in Bikes and Gear

Not a bad deal for a front wheel, but there was absolutely ZERO carbon fiber used in the construction of this wheel.

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/3944527026.html

Here's an awesome wheelset...

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/3942787635.html

$350 for 26er rim brake wheels though?

There might be a time in the future where the Mtb Hall of Fame could place a bid but they would probably want Colin's local made version before the Cane Creek.

That reminds me of our sweet old Fat Chance we still ride. It pre-dates the wheels in that ad but has semi-home made ways for better mouse traps. I have home made (Bullseye) and TA chain rings that pre-date compact drive with Dura-Ace road freewheel.

Not a bad deal for a front wheel, but there was absolutely ZERO carbon fiber used in the construction of this wheel.

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/3944527026.html

Funny on the carbon fiber. I loved one of the Transition Klunker promotions or videos that stated nothing is carbon, titanium or optimized in the bike's design. Some of the videos are very funny and what they do on rigid bikes with coaster brakes is bad ass.

Some of the craigslist adds for musical instruments and amps are even worse (better?) as far as what people try to sell as vintage = special. Fools will for months run same add for items people barely wanted in the '70s, '80s or '90s.

I've waited so long to find one before someone else did....this one is super rare.

http://madison.craigslist.org/bid/4090377216.html

i award you five innernetz for finding that beaut.

I've waited so long to find one before someone else did....this one is super rare.

http://madison.craigslist.org/bid/4090377216.html

I'd buy two if he had a pair. But what good is only one?

It would be nice if some of these had the long-term redeeming value of a quality musical instrument but not so. It always looks like a losing battle if an old item for sale is not timeless design AND from a company that had a super reputation or following.

My guess is American from MN in this post influenced Gary Fisher with "genesis" geometry because they had long top tubes and short stems before any others I recall.

CLASSIC GT CROSSOVER? TRI? HYBRID ? CYCLE CROSS? OVERPRICED?

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/4079271460.html

I love this suspension.  Never seen anything like it.
http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/4110749242.html

I used to ride a fork like that on a Stumpjumper hardtail.

I love this suspension.  Never seen anything like it.
http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/4110749242.html

Pretty cool. Looks like a variation of the old truss style suspension forks.

I had one back in the day, it was unmatched for stiffness and it's ability to completely smooth out small bumps, it probably would compare favorably to modern forks for those two aspects. They do have a fatal flaw though, horrendous brake dive, tap the brake there goes half of your suspension travel.

And due to the rearward axle path at the beginning of the travel (which was responsible for the awesome small bump performance), the head angle steepens rapidly as the fork dives into the travel.

oooooh, tell me more....

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/4121573185.html

oooooh, tell me more....

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/4121573185.html

I think this is how you should run your eBay business.

Neat thread. I wish some of these CL links still worked.
TheMayor; is that a Haro Extreme? I had the one right after it. The Haro Alumina Extreme. Somehow I forgot it was elevated chain stay. That Haro had the most painful geometry of any bike I ever owned. Even in an XL size the head tube was all of 4" long and had a ridiculous 5" long stem that went up at better than a 45degree angle. I had a Nishiki Alien AL afterwards with elevated chain stays as well. The Nishiki worked much better.

That Proflex... I had one as a demo for a couple of weeks. Proflex was trying to convince our store to
carry their bikes. At that point we sold Specialized and Raleigh. Raleigh and Nishiki were owned by the same company out in Irvin, CA. We did have one of the first Specialized FSRs in our store. Back when the rear shock was out back of the seat tube. It just sat and sat there for years. I wonder if they still have it. Things were so different with full suspension bikes back then. I was riding a Nishiki FS2 Comp @ that point I think. All sorts of crazy pulleys etc to be able to get cantilever brakes to work on the back of a single pivot rear suspension design. I demoed the Proflex for a week. I returned it afterwards declining to carry them. I felt it was dangerous because of the front fork. Really for the most part the frame and rear suspension worked fine. It was very lightweight. Even the elastopolymers worked well. They dampen as they compress. The fork tho... Yes very stiff but the front axle travels back and up as it compressed. Girvin/Proflex/K2 claimed this design helped it roll over rocks and tree branches. Maybe it did. But the front axle would move backwards more than 2&1/2" back as it went up close to the same amount. Land a jump and the front end would just dive and your wheelbase would shrinks. Endo city. Front end geometry would steepen by quite a bit. I never ran across a bike  that tried to throw me over the bars more. And of course as stated before the front fork would dive hard under braking. If it had come with a Judy on the front I would probably have said yes. I remember there was another parallelogram linkage fork out around that same time that I got to ride. It wasn't as bold looking and didn't have as much travel but for the most part the front axle moved straight up and even if it was flexy it worked pretty good.
     I just got rid of a bunch if vintage Mtn bike gear and bikes. I had a Klein Attitude made before Trek bought Klein. My daughter has a '95 Gary fisher Y bike. Kind of a fun bike that handles very well if you never sit down. If you ever get a chance to get over to Budget bikes on Regent street look up. They have some ridiculous ridiculous vintage Mtn bikes hanging from the rafters that are all ridiculously overpriced as well but very fun to look at.