A Passion for Classic Mountain Bikes

A Passion for Classic Mountain Bikes

Mountain bikes from the early 1990s, considered a golden age for the sport, are in demand

By Frederick Dreier in the Wall Street Journal

Like many cyclists in Boulder, Colo., Nick Martin owns multiple high-tech carbon bicycles. Several times a week, however, Mr. Martin leaves those bikes in the garage and instead pedals his 1982 Salsa Scoboni #5 steel mountain bike onto the trail.

Lacking shocks, disc brakes and other contemporary innovations, the Salsa forces Mr. Martin to ride with meticulous precision. An errant flick of the wrist could damage the bike, or worse, send Mr. Martin tumbling over the handlebars.

“You have to pick your line on it; you can’t just fly downhill,” says Mr. Martin, 35. “It’s a unique riding experience.”

Nick Martin’s 1982 Salsa Scoboni #5 bike, the fifth mountain-bike model ever welded by famed frame builder Ross Shafer. Lacking shocks and other modern innovations, the steel-framed Salsa makes for a bumpy ride. Photo: Jarrad Lokes/The Pro's Closet

For Mr. Martin, president and founder of eBay’s largest used bicycle store, The Pro’s Closet, the antiquated bicycle symbolizes the opportunities made possible by applying pragmatism to one’s passion.

Mr. Martin raced mountain bikes professionally a decade ago, and rarely earned more than $6,000 a year from sponsorships and prize winnings. He lived out of a Volkswagen van and sold his bicycle gear on eBay to make ends meet.

Mr. Martin developed a knack for the online marketplace, and other pro cyclists soon asked him to peddle their gear. When entire teams solicited Mr. Martin to liquidate equipment, he recognized the business opportunity. In 2006 he abandoned racing, moved out of the van and founded his company alongside fellow pro cyclist, Peter Lopinto.

Mr. Martin now sells used bicycle gear for professional and amateur cyclists. He also liquidates excess inventory from bike shops. In 2014 The Pro’s Closet employed a staff of 30 and recorded nearly $7 million in sales. Mr. Martin says he is cognizant that the online marketplace has become a haven for bicycle thieves. He requires sellers to include photo identification and to provide a verbal history of the bicycle. He notifies the police if he is alerted that the shop has a stolen bicycle listed.

In recent years, classic bikes owned by retired professionals and collectors began passing through Mr. Martin’s store.

Mr. Martin purchased several of the classic mountain bikes for himself and created a small museum in his warehouse. Today, Mr. Martin’s showroom displays a dozen or so bikes, including the 1990 Yeti FRO bicycle ridden by mountain biking’s first female world champion, Juli Furtado, as well as the 1991 Specialized Rockhopper that Ned Overend, mountain biking’s first male world champ, rode. Mr. Martin also owns a nickel-plated 1983 Breezer III built by Joe Breeze, one of mountain biking’s pioneers.

Loud neon jerseys, clunky shock absorbers and bubblelike foam helmets round out his collection of gear from the early 1990s, considered a golden age for mountain biking.

“Mountain bike racers were rock stars at that point,” Mr. Martin says.

Mr. Martin’s Salsa bike, however, comes from an even earlier era, when a handful of tinkerers in California and Colorado built the first mountain bikes by hand. The 1982 Salsa Scoboni #5 was just the fifth mountain bike model ever welded by famed frame builder Ross Shafer.

Mr. Martin says the mountain bikes from the 1980s and 1990s now carry nostalgic value, as more mountain bikers enter their 40s and 50s.

“The first generation of riders now want to invest in the products from their youth,” Mr. Martin says. “You can still get on and ride these bikes and have the same experience from when you were a kid.”

Buyers have offered more than $10,000 for the Breezer III bike, he says, but he isn’t ready to sell the bike because of its historic value. Mr. Martin also doesn’t plan to sell his Salsa Scoboni. He is comfortable with a bumpy ride, he says.

Poster’s comments:

1)      A basic bike of some kind from stores like WalMart work fairly well in flat lands, which are vast. Most coastal plains cities are relatively flat and good bicycle terrain.

2)      Bikes, properly mounted, can be used for other things, too. For example making some electricity or grinding some grains in order to make pasta or bread.

3)      At a minimum keep a tube repair kit available. One can repair old tubes or potentially even barter for tube repair services.

4)      Last, here is a “Mother Earth News” link with a  video on using a mountain bike to make corn flour:  http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/bike-powered-grain-mill-zb0z1210zkon.aspx  Of course it is more convenient to just go to the grocery store and buy already made corn flour, but one can grow their own corn and make it into flour if they have to. And of course it will probably be pretty tasty, too, like in both good times and even during any hard times.