Asininedrivel
caviar connoisseur
Given the fleet is grounded due to Stage 4 restrictions I’ve been (mis)using my time going through old photos and have stumbled onto an idea – showing you all my old crap bikes, sharing some unasked for nostalgia, providing evidence of how dangerous the for sale section is here and giving you a chance to be amused by some truly alarming geometry at the same time (and if you’re thinking I nicked this concept from one of Dirty Nomad’s Gear Rants you would be correct).
So don the rose tinted glasses and join in. I’ll go first…
…with this. Look at it. Bathe in its ungainly magnificence. This was my first “proper” mountain bike – a 2008(?) Giant Alias in snot green in the hugest size available. As a 22” frame it fit me(ish) but given my rank beginner level abilities at the time and its questionable geometry the addiction to mtb was slow to arrive. It was too short and steep to progress my confidence much (or at all) when things got gravity or techy so it eventually got relegated to commuting duties where it was promptly stolen.
I had much more success with this, an Avanti something. A cheap experiment to see if I liked 29ers (turns out I did a bit). Quick, agile and super fun, I liked this bike a lot. There wasn’t much to it really apart from working out the best gear ratio and it had the novelty of having possibly the only pair of Avid Juicy brakes that actually worked as intended. I pretty much broke everything else on it and turned the front wheel into a pretzel trying to (badly) jump everything in sight. Eventually sold to a mate after discovering that sometimes there is a limit to n+1, but the obsession had begun. It was time to have a go at building a bike from scratch….
Which led to this! A 2008 Intense Spider 29. Bought the frame from here and spent close to a year researching and sourcing parts, learning a lot but almost sending myself broke in the process. The end result was interesting. The frame design was driven by Jeff Steber trying to counter the perception that 29ers were inert tanks, so it had razor sharp handling (73 degree HA with a 100mm fork – pictured with a 120mm) and led to a lot of cockpit experimentation to get the right fit. Apart from that it climbed well (unsurprisingly) but was a touch… flexy and ultimately felt a bit too big. CB Cobalt wheelset sourced in one of those insane "we will actually pay you to take this" CRC sales but was not as shit as claimed elsewhere. Did firmly cement wanker status though. Basically classified myself as a rocket scientist when I finally dialled in the RP23 shock. So, sorted right? Not quite…
Yep, it’s a Heckler. We’ve all had one (or a Halifax rattler equivalent if you’re partial to single pivot Anglophilia) and they are all awesome. I didn’t need another bike, but this appeared on here at a bargain price and some impulsiveness may have occurred. It came with homemade cable routing and was only clean for this photo. Was a bit of a bike of two halves, rear end was super plush yet responsive (big fan of that DHX Air) but the forks had the rigidity of a wet tissue and I never really got on with those M778 wheels. Santa Cruz build quality was evident by how well it performed given how often I either crashed it or avoided maintaining it properly (and I had some truly epic stacks on this, it was that kinda bike).
Sold to another mate and remains the only bike I’d be keen to buy back and whack a decent fork / wheelset on if only it was bit bigger (note stem length to “correct” this issue). Mate put a normal stem on it and a dropper, so it’s even more rad now.
Fast forward a few years, I was wasting time scrolling through the For Sale section here (again) and I found this….
Which (again) was priced too well not to buy even though I could provide zero additional justification for obtaining it. I bought it anyway. An On One 456 (650b version) that thought it was a 160mm sled and encouraged equivalent behaviour. Everything – everything – about this bike was awesome, from the underrated af Marzocchi 350CR forks to the brick shithouse frame to the sublime component choices the previous owner made (the dropper did get warrantied but I understand that’s a part of routine maintenance for Reverbs). I sold it to fund a move interstate. Still miss it. Everyone should own a steel hardtail at some stage.
And that's it. Join me in sharing your own back catalogue of crap. Or don't. I might wash my bike again.
So don the rose tinted glasses and join in. I’ll go first…
…with this. Look at it. Bathe in its ungainly magnificence. This was my first “proper” mountain bike – a 2008(?) Giant Alias in snot green in the hugest size available. As a 22” frame it fit me(ish) but given my rank beginner level abilities at the time and its questionable geometry the addiction to mtb was slow to arrive. It was too short and steep to progress my confidence much (or at all) when things got gravity or techy so it eventually got relegated to commuting duties where it was promptly stolen.
I had much more success with this, an Avanti something. A cheap experiment to see if I liked 29ers (turns out I did a bit). Quick, agile and super fun, I liked this bike a lot. There wasn’t much to it really apart from working out the best gear ratio and it had the novelty of having possibly the only pair of Avid Juicy brakes that actually worked as intended. I pretty much broke everything else on it and turned the front wheel into a pretzel trying to (badly) jump everything in sight. Eventually sold to a mate after discovering that sometimes there is a limit to n+1, but the obsession had begun. It was time to have a go at building a bike from scratch….
Which led to this! A 2008 Intense Spider 29. Bought the frame from here and spent close to a year researching and sourcing parts, learning a lot but almost sending myself broke in the process. The end result was interesting. The frame design was driven by Jeff Steber trying to counter the perception that 29ers were inert tanks, so it had razor sharp handling (73 degree HA with a 100mm fork – pictured with a 120mm) and led to a lot of cockpit experimentation to get the right fit. Apart from that it climbed well (unsurprisingly) but was a touch… flexy and ultimately felt a bit too big. CB Cobalt wheelset sourced in one of those insane "we will actually pay you to take this" CRC sales but was not as shit as claimed elsewhere. Did firmly cement wanker status though. Basically classified myself as a rocket scientist when I finally dialled in the RP23 shock. So, sorted right? Not quite…
Yep, it’s a Heckler. We’ve all had one (or a Halifax rattler equivalent if you’re partial to single pivot Anglophilia) and they are all awesome. I didn’t need another bike, but this appeared on here at a bargain price and some impulsiveness may have occurred. It came with homemade cable routing and was only clean for this photo. Was a bit of a bike of two halves, rear end was super plush yet responsive (big fan of that DHX Air) but the forks had the rigidity of a wet tissue and I never really got on with those M778 wheels. Santa Cruz build quality was evident by how well it performed given how often I either crashed it or avoided maintaining it properly (and I had some truly epic stacks on this, it was that kinda bike).
Sold to another mate and remains the only bike I’d be keen to buy back and whack a decent fork / wheelset on if only it was bit bigger (note stem length to “correct” this issue). Mate put a normal stem on it and a dropper, so it’s even more rad now.
Fast forward a few years, I was wasting time scrolling through the For Sale section here (again) and I found this….
Which (again) was priced too well not to buy even though I could provide zero additional justification for obtaining it. I bought it anyway. An On One 456 (650b version) that thought it was a 160mm sled and encouraged equivalent behaviour. Everything – everything – about this bike was awesome, from the underrated af Marzocchi 350CR forks to the brick shithouse frame to the sublime component choices the previous owner made (the dropper did get warrantied but I understand that’s a part of routine maintenance for Reverbs). I sold it to fund a move interstate. Still miss it. Everyone should own a steel hardtail at some stage.
And that's it. Join me in sharing your own back catalogue of crap. Or don't. I might wash my bike again.