what retro bikes are best to avoid if looking to use regularly off road?

[monkfish]

Thanks very much ishaw you've already been of help as i was quickly scouring the old messages to learn what i could before buying so i already know that its a non US manufactured 7000 series frame with with the alloy rear end unlike the early 6061 main frame and cro-moly rear models with the flat gt top tube badge.

im perhaps getting ahead of myself here though as i better collect it and see if all is well first but........

if i may ask a question:

I see that the frame has around 2.5" of travel and the front fork currently fitted to it is i suspect a slightly later indy c do you think there would be a better fork to fit or should i leave as is. I was thinking of a Judy or i have seen some with a manitou of the same period but wonder if there is much to gain as the judy seems to have the same sort of elastomer spring setup and the same travel and very similar weight except for the dh version.

 

[madjh]

Avoid?, any dual suspension. They are a nightmare to service if they dont have BB and comes from the 90s. Or that bycicle with special parts. Pressfit first gen in Klein ... I don´t know were to buy the bearings.

I rode a Indy C back in the 2000s and it does little, better the Z2 specially if you are around 60-65kg like me . Manitou, the Mach 5 do a little bit better but you have to change elastomers to soft ones.

 

[greencat]

i would like a kirk revolution for its weird looks and i used to have an empire ap1 cast downhill bike that i loved and regretted selling but i gather the kirk is rather flexy and overall not a good riders bike.

Opinions, or perhaps years, differ on flexibility. I had one back in the day and it seems no worse than other bikes of the time.

I would not recommend one as a regular rider. The bonded inserts (on dropouts, bottle cages etc) are points of failure. Speaking from experience you don't want one of the dropouts to fail when riding fast downhill.

For similar reasons I'd steer clear of titanium/aluminium/carbon of the era. It was early days for most of these materials being used in mountain biking. That really leaves steel. I would be a little wary of the lightest steel frames too. I was advised by my bikeshop that, for example, 531 forks were not up to many years of hard riding.

 

[monkfish]

the bike had a small crack in the chainstay where it mounts to the rear dropout piece....i still got the bike as it was much cheaper than others and have orederd a cheap rts 3 frame for its steel rear triangle which i notice does not have pivots so is more of a flex stay design. unsure if i should pursue another alloy one if its likely to fail again at this weak point.