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 Around the aluminum was originally a leather shoulder pad, which has since been replaced by a foam/nylon bit.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...

Brake Lever Legality, Vintage Single Speed Crosser

Seen at the Sagebrush Cyclocross race in Reno, Nevada. What you see here is a single speed cross bike (well, road bike with decent tire clearance) with time trial style brake levers mounted to a shallow drop/mustache bar. They point forward. Is this legal? Many cyclocross races don't allow mountain bike bar ends or "forward facing bar ends" so you don't create any new orifices for yourself or your competition. Does that rule apply to brake levers? Not that I need a cycling federation to tell me what to do, but it would be interesting to hear the logic on some of these rules. I don't know that logic is ever explained with sports rules (instant replay, no disc brakes in cyclocross, why female beach volleyball players have to wear bikinis) so don't hold your breath for the answer. Just sit back and appreciate the wild variety that is cyclocross racing equipment.

Vintage front derailler and trick brake cable hanger

While I was walking through the parking lot at this weekend's cyclocross race (last in the Bay Area Super Prestige Series) I noticed a fun Hunter bicycle. By the way, check out the sandy beach track just behind it. I noticed that it had a 70's vintage Campagnolo front derailler. How was he shifting it? Not by ergo-lever. Bar end shifter. Also, notice the nifty front brake cable hanger wrapped around the stem:

The original linear pull brakes

I saw these on a mountain bike at the Velo Bella Surf City cyclocross race last weekend. I recognized them from a story a former coworker told me about the brakes on his mountain bike, maybe 7 years ago. The owner confirmed that they were indeed early versions of the linear pull brakes made under the name "Marinovations." The very first models were apparently nothing more than a piece of aluminum window frame, drilled to fit the studs, cable and pad. These were second generation models that had purpose-made aluminum arms and were more reliable than the first generation. The guy runs them on all his bikes because they just don't fail him.