When Crankworx rolls into town, the lift queues at the Whistler Bike Park swell to capacity, nearly bursting at the seams with riders and their high-end downhill bikes. Pro racers are rolling around on one-of-a-kind prototypes, and it seems like every other rider has a shiny new carbon whip. But interspersed between all that fanciness are true classics, bikes that have lived long and storied lives since they rolled off the showroom floor. We caught up with ten riders and their vintage steeds as they joined the masses that have converged in Whistler for all things mountain biking. Quinn Tyhy has been the proud owner of this classic Cove Peeler for the last two years. It's his first 'real' mountain bike, although he's starting to consider upgrading to something a little more modern.
Dan Frank is originally from New York, where he grew up dreaming of owning one of Brooklyn Machine Works' steel creations. When he saw this '06 Race Link on Pinkbike's Buy and Sell he lept at the chance to own his dream machine.
There aren't many mountain near George Cator's home in the U.K., but he was getting his fill at Whistler aboard his '10 Commencal Supreme.
Zach Jacobs was also in the chainless club aboard his '07 Specialized SX.
It might not be quite old enough to qualify as 'vintage', but Lilly Koschoreck was glad to get this 2010 Intense SS as a hand-me-down from her dad.
Finley Kirschenmann scored this FTW (Frank the Welder) F10 from a family friend. It'd been collecting dust in a garage, but now it's back in action as the 10-year-old shredder's park bike.
Kyle Cochlyn mainly rides motocross, but he's been enjoying mixing things up on this '05 Giant DH team he purchased a year ago.
Ok, so maybe it's not technically a downhill or a freeride bike, but this 2002 Rocky Mountain is a classic. Jeff Eng is the original owner, and he's somehow still rolling on the original tires. Admittedly, he's more of a road cyclist, but he does ride Whistler at least once a year.
This 2006 Santa Cruz Bullit has been serving Victor Vasylkiv well for 6 years.
Then I made a trip to Morzine for a weekend trip of mud, slop and epic riding. One thing I noticed though was there were so many people there with older, beat-up, ridden hard and put away wet bikes with all sorts of replacement parts hanging off their frankenstein steeds. I surmised they were more concerned with paying what money they had to ride there for weeks at a time rather than color-coordinating exotic parts. It was clearly all about the riding and the bikes and parts were a distant second. Maybe third after the beer. I felt way less cool and more of a wannabe than the people on bikes that cost less and were in far worse shape than mine.
I love seeing people on bikes where they mostly care about riding - not boost, not pedaling efficiency, not frame material, not anything but the lift ticket price. It’s refreshing. These riders should be championed at every chance and congratulated on getting a bike...any bike...if for no other reason than increasing our numbers and strength for trail access. Plus it’s just plain cool to see these old bikes! Now if only there were a Klein Rascal or Top Gun...
www.pinkbike.com/photo/15045610
Just wish that there had been a banshee in the mix, maybe I should have thrown in my old Wildcard and gone there for the celebration
@moutnbiker: Thank you as well, brotha!
'Twas my first real mtb. The rear end flexed so hard you couldn't pedal on descents, and on large drops the linkage plates folded past the rear stays and stuck there semi permanently.
Loved every minute on that bike
The days when 100mm travel triple crown Judy / Sids were the nuts! Also remember the carbon UD Marzocchis, wibble....
www.frankthewelder.com
www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/The-Welder-The-Story-of-Frank-Wadelton,27321/LeeDevelopment,27698
@gurnzilla you and everyone in this post are the badasses of the sport, riding whatever you've got because you just want to ride.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/15068049
That bike still works well. I could ride anything on that that I can on my Maiden now, it's just that the top tube is so short compared to current geometry. The frame itself is still competitive. Heavier, yes. Not as comfortable rider positioning, but the damn thing just works. Mine is still in perfect condition too! I was thinking of posting it on the buy/sell, but could probably only get the $2000 I put in to it, if that. I'd rather keep it in the shed.
PS Not sure tho about it being the Dave Watson TDF bike, pretty sure he was on a Kona for that?
Or a Rotec, Schwinn Straight 8, the list goes on!
The other thing I always wanted was a friends Haro DH in electric blue with carbon Manitou DH forks, original hope brakes, big uns and Atomlab DHR rims & full XTR with an MRP guard. The best looking thing!
Damn, its even hard to find a picture online, here is one if anyone is interested:
People have mentioned stress on the frames - it's there anything to look out for our is it simply going over the frame with a keen eye, looking for cracks, and a bit of blind luck? (Obviously paying attention to headtube and bb areas the most...)
I wouldn't buy anything ex pro as they have the crap beat out of them, nothing repainted as that can hide cracks and nothing covered in dents / scratches from a million uplifts.
It's hard to find very small cracks sometimes, shock / pivot mounts are the usual areas.
Pretty easy to buy a DH bike for £700 that isn't a mess though if you keep your eyes out for them.
The real poll should be which one of these guys is running a cracked frame or attempted to re-weld something.
Cromo cranks FTW
Just change the oil every second year.
Open bath damping is heavier but its superior for longevity and performance.
Cavitation is never an issue with open bath.
The Cove with it's awesome Shiver and the BMW, on the other hand... (Anyone remember the TMX - the definitive huck-to-flat bike? ) I'd be happy to run one of those Shivers or early 888s now - the HSCV damping, plushness and live-forever reliability is that good. Sadly other folk know that too and the used prices are pretty high!
Some of the old-skool geometry is painful to look at!
Nice to see that there are more than a few of us who can't afford or don't feel the need to get the latest mass-produced marketing jobs and are happy plugging away on such characterful machines!
Only real weakness for the sunday is its finicky pivots(I had to replace the pivot axle on the rear arm to fix chronic play caused by a seized bearing). This was caused by the driveside lower bearing seizing up and causing the pivot axle itself to wear. Make sure to grease the upper shock pin aswell as it likes to wear down and cause vertical play.
There's a lot of tension from pedal kickback on that driveside lower bearing, so it tends to go to shit before the rest of them. I do believe this is what has owned many a Sundays linkage over the years. Its also why these bikes are so quick when pumping through stuff. Give and take.
#factoryoriginalDOT
...no Mountain Cycle pics of the Sin or 9.5?
26" ain't dead
Ride Ye bike don't stroke Ye bike or smoke Ye bike
Saw one at silver star last week