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What is a vintage mountain bike

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Vintage mountain bikes are making a come back in my opinion just because of the whole gravel grinder, bike packing craze in the bike industry. Older mountain bikes can easily be converted to suit, road, dirt, gravel, cross country, bike packing, touring, cruisers etc the options are almost endless and the prices on the older MTBS are reasonable.
 
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I would like to say that the bikes should be presented by era, that is:

Klunkers - the first mountain bikes, whether fairly original or modified
Steel lugged/fillet brazed frame bikes - no suspension, geared, 26" or 650B wheels
Steel welded frame bikes - no suspension, geared, mostly 26" wheels
Steel welded frame bikes - front suspension, geared, mostly 26" wheels
Early full suspension bikes - steel or aluminum, geared, mostly 26" wheels

Then add other models as the later bikes age in to the classic area.
 
In my community, I remember mountain bikes entering the market in 1981. The tweens I supervised at the Old Town Boys Club made fun of me as I tried convincing them Mountain bikes were going to be the next big bike boom.
Since those kids were BMX'rs, they thought I was nuts. I can remember those kids called Mountain bikes " glorified beach cruisers." It didn't matter to me.
That sounds so much like me in the early 80's. I had a few years riding under my belt and we had a local track. I did also have a road bike as my older bros were into the bike boom road stuff and used them to get around, but thought MTBs were funny looking BMX style bikes with no anno parts.

Now, I have multiple early 80s as as I appreciate the fact it was all new and love bullmoose bars and slack downhill look. The mid to late 80s MTB were mostly mass produced and with bullmoose gone those little riser non crossbar bikes were even more plain. But BMX freestyle was in full swing mid 80s and were so unique and colorful (albeit heavy and more form than function).

Then the 90s came and BMX died off and MTB grew again. Anno and cool USA parts were being made, the design moved more toward unique frames, suspension and color. I see the 90s MTB like the BMX freestyle era just later.
 
Some other names that have come to mind lately for you to keep and eye out for your museum..
Slingshot. Mantis Flying V. GT LTS-1(alu) & STS(carbon) and I-drives. Kline. Voodoo. Gary Fisher's Joshua (precurser to Trek-Y bikes) Fat Chance's. Mt. Cycle San Andreas. Hannebrink. I was recently going through my old BIKE mag issues all the way back to the 1st ever photo annual issue in 1995 and it took me back to the heyday. There were many cool makers with crazy cool ideas. I would also try to find 1st generation suspension forks to display. Fork technology was pretty basic way back and there were a lot of players trying to cash in...many went by the wayside.
 
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