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Hi Everyone- I'm Chris and just joined this really cool looking community! My life has revolved around bicycles and mostly- motorcycles- but in the last year I've had a big spark towards bicycling.
As a kid- I jumped my Huffy Thunder Road over ramps, sandboxes, neighborhood kids and even some flames (if there weren't any parents around).
I rode an '83 GT Expert in the 80's BMX hey-day (still have the frame and most of it I think)
I rode a beach cruiser at the beach in Ocean City MD in the summer of '87 (still have it too)
I had a Diamond Back Ascent in the early 90's mountain bike craze. (also still have it)
Then-- I seemed to have dropped out of bicycles- other then always having a cheap one I could ride on hike & bike trails with wife and the kids.
I started hiking when COVID closed my gym- and saw modern mountain bikes... Wow!! How things had changed!
After waiting my turn for nearly 6 months- I finally got a new Trek mountain bike and since then- the bug has hit me. I also got my wife and I Trek hybrids for longer adventures and rides. I am now even eyeing up road bikes.
I came across this sight as I love checking out bikes of all kinds- vintage, customs, restos, etc, etc... There are some really cool looking bikes and projects on here from everyone!
I'm hoping to resurrect my GT and my beach cruiser and maybe even get into some other bicycle projects with the insiration from you folks... Thanks for having me here and I'm excited to be a part of this group now... Thanks again! Chris
 
That GT project is going to be cool. Have you checked out gravel bikes yet? Kinda halfway between road and mountain bike (or just rebranded vintage MTBs with drop bars). I bet that Diamond Back would make a good one...
 
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That GT project is going to be cool. Have you checked out gravel bikes yet? Kinda halfway between road and mountain bike (or just rebranded vintage MTBs with drop bars). I bet that Diamond Back would make a good one...
If that Ascent has compact geometry, it could be just about anything one would want it to be.
 
If that Ascent has compact geometry, it could be just about anything one would want it to be.
Yeah, but they were thinking about a road bike. I was trying to save them the horrors and humiliