The Radavist

Kuwahara has been on a kick lately. We first reported on the Japanese brand’s Elk Bar, a throwback to the Ritchey Bullmoose, and this week, it announced the Grasshopper 1, a vintage-inspired rim brake MTB. Let’s check it out…

So many 1990s mountain bikes are finding new lives through garage tinkerers, building them up as commuters and all-rounders. One such builder is Tilman from Tesuque Bikes, who always delivers such fun builds to our Readers’ Rides segment, so let’s check out his latest project, a Balance AL-450…

Legendary Japanese bike brand Kuwahara has unveiled a limited-edition Elk Bar (¥9,240) in fluorescent pink and yellow…

Sometimes, the best tool for the job is an older tool. That’s what Riley found with the Panasonic RTB. Let’s check out a great write-up and gallery for this week’s Readers’ Rides!

Merlin was the first bicycle brand to deliver titanium mountain bike frames. The brand itself is one of lore to be told another day, but its contributions to the world of off-road bicycles are ones that still resonate with our readership. Stephen shared with us his 1992 (ish) Merlin, which he converted to a drop-bar ATB for this week’s Readers’ Rides. Let’s take a closer look…

Plenty of 1990s 26″ MTB frames come with missing forks. This new offering from Bristol’s Tailwind Cyclery looks to fix this problem…

This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Jakob in Austria, who converted a Marin Bikes Eldridge Grade to a single-speed. Let’s check this project out along with some beautiful photos by Jakob!

Bike history is a mix of lore and documented fact and there are always two sides to every story. It’s widely known that Specialized copied a Ritchey and had them made in Japan for its first mountain bike model, named Stumpjumper. Then, when you consider that the Univega Alpina beat the Stumpjumper to market by a whole year quarter, the story changes even more.

Regardless of recorded history, here’s a fun video showcasing the Specialized version of the story about one of the first mass produced mountain bikes. We do acknowledge that without the Stumpjumper, a large market of people might have never ridden a mountain bike in the early 1980s. Having a big brand with nationwide dealers like Specialized mass-produce the mountain bike overseas made it easier for the everyday rider to try out one of these “big kid’s BMX” bikes for themselves.

Oftentimes, the hardest component to track down for a vintage MTB build or restoration is worthy tires, especially if you’re going after a specific or Specialized look. House of Looptail continues its quest to re-issue classic tire patterns with its Competition Deuce tires, modeled after moto-inspired tires from the 1980s. These are a perfect replacement for the once ubiquitous rubber found on everything from klunkers, to cruisers, and Stumpjumpers.

Made in Japan by Panaracer with the finest rubber available, these 26 x 2.125″ tires might plump out on wider rims or pinch down on narrower widths. Available in gumwall now, with all-black tires on the way soon, for $85 a piece.

Check ’em out at House of Looptail.

When it comes to converting vintage mountain bikes to commuters and cargo bikes, there are a few cargo fork options out there, but for Stolen Garage, they wanted to make something unique using Anne’s RockRider as the prototype. Let’s check it out with wonderful photos by Romain, below!

If you have a vintage MTB or basket bike and are looking for a light ‘n’ supple, file tread center tire that excels for mixed terrain biking, and want a pop of color, then check out the SimWorks Homage tires in 26″. These Panaracer-made tires are back in stock in the classic bright green tread, or black tread gumwall if you’re seeking a sleeker look. Both colors are back in stock at SimWorks for $68.

Building a bike for your kid is a fulfilling experience for a parent and child. Krishna Muirhead just completed a 1995 Barracuda A2E for his son, Nico, and sent it along for a very rad Readers’ Rides!

It’s not really up for debate: The Suntour™ XC-I and XC-II pedals are the BEST CAGED pedals ever made. Often copied but never duplicated, you can certainly spend more on a set of cool old-school caged pedals, but you won’t get more. The only gripe with these awesome pedals has been the dustcaps. Dustcaps falling off and disappearing have always been an issue with the XC-I and XC-II, and the problem is worse than ever now that the plastic has shrunken and hardened a bit over the decades.

House of Looptail is once again happy to save the day with its new Egssy! pedal dustcaps. CNC machined from 6061-T6 aluminum, they fit tight, look right, and will not shrink. They fit both the Suntour Eggsy-I and Eggsy-II pedals, and should be the last set of pedals dustcaps you’ll ever need to buy for $25 a set.

In stock now at House of Looptail.

For this week’s Readers’ Rides, Teddy shares with us his shreddy basket bike built upon a 1992 Litespeed “Mountain” chassis…

Ever wonder what goes into repairing a steel frame? Old or new steel frames can have damaged tubes removed and new ones added. Extra bosses or brake bridges can be added. Really, the possibilities are mostly endless. When you know what you’re doing. Watch as Paul Brodie restores this vintage Ritchey P-22 with a new set of stays…