Plain Parts - Compelling Sentiments

I can't bring myself to get rid of any of my early to late-90s XTR parts. That blue-grey finish is just the most beautiful thing ever.

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speaking of well-aged rf parts, i've got a set of OG atlas cranks that have been in continuous use on a couple different bikes (dh & enduro) since 2006. a few miles on these trusty bits.

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I have an original crank brothers dropper post, in use steady for over a decade now!

HAHAHAHA!!! Just kidding!

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Hoo boy, too many to count!  

I have a Manitou Sherman slider I am in the process of rebuilding, that's going on my Xtracycle if I can get it to stop leaking.  It has been pretty bombproof otherwise.

An old '08 66 that has been on too many bikes to count.  Pretty sure the bushings are kaput so it needs to be retired.

I love bringing old parts back to life, it can be fun.  And boy is it a wakeup call when I get on my newer bikes and realize just how terrible some of those old parts were.

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I have a set of 105 shifters from the mid-2000s. A good friend sold them to me for $20 when I was broke and so were the shifters on my bike. He died a few years later, and even though they're not currently on a bike, I'll never get rid of them.

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I have the same generation of Turbines. I bought them around 2011 when I converted my first gen alloy Enduro 29 to 11spd 1x using a Oneup expander cog and cage. Those cranks have run on every bike I've owned since, including my latest, total of 8 bikes I think. At least that many chainrings have been run on them, one season with an 83mm axle. They're still going strong.

I also have a pair of Derby DH carbon/Hope 29" wheels I built up around the same time and they're still going strong. 7 year old carbon wheels... not really sure what to do with them now.

From the freeride era I have a Carve stem. It's barely not a block of aluminum and it's amazing. 

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I have an XT 8 speed rear derailleur from about 95 off my KHS Comp, all rigid all canti, still kicking around. Gorgeous little item made mostly of shiny aluminium. 

While it’s spent much of the last two decades in the toolbox or hanging on the wall It’s been on at least 7 or so bikes and currently resides on my Cotic Escapade doing gravel duty and shifting a 10 speed cog. After the KHS and a RM oxygen race it’s mostly sat as a spare when today’s less strong derailleurs inevitably break.

Wheels have been changed a few times but up until recently the spring was still strong. It’s getting a little loose and tired now.

It’s earned a retirement on the workshop wall now and will be replaced by a decidedly less shiny GRX on the Cotic. 

That said I may run into a jam again and need it for a short stint!

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I have a whole garage of parts. Mostly road bike bits from 2005-2010, the peak of that delightful period when everything was interchangeable and externally-routed. Also have a fascination with vintage drivetrain components. The 'artisanal' years from the 70s to the early 2000s, before everything was computer-optimized, yielded some really beautiful stuff. I'd hang it on a wall before riding it though.

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First off Carter is awesome and goes above and beyond to keep people riding their bikes.

I have a couple of things I will probably never part with. My Marzocchi XCR because it's the first suspension fork I ever purchased, My Marin Bear Valley frame not the original but a warranty replacement that runs as my commuter and my Pitch frame because that bike was ridden hard for 7 years and really hooked me back into riding more than just shuttles and chairlifts.

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When the shop has been in the same location for over 30 years, you can still find some 5 bolt bash rings fresh in their packages down in the basement. 

COVID bike revival meant I actually "sold" one of these things to a kid on a freeride bike that was older than he was.

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I have old things that just need to go really. A small bin of front derailleurs. Some are direct mount two speed XTR that I really will never need again. A bunch of nice rigid seat posts including a carbon PRO. Don’t want to lose those yet. Rear derailleurs missing parts and and hunks that aren’t removable except by a rock. Retired handlebars. A box of grips that suck. Seats that are painful. Retired stems almost as long as my spare seat posts. A few pairs of barely used cantis from when I was racing cross and was looking for brakes that kind of worked. Mini v’s and Avid sd something v brakes. 

I really should have a yard sale and sell bits for a dollar or two. I’d probably make enough for a small pizza and glass of water. Beer is pricy in Whistler. 

I gave away six or seven freewheel removers last year to a fellow on a vintage bike site. I hadn’t used them since I was a mechanic at Bike Cellar in the 80s. He was ecstatic. 

There really aren’t many parts that I move from bike to bike. I run stuff until it fails or I retire them due to age. I have a hard time disposing of parts that are good but obsolete. Or that one bb cup that’s still good.

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And an obvious candidate: Thomson 27.2 x 410 silver post. Completely functional, near indestructible, can't see the scratches...

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Parts are mostly just tools to me and it is indeed only the ones with memories attached that stick around.

I have a stem spacer from Sea Otter Classic 2006, when my generous grandparents flew me out there for my 16th birthday. I raced the DH on my hardtail and got to see the premiere of Seasons - a dream come true at the time! That 10mm spacer is something I won't let go easily, though it's not on my current bike because the colour clashes.

