I had been trying to buy this frameset for years from my pal, Hurl Everstone of Cars R Coffins fame. I almost nabbed it before he moved to Portland but he wasn't quite ready to let it go, and I wasn't quite ready to buy it with the parts and price he wished to sell it at. Fast forward a year and he had come into an XO-3 in a larger size and realized that he greatly preferred that fit to his smaller XO-1 and was willing to sell the frame and fork to me for the sum of $666 (natch). I knew that I had no interest in a catalog build or one with moustache bars, I was going...

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This is my 1989 Yeti F.R.O. (For Racing Only) it's a special one as it's an early FRO made in California and later updated by Yeti in Durango to Pro Fro specs. It also features a rare steel Frank The Welder made Yeti stem.  The most astounding thing to me is how forward thinking this bike is compared to other late '80's mtbs. Gone are the slack angles and present is the geometry which would carry mountain bikes all the way through the next 15 years until 29ers became prevalent.  The red powdercoat is not the original color, judging by the overspray on the fork purple was, and the decals (which state "Made in Colorado" and Tange double butted tubing)...

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Just finished this one up this week. American Breezer handmade right here in Minnesota. This was a joint venture between Joe Breeze of Breezer bikes and American Bicycle Manufacturing in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  It was quite filthy and the finish needed a lot of help. As I have a bunch of other projects going right now I elected to leave it exactly as I found it with the exception of hours and hours of cleaning and polishing. It looks to me like it hasn't been touched since the 80's. All parts are period correct with the exception of the tires, which I did replace. The cranks and some other parts still need some cleaning, but after about 6 hours spent...

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We're stoked to share these amazing photos from the 1980 Pearl Pass Tour featuring so many of the famous early mountain bike pioneers. These are far and away the best relatively unknown vintage mountain bike photos we've ever seen. Last week we brought you photos from the 1981 edition and a bus tour organized by Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly of MountainBikes* fame, and this week we bring you some absolutely stunning images from the 1980 edition shot by Kevin Montgomery.  We couldn’t be happier to help shine a light on these images of an era past. An era whose spirit is seeing a modern resurgence as more folks than ever are realizing it’s not the results, but the people...

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From right, Nike Grand Pooh-Bah, Scott Overock and a pair of older Sidis Let's chat a little about vintage mountain bike shoes, these are the current examples in my collection. I din't consider myself a vintage shoe collector, they are all about my size and can be worn and ridden.  The Nike Grand Pooh-Bah was the shoe of choice for John Tomac, which made it the hottest thing going. The sole on these is absolutely crazy stiff and prone to cracking and the toe box is notoriously narrow. Of note though they are a race shoe, they retain the ankle protection.    I assume that this grey pair is the older of the two as it does not have the...

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