Sunday, March 29, 2009

Vintage Moots


Serial number 300 or so according to the owner. He was in Steamboat Springs, CO about the time Moots started up and had the proprietor braze him up a mountain bike frame. The craftsmanship then, as now, was fantastic and no part of the frame has failed despite some 25 years of off road use. The bike has been repainted, got a new fork (not easy with a 1" steerer tube) and also had the shoulder pad replaced. That's right, shoulder pad. The frame maker put two bosses in the top tube and mounted an ergonomic piece of aluminum to that. Around the aluminum was originally a leather shoulder pad, which has since been replaced by a foam/nylon bit. Great for adventure cycling, creek crossing and boulder hopping (before front suspension). On the day this photo was taken, the owner raced it in an XC race, proving that it's not the arrow, it's the Indian...

6 comments:

-d said...

I would have expected the shoulder pad to be on a CX bike.

-p said...

It's not quite in the right place for cyclocross, but that could be fixed.

-d said...

More in the middle of the top tube?

-p said...

Yep, that'd be better.

Shoobi said...

I'm the owner of this fine machine built in 1984 while I was a bartender at the Tugboat Saloon in Steamboat Springs, CO. Since then, it's traveled everywhere I have and works as well as the day I picked it up at Kent Ericksen's shop. On this day I raced my ole' Moots in a XC race and took the top podium spot with a 25 year old bike. Not bad for this "old indian";)

-p said...

Shoobi - thanks for checking out the blog and may you continue to dominate the XC.