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I still have my shimano 636 pedals. Two pairs actually. They're the only clipless pedals I've owned and still work perfectly. They've been polished clean many times over, but have one set apart atm that I plan on getting powder coated back to bright red soon. 

I've considered retiring them before but I simply don't have a reason to.

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Oh man, Andrew, as someone who's been around bikes as you have, I'm a bit surprised if that's the extent of your "collection" :-( Some cool stuff and stories from a lot of you guys.

I've only been MTBing for 16 years (this year) and I still have my first set of XT M760 HT2 cranks I bought in 2005. They now reside on my '08 Monkey, now my commuter since getting an '18 Unit. Nothing wrong with them except one arm is slightly bent from when I didn't manage to properly hop a square 10" rock in the middle of a very narrow trail doing and bent the big ring completely onto the middle ring - a quick-ish stop at the side of the trail, two 5mm allen nuts undone and the cranks were off (used the needle nose pliers on my leathermaan to remove the pre-load piece), removed the chainring bolts and bent the spider arm back good enough to use the middle ring and finished that great 20ish mile ride on the Monarch Crest. I only run XT cranks on my bikes now, no better bang for the buck, longevity and super easy to service/work on IMHO. BBs are cheap and easy to change, bearings last longer if you just buy the proper bearings and replace the Shimano's once they're toast.

Just this year my friend gave me his broken 20 year old bike with full M750 XTR groupset with 180mm cranks, which I stripped all off to see what was still good. BB was very, very rough and despite being one that's "not serviceable", I went into it and managed to clean out the bearings and get some fresh grease in there, then I  got out the hacksaw and cut off the 44t big ring to give myself a nice 180mm 24/34 double crankset and it now resides on my 2012 PP Banshee Prime FS, which still is as awesome as the  day I got it. On the Prime also still resides my very first, true wide bar, a 780mm FUNN FatBoy which was bought for the initial  build of the Prime and it's still going strong.

Also still have my first proper FS MTB, a 2005 XL GIANT Trance, the first year Maestro came out, it was amazing and really got me hooked on MTBing, put well over 5k miles on it in the 3 years I rode it  until I got my first 29er in '07 and never touched a 26" again. Will never get rid of it, someday I'll get it up on the wall properly to look  at and remember what it did for me. Occasionally I build it back up if there's parts about, normally with a 650B fork/wheel, as 26" just seems so tiny to me now, but doesn't last long and soon gets stripped and put aside as the  little wheels just don't feel right to me anymore. Also still have the HOPE Mono Mini's I bought in '05 for the Trance, but they reside on a small loaner bike as I never found that they had great stopping power, but damn do they look nice.

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I've been riding for enough years to have had a few things interesting parts over the years.  I don't keep much now and tend to ride things until they no longer work, or I've sold the bike.  But, one thing I only let go of a couple years ago was a 2000 Marzocchi Mr.T fork.  Dual crown, 5" travel, spindly legged thing from the days I was learning to drop off stuff.  I kept it as a backup until I got to the point where it was never going to be on another bike of mine, and I had nowhere to display it.  Sturdy little fork though representing a time of standing around watching friends trying to push their skill levels without dying, LOL.

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I have some M730 XT thumbshifters, several pairs actually, that I will probably never use again. I don't find that drvietrains now actually shift much better than ones from back then, but the 1x thing is so much better. So even though those XT thumbies still work pretty well (and, come to think of it, the Shimano compatible Suntour XC Pro ones are even better), there is no place for them on a modern bike. Sigh. (Also- thumbies require taking your thumbs off the grips to shift- not a good idea when traversing a rock garden or root carpet at speed). Never ridden anything that shifts as well as Suntour XC Pro thumbies.

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A set of DX v brakes in original powder coat red. So much nostalgia, so little utility...

I'll probably put them on a bike for the kids in the next year or so. Maybe with Avid levers - they can be adjusted closer to the bar.

Edit - 

Also a 104 BCD bashguard on my XTR 980 crankset. The finest mountain crank shimano ever made - normal BCD, normal bearing preload, no strange 'standards' and silver faces to polish with your shoes. I don't know how old they are, but they're not coming off my main bike until they fail.

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Pearl Izumi liner from 15 years ago, super thin chamois it just disappears, just a few large holes but oh well.

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I have a thing for esoteric but brutally effective components. 

I have two complete sets of m755 Xt 4 pot calipers still running on bikes. Combined with Trickstuff pads and m785 levers they are still awesome. 

I also have a set of Navigator 6 pot calipers hooked up to Saint m810 levers with carbon ceramic pads and huge Hope V2 discs. Surprisingly civilised brakes given their sheer physical capability.

Finally I have a set of OG Middleburn rs8 x-type cranks. Fully modular, direct mount, dh rated, and ever so slightly wonky spacing on the spider because british!

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NSB 20mm hub that I had to take a grinder to to fit a Fox 36. Living in Calgary in my first ever 'real' winter, I'd grind till the lock ring got too hot to hold, then throw it in the snow to cool off.

Let's of reasons that hub will be handed down to my first born.

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I feel this is more applicable to road components than mtb for obvious reasons. I acquired a bike with 10 speed campagnolo chorus from ‘00 around ‘09. At the time road was still 10 speed. I rode that bike for a while but eventually sold the frame. I’ve rebuilt the shifters and replaced the hoods and they’ve been on a few bikes. They’re currently on an early 80s Reynolds 531 tubed frame from Switzerland, paired with the original chorus rear derailleur. I ride that bike to work a lot, and it’s running 1970s record brake calipers. These brakes were produced with very little change for almost 20 years. The same bike also sports my first edition sram rival 180mm compact crank set in silver and a syncros ti post, a Chris king no logo grip nut headset and dia compe gran comp stem. I’m even using authentic mathauser pads in the Campy holders. I used to pick out all the old centerpull Scott/mathauser pads out of the bins at ocb and cut them shorter to fit the record holders. The pads are probably 40+ years old and I think I’m on my last sets, they still perform better than most new pads.

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Hope Big 'un front hub I bought in 1997. It was red but has faded. It's still in use with a 9" rotor on the front of my Syndicate V10. It started life as a QR on a GT  then a 1st gen Specialized Big Hit. Had a year in the garage then on a Banshee scirocco until it took pride of place on a murdered out (before that was a thing) Vpfree with mono6 Ti brakes in 04 which is when it grew to 20mm.  It went on a green V10.3 which I stupidly sold to get a 951. Stayed on there until I got a Chris King to match the rear hub. It then had the qr end caps machined to fit a 15mm fork and had stints on a tazer ht and a yeti 4x. Sat around again until I got bored and built it with a carbon rim on my V10. Last person to ride that bike was Loris Vergier at a SC promo and he was spinning out about the hub being almost his age! It's probably more fancy than the intent of this article but it's just such a work horse with the only bearing change happening to up size the axle!

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This article made me sad because I was reminded of all the fallen comrades. I moved a significant distance about 4 years ago and had to say goodbye to the Hall of Fame in the process. I donated a giant tote of treasure to a local charity bike shop. 

XTR ti cassettes

Ringle bottle cages and a few stems

Some fresh onza bar ends

XT hubs from back in the days

8 speed shifters, good quality 

Two pairs of X Ray shifters

Bunch of mavic 819 rims

Etc.

I still have the memories.

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I recently gave away a pair of ano blue brake lever extenders. For the whippersnappers in the audience, these clamped onto the end of the brake lever at a 90° angle so you could keep your hands on the bar ends and use your brakes.

I was the original owner, and gave them to a local trail builder who's even more of a retrogrouch than me.

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First post after lurking for a year, mainly for the AM articles. Anyhoo...

I cleaned out my bike room this past spring, getting rid of a bin of vintage parts that I couldn’t previously bear to let go of. So as it stands now, the only “antiques” that I have are a pair of XTR 952 shifters and a King headset- original equipment on and still going strong on my 2000 DeKerf Team 853, mounted with Schwalbe cx 1.35 knobbies and seeing weekly use on pathways, and dirt side trails that entice. Every other original part is long gone after many cycles of wear replacement and upgrading. The frame itself went back to Chris in 2005 to have a disc mount added, and a repaint in classic DeKerf copper. It still draws the occasional comment of approval from knowing bike connoisseurs!

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For me it's my trusty set of Shimano M520's. They've done many thousands of KM's, and graced many bikes. From my top shelf XC race bike, to my cheap and cheerful fat bike, to a spin bike sitting in my basement. They've gotten me through gruelling stage races, Ontario cup races, and too many fun rides with friends to count. They're not light, they're not pretty (certainly not anymore), but I have no desire, or need, to replace them. I don't have a single other component that I will hang on to long after it's useful life because of the adventures we've been on together.

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A couple things came to mind:

1. I have a Race Face stem that is either a 50 or  70 with 20-30 mm of rise.  It doesn't work anymore because bars got bigger, but I can not throw it away.  

2. I carry a tube patch kit box that I bought 15 years ago at Merv's Bike Shop in rural PA.  The whole shop was nothing but rare vintage parts that an old dude collected over the years.  I think I spent 2 hours just looking at stuff in there.  Bought a patch kit and some oddball part that I don't remember.  That patch kit box will stay with me forever, just because it reminds me of an awesome day and biking trip.

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