Mike over at Black Mountain Cycles gets his fair share of cool vintage rides in his shop, but he is at the epicenter of modern day mountain biking, so that makes sense. But out here in the "hinterlands", a cool vintage mtb isn't as common. When you see one roll through the shop, it's cause for a pause! Take this gem of a Giant Cadex that I had the pleasure of working on yesterday.
That's first generation XTR stuff there my friends! Still one of the prettiest cranks ever made,in my opinion. And those are the original clipless pedal for mountain biking there too. The Shimano M-737, I believe. Note the blue alloy chain ring bolts and Ringle' bottle cages, which were good looking, but didn't work all that well. But hey! They were good looking!
XTR continues here with the brakes. Notice the "eyeball" straddle cable mount. The seat binder is a Ringle' piece, and you can see the carbon fiber/aluminum construction of the Cadex frame here. Glued wonder bike! By the way, these frames were not all that light. Rather heavy actually.
Okay, here's the most amazing thing, in my mind, about the whole bike. These are original Tioga Psycho John Tomac signature "butterscotch" skin wall tires. I don't think I've ever seen these before, and to see them in this outstanding condition is unheard of. These tires generally succumbed to dry rot at an alarming rate. Those are Marwi titanium spokes that are "rainbow" anodized with blue alloy nipples
A rare cream colored Rock Shox mag 21 SL fork graces the front along with another "eyeball" hangar on the brake cable. XTR head set too. Note that the pads up front were changed out to Ritchey pads. Another amazing thing about the bike is that all the cable housings are XTR branded! You can see the hint of blue Ringle' skewers here, as well.
First generation XTR hubs.......mmmmmmmmm.......can you say smooooooth!?
Muy Caliente'! A Selle San Marco HP saddle with Salsa "Pepperman" embroidery. In primo condition no less! All a top another XTR piece. That's right, a beautiful XTR seat post graced this rig too.
And the rear derailleur, shifters, and front derailleur were all XTR along with the bottom bracket. The only odd thing about this whole bike, which was detailed out to include blue alloy presta valve caps, was that the stem and handlebar were a rather pedestrian Zoom branded ensemble. I would have expected something on the order of a Ringle' stem and Answer Hyperlite bar, but the bar ends were Tioga "Power Studs" in a matching ano blue with no scratches!
This bike is a great "period piece" and reflects the gear of the day circa 1995. A top notch rig, albeit with the Zoom stuff, and a great representation of the "lug and glue" school of frame construction which reached a zenith about this time.
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