What's In The Repair Stand

Late 90's/Early 00's Mountain Cycle San Andreas

The shop is located in the Mid-West. Not known as a hot bed of vintage, high end mtb esoterica by any means. So when I get not one, but two oddball SoCal mtb bikes in for repair, I definitely take notice.

The first rig I worked on is this fine example of a Mountain Cycle San Andreas full suspension bike. The San Andreas model was the bike that Mountain Cycle made their name on in the early 90's. In fact, the bike originally came with disc brakes and Mountain Cycles own "Suspenders" upside down style suspension fork. Back then the San Andreas featured a bellows for a rear damper not unlike what you might see underneath a semi-tractor trailer rig.

This was a later iteration, (possibly the last generation?) of the San Andreas. It had modern disc tabs on the rear swingarm, and it was stamped as being the "5th Version" under the bottom bracket next to the serial number and the Kinesis USA stamp.

Full XTR drivetrain and shifters.

The bike was kitted out in the best of its day: Full 9spd XTR drivetrain and shifters. Paul Motolite brakes and Love levers, with Chris King hubs and head set.

The frame is a tour de force of welding. I was amazed by the yards of weld beads on this thing. The monocoque aluminum construction looked huge and heavy, but the bike was actually quite reasonable for weight. I figured it in the upper 20's, but I did not actually weigh it.

It also had a Thomson stem and seat post with a Selle Italia SLR saddle. Top notch stuff everywhere I looked. And I had to look at everything, since it was in for cleaning, and the bike was covered head to toe with grime.

Mountain Cycle Moho hard tail

The same customer also brought in this nice Mountain Cycle Moho hard tail. This is similar in construction to the San Andreas, but was a model brought out in Mountain Cycle's later years.

This one was no less stunning. Again- a full XTR drive train was on board with a SID fork and ultra-rare ProShift brand CNC brake levers and linear pull brakes.

Ultra-rare, Made In The USA brakes

This rig also featured Thomson parts. The stem and seat post again, which sported another Selle Italia SLR perch. The head set was a black Chris King unit, but the wheels were rare Hadley hubbed ones. Made in the USA, of course.

This rig was maybe even dirtier than the San Andreas, so it probably got a lot of ride time. Even so, the parts were in remarkable condition.

I love seeing old, exotic mtb stuff come through the shop. It is fun to work on, and I get to touch and experience things I only got to see in magazines of the day.

These bikes needed little, but we do work on all types of bicycles at the shop, so if you have something you need looked at- be it a hybrid rig or something vintage like these two bikes, we can do it.