The Malverns Classic is one of the UK’s biggest mountain biking festivals, held last weekend in Eastnor Park near Ledbury in Herefordshire.
Outside of the racing and off-bike entertainment, a delicious banquet of retro mountain bikes were exhibited – and here are 10 of our top picks.
Mountain bikes have come a long way over the last few decades but, despite the progression to features such as modern long, low and slack geometry, 1x drivetrains and dropper seatposts, it’s always worth looking back at the bikes that paved the way.
Dave Yates Donkis Nob
This early-90s Dave Yates Donkis Nob, owned by Dan De Paoli, caught our eye with its wishbone seatstay design.
The frame features a RockShox Mag 21 fork and a Shimano XTR drivetrain, with a White Industries triple crankset. What look to be period-correct Shimano clipless pedals are installed onto the crank arms.
Elsewhere, Onza is on duty when it comes to stopping, with its cantilever brakes.
A long Salsa stem connects the Cane Creek headset to the handlebars, with Onza supplying the anodised green bar ends. This is a very different setup from modern mountain bikes, which tend to use shorter stems and wider handlebars, without bar ends.
The frame has clearly seen some heavy use, wearing its numerous chips and chain suck marks with pride, and it underlines that showpiece bikes should be used to slay the trails too.
1970s Klunker with drum brakes
This Klunker was built in 1976 by Gary Fisher for Richard Grant, who brought it to Europe in 1977. It's now owned by Jay Hardy, one of the Malverns organisers.
The cruiser frame at the heart of the bike has been dated back to the late 1930s or early 1940s.
It features a SunTour VX drivetrain, with the sleek and narrow derailleur cage of particular interest. You’ll need powerful legs to pedal the 53-tooth outer chainring though.
Drum brakes are the stoppers of choice and a BMX Ashtabula stamped quill stem is one of the highlights.
Also, take a look at that seat clamp, with a T-handle for making quick adjustments – it’s a really neat design.
There are no cable guides in sight on the frame, with all the gear and brake cables secured via the use of trusty zip-ties.
All of the cable ends could do with crimping though, to prevent them from fraying and uncoiling.
Kona Custom Hot 1997
This rad blue and fiery red Kona was another standout.
It features a Shimano XTR drivetrain, with a RaceFace forged triple crankset. Mounted to the pedal threads are modern Shimano XT clipless pedals.
Avid rim brakes stop the Mavic Crossmax wheels, although the quick-release skewers securing them to the dropouts look to be after-market.
Syncros takes care of the seatpost and handlebars, with ControlTech on stem duty. A Flite saddle with titanium rails is installed onto the seatpost.
Yeti grips should provide some cushioning to your hands and a Chris King headset ensures that steering the Marzocchi Bomber fork is silky smooth.
One neat thing about the Custom Hot is you could have any paintjob you wanted at the time, so there’s very unlikely to be another one identical to this. Another cool detail is this model has the 1996 graphics because the owner thought the 1997 jungle-styled font wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing.
1986 Cannondale mullet bike
This pink gloss Cannondale is a mullet bike from 1986 that has been lovingly restored by owner Patrick James.
The bike runs on a SunTour XC drivetrain and SunTour roller cam brakes. A period-correct SunTour shifter is installed on the tops of the handlebars and a Cannondale spoke protector should prevent the chain from getting tangled in the spokes.
The bottle cage is particularly interesting, in that it uses a Velcro strap to secure the bottle.
A Hite-Rite seat clamp, designed by Joe Breeze and Josh Angell is used, and enables you to raise and lower your seatpost in seconds, even while riding – very much a pre-cursor to the dropper seatpost.
Klein Attitude
This small-sized Klein Attitude belongs to Jamie Costa-Correa, which would be a dream for many younger mountain bikers.
The frame features an arresting gloss green and white paint scheme with black Klein graphics, juxtaposed by the blue Sunringle hubs.
Interestingly, Campagnolo is on shifting duties with its legacy rear derailleur, and the bike is specced with Magura hydraulic rim brakes. These were quite an improvement over cable-actuated rim brakes and offered significantly more modulation, although disc brakes soon took over.
The redundant front derailleur gear shifter remains fitted to the handlebars and, although the frame features internal cable-routing ports, all of the cables are routed externally and secured to the frame with zip ties.
Funk Cycles with a fluoro paint scheme
This wacky mountain bike certainly stands out with its elevated driveside chainstay and strut between the seat tube and down tube. The dropout design is also cool.
With a funky fluoro yellow and orange paint scheme, the bike features a period-correct Shimano Deore XT drivetrain and cantilever brakes.
There’s even a Shimano Deore XT headset. As well as mounting points for a bottle cage inside the front triangle, there are mounting points on the underside of the down tube.
Syncros takes care of the finishing kit, with the stem and handlebar both sprayed to match the frame paint scheme.
A Turbo saddle is fitted onto the Syncros seatpost.
It’s also interesting how all of the cables are routed on the driveside face of the top tube in one continuous section.
Zinn Z-Classic BMX
This brown BMX bike with orange graphics cuts an unassuming look, but some of the details are rather cool. The frame is crafted from Reynolds 501 double-butted steel and its drivetrain is a mix of Shimano Deore XT with a Ritchey Logic crankset.
The cockerel spoke reflectors are a nice touch, and attention has been paid to detail with the saddle and grips to match the paint scheme.
Extra points for the matching orange Jagwire LEX housing, which should result in smooth shifting and braking.
Raleigh Mustang
This Raleigh Mustang features a cool red and blue fade paint scheme with flecks.
This build runs on Shimano SIS gearing and a triple crankset with cantilever brakes.
We’re fans of the tanwall mountain bike tyres and the bike even has front and rear reflectors lovingly mounted.
Boulder Starship
This Boulder, with its brushed metal aesthetic and wacky suspension design, is a real standout.
Details are thin on the ground on this one, but, as far as we're aware, the Boulder Starship was a late-90s creation with a softtail suspension setup that offered a few inches of rear-end travel, in conjunction with a pivot at the chainstay / bottom bracket junction.
The Starship features a SRAM 9.0 SL drivetrain, which is the brand’s 10th anniversary ‘Betsy’ version. The special edition is named after Betsy Ross, who supposedly sewed the first ‘Stars and Stripes’ flag for George Washington.
Other smart details include the red anodised rim brake arms, Titec stem and carbon seatpost, Salsa seat clamp and what looks to be a carbon fibre handlebar.
The white Michelin tyres, mounted on Mavic Crossmax rims, are a brave choice.
Pace T RC-100 one-off trials bike
This Pace is a very interesting creation, said to be a one-off trials bike, custom made by Duncan MacDonald. It dates back to the late 1980s or early 90s.
The RC100 features a singlespeed setup without a derailleur hanger. It rolls on 24in wheels and features dual-crown rigid forks, presumably for the boost in stiffness.
The brakes look to be very early hydraulic Magura creations and the milled tube profiles are also distinctive.
The yellow paint scheme is visually arresting, with the more subdued black components allowing the frame to take centre-stage.
