# Advice From A Senior Citizen



## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

Yeah, I know I'm almost 20 years old. I also know that my geometry and components are outdated and that I'm "only" a 26er. Hell, I only have an 8 speed cassette on me. I was new and cutting edge a long time ago, but do you want to know what? I STILL RIP UP TRAILS!! I am like a rocket ship going up hills and believe it or not I can even go DOWN hills, FAST! I'm small and light so I can be whipped around like a BMX bike. My owner had a blast riding me on the flowy and fast Allegrippis trails and even still rides me on the tight, techy, rooty and rocky trails NJ is known for. The moral of my story? If you have it and love it, RIDE IT!! Regardless of whether or not its the "latest and greatest."


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## 779334 (Oct 10, 2014)

As they say, it's 90% skill & 10% bike.


...but, no matter how well you ride, disk brakes make a huge difference. They're not killing your palms like rim brakes.


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## misterbill (Aug 13, 2014)

AshevilleMtBiker said:


> ...but, no matter how well you ride, disk brakes make a huge difference. They're not killing your palms like rim brakes.


My hands kill me going downhill. Never made the connection to Vbrakes. Figured it was just mountain biking. Having a really hard time deciding whether to spend a small fortune on a bike. I do not think it would be safe to ride over the rocks I ride around, seems as though it would be harder to pick a line with a huge FS bike. If I would be ecstatic riding a nice bike it will be worth it. If I am still in pain up and down hill I would resent spending a lot of money. I'm riding a 24" kids bike now. I keep going back so I guess I do not hate it too much!


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

I hear you Ashe, and my other rides have 'em, but that's part of the ambiance of this particular bike. The rim brakes just fit with the 8 speed cassette, old school Rock Shox seat post, the non- replaceable derailleur hanger that's part of the frame and the odd 5 bolt Sugino cranks.


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## Coolhand (Jan 15, 2004)

Disc brakes and tubeless tire setups are both massive improvements to performance and enjoyment. As a former Klien owner, I would say a frame which didn't ride like a old timely buckboard would be good too.


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## Gasp4Air (Jun 5, 2009)

Stick with what works for you. But if you decide to look around, there are relatively inexpensive options out there.

Bikes Direct


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## peter.thedrake (Aug 6, 2009)

The best bike is the one you already own. Go ride.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

Oh boy; another 'is the 26 dead?' or 'is 29 the way to go?' barb.

Hey, if you enjoy, then who are we to judge? Sounds like you're having a blast riding it.


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

Gasp4Air said:


> Stick with what works for you. But if you decide to look around, there are relatively inexpensive options out there.
> 
> Bikes Direct


Just to clarify, it's not my only bike. It's just 1 of the 3 that I have that are my trail bikes. Just sayin' that even though it's old it's still fun.


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## Space Robot (Sep 13, 2008)

Sweet! is that a Pulse? I bought this one new in '97. Loved it but it beat the hell out of me. Glad that Rock Shox stopped using marshmallows in their forks. I think it had maybe a half inch of travel....

The choice was between this and a Bontrager Privateer, but those big fat orange tubes were calling me...


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

Yep. Pulse Race. Same here. '97. The Orange tubes just drew me in. I love that your pic still has the original Indy fork on it!


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## Rev Bubba (Jan 16, 2004)

Nice write-up. Thanks


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I drooled over those Kleins BITD. No way could I afford anything like that back then, though.

I want my next mtb to be a steel or Ti hardtail that I can keep in service for decades, that's as flexible as possible with regards to standards.


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## Space Robot (Sep 13, 2008)

Rogueldr said:


> Yep. Pulse Race. Same here. '97. The Orange tubes just drew me in. I love that your pic still has the original Indy fork on it!


Thanks, but sadly they're both gone now. What fork are you running on yours? what's the travel?


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

cackalacky said:


> Thanks, but sadly they're both gone now. What fork are you running on yours? what's the travel?


It's funny you ask because just last night I put a 100mm SID on it. I always wanted one and finally found one for the right price that was "period specific." For years, though, I was running a Manitou SXr (80mm) which I put on it probably around '00. Pretty much everything else is original to when I bought it. Except for the Rock Shox seatpost and Easton bars.


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## LittleBitey (Nov 10, 2012)

Harold said:


> I drooled over those Kleins BITD. No way could I afford anything like that back then, though.


Kleins were used for wall art for the 1%ers...


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## cobi (Apr 29, 2008)

Note: Notice the backwards fork in the picture above?

Seinfeld definitely had "upgrade-itis" despite never riding....

Different blue Klein? (with reflectors!)








Then went to a Canondale? with toe traps and bar ends.....








Then again maybe he did ride?








From a little googling, it appears Michael Richards was an avid cyclist and the brains behind the Klein in the hallway.

Seinfeld?
[snip]
"What he did want to talk about was a passion of his that has been largely unexplored by the media, a passion that helped shape his childhood and feed his insatiable curiosity and creativity. It's a passion, renewed as an adult, that was apparent the second he opened his front door, and, without hesitation or being questioned, began talking enthusiastically about bikes. "I'm the reason that green bike is on the Seinfeld set in the first place-not the set director, like you wrote," he groused good-naturedly about tbe ptoduct placement story in July's INSIDE SPIN. "She wanted to put a bookcase there. I said, 'Put a bike there-and make it a Klein.' Klein owes me-big-time! "That's why it ticks me off that Klein sent Jerry [Seinfeld] the Adroit-not me. He doesn't even ride it - because he doesn't want to get it dirty. He's a clean freak, and he only does yoga.

