Mantis | Vintage Steel Rider

While browsing the web and thinking of possible future vintage MTB projects, I inevitably get side-tracked by all the photos of splendiferously beautiful mountain bikes of yesteryear.

I usually just book mark the photos for future inspiration, but here I’m going to show five of my favourites, if not necessarily cost-effective, vintage mountain bikes.

This utterly stunning Dave Lloyd

A sublime bespoke build from one of the great frame builders of the British Isles. The colour-matched Girvin Flex Stem (and other parts) is a nice touch.

The Alpinestars Ti Mega

Super expensive, and with a frame prone to cracking near the bottom bracket. But wow!

Fat Chance Yo Eddy with aqua-fade

Known to ride like a dream (for a rigid steel bike), this bike’s look simply blows my mind.

Anodyzed GT Zaskars

What’s not to love about this bike? Loads of purple anodyzing, and Spinergy wheels. Really awesome.

The Mantis Flying V

The frame design in itself looks great, but the paintwork and the touch of tasteful purple anodyzed parts really are the cherry on top of the cake. This frame is currently up for sale, as it happens, on retrobike, for a couple of thousand Euros.

My choices are, of course, totally subjective.

This is something I thought would be interesting to share. It’s adapted from a list I’ve written myself in recent years, as I’ve searched for interesting vintage mountain bikes for my own collection.

As one might guess, there is an obvious bias towards the following:

bikes from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, principally 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995
MTBs with steel frames
mass-produced MTBs
MTBs that won’t cost an arm and a leg
MTB brands that were available in the USA, Canada, and the British Isles

It’s not exhaustive, and it’s not especially objective either. It’s simply a list of what I consider to be the best 100 vintage mountain bikes. These are all bikes I’d like to own, and would consider buying for myself, in the right size and condition.

I plan to add links to photos or catalogue scans for each of the listed bikes, in the near future.

The list

Alpinestars Cro Mega (e-stay or normal)