again, but at the same time the mate that did the welding isn’t a frame builder, so we went down the path of least resistance and made good of what was already there to save messing about with alignment/creating a new mount etc. I’ll see how it holds out, if it goes again then I may well go down that route. just spent the evening at my mates getting another project sorted. Not trials though, it’s a 1995 alpinestars, I’ll do a thread on this separately, but some pics for your viewing pleasure… Forks… a 2mm plate welded to the back to spread the load of the new disc mount. This is the first time he’s done disc mounts, and I just guided him where things needed to be etc. all things considered I’m really happy with it. Some cleaning up to do which I’ll tackle with a grinder and a dremmel. These were 1 1/8th threaded forks, which we cut the steerer down on, tacked an inner shim to, then extended the steerer to make it threadless: Very happy with the way these turned out. Rear disc mount being added: This was tricky, because the way the the rear triangle tapers in, so it kind of ended up with a little over hang: I’ll build the bike up, check everything is working as it should, then I’ll consider taking off some of the surplus mounts and possibly doing something to fill the gap on that rear mount overhang, before painting.

Sadly I don’t, but it seemed to me that the it went on the very edge of the weld, where the mount met the additional reinforcing plate of steel that is welded on to the seat stay (hope that makes sense). In Mario’s defence, this is an early frame that I bought second hand with little knowledge of its use. I’m not the lightest person, but at the same time I’m not a heavy rider. Running 203mm rotors was probably pushing my luck. Still going to run them though 😉

Yes, this is a shot on the inside edge of the mount: To be honest, when I got the bike I thought the mount looked a touch flimsy, and was in the dilemma of do I run 180 or 203 rotors. I decided on the 203s with a view ‘I’ll just get it welded if it snaps’ 🤣 So for the fix, I had the gap in the middle of the weld completely filled, hoping that now there is more contact area to create a stronger bond. Here is what it looked like before: If you compare it to the now welded mount, there is a lot more material in contact with the seat stay.

So after a switch to back wheel cracked the rear disc mount earlier this year the bike had been sat in the garage, until today. welded up and ready to ride again 🙂

Yeah I’ve used the v1 in a bike for a couple of years with no problems too. I ordered a v1 yesterday for my 26inch marino, I’m running a lightweight billy bonkers on the rear and got a pinch flat earlier in the week using a tube. I’ve managed to set it up tubeless on a spank spoon 32 rim, but feel that the sidewalls are no where near good enough to run it without a rimpact - I’ll report back on how I get on.

Nice to see a classic being ridden, as you say it’s such a shame that so many retro rides are being shelved. I'm lucky enough to have that frame too, I agree it’s an absolute blast to ride, so much fun!