"And by the way, the bike on the set with the fork backwards, like your readers noticed in the article-is a Rascal, not an Adroit."

Richards noticed because he owns a Rascal-and basically rides the hell out of it: a daily commute to the studio and a 2,000-foot climb nearly every afternoon up to neatby Cold water Canyon Park in [he Hollywood Hills behind his home. The bike itself is no mere off-the-rack special, either, but a $1,700 custom job that he built himself. The jet-black, 22-inch Rascal (Richards is 6-foot-2) was out back leaning against the wall, having just been recovered from some bushes down the street where a thief had deposited it three weeks earlier.

Richards stroked it like a loving parent, which he is. He picked up the used frame two years ago for $400, added on [he Deore XT components from the Bridgestone MB-2 he started mountain biking on a year earlier, then was swept up in the tricked-out, upgrade-mania afflicting cyclists evetywhere: Bullseye front hub, titanium bottom bracket, Mavic headset, Ritchey seal post, Onza bar-ends and Panaracer Smokes ("great for climbing"). He painted [he bike black and even sent away for the appropriate "Rascal" and "Klein" decals. "It's 24 pounds," he said. "It kicks ass uphilL" Climbing and [he endurance it builds are wbat Richards loves. When be needs a break from his normal neighborhood climb, he heads out to Bulldog Run in the Santa Monica Mountains, a six-mile ascent he accomplishes "without slopping," he says proudly. Descending is another story, however. A bad spill on Mammoth Mountain's fabled Kamikaze downhill in the summer of 1991 and a near-fatal 40-foot plunge off a cliff soon after (he landed in a tree) cured him forever of the desire for Rock Shox. "I don'[ want to go that fast downhill," he explains. "I've worked too hard on this career to risk it on the downhill."

In the Beginning

Before the career, which began in the classroom (he was voted Most Humorous his senior year at Thousand Oaks High School), there were the bikes. First, the toobig, 24-inch-wheeled, nameless, single-speed Christmas present from his widowed mom when he was seven, which he learned [0 ride in two days. Then, at II, the $40 black 3speed Schwinn paperboy "hog" bike with the whitewalled tires and spring front suspension ("It was cool-like a Harley-Davidson, "he recalls with satisfaction); he was to cry over that bike on a two-mile walk home one day, when it was stolen while he and his ftiends wete at the movies. And finally, fout months latet, came the Royce Union 27-inch-wheeled, I5-speed superbike ("I blew everybody away on hills with that extra low gear") that was mothballed when he began driving in high school.

From the start, bikes were more than mere transportarion for Richards. "That magic, that moment when you are first on two wheels it's like coming face to face with God," he whispers dramatically. If that sounds a little corny, consider that Richards grew up a latchkey kid and "well-connected loner" who moved with his working mother several rimes in his childhood after his father died. His bike, in essence, became his best friend and vehicle of discovery. From his home in Culvet Ciry, the nomadic seven-year-old rode the 24-incher all over the steep Baldwin Hills; he rode eight miles to and from Venice Beach, a then astounding distance. After moving to Van Nuys, he got his friends in trouble by leading them on his all-day, mega-mile expeditions in the Valley. The Royce Union took him even farther afield. "I was into riding distances because I liked to bring back my experiences and tell all the other kids so we could ride out there late~" he remembers. "So a lot of parents didn't like me. I explored everything and tode everywhete."

By the end of ninth grade, howeve~ "bikes weren't happening-cars were." And things stayed that way unril four years ago, when his buddy Begley forced him to ride a folding bike with him up to Coldwater Canyon Park, where he rides today.

"Ed said, 'You ride so well-you ought to get a bike,'" recalls the born-again bicyclist. So within weeks, he'd bought his Bridgestone MB-2, began riding after work with younger guys on the Seinfeld crew and training for the Kamikaze. When his car was stolen, he began commuting to the set daily.

The next cycling goal for the divorced father of one girl (a college freshman) is to pick up a bike for his girlfriend, aerress Ann Talman, whom he met during her guest appearance as a girlfriend of George, Seinfeld's best friend on the show. Klein could help out there, he hinted, mentioning off-handedly that Cannondale has called the set several times offering to replace the ignored but now-legendary green Rascal.

Richards was intrigued by tbe notion, raised by a few BG letter-writers, of having a Seinfeld script focus on the dusty bike. "A big problem is exteriors-we don't do much of them," he said. Then he got a far-away look in his eyes and smiled. "Kramer on a bike," he said. "Think of the possibilities."


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

That's awesome. Didn't George have a Specialized in his hallway?


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

Coolhand said:


> Disc brakes and tubeless tire setups are both massive improvements to performance and enjoyment. As a former Klien owner, I would say a frame which didn't ride like a old timely buckboard would be good too.


Hence the seat post.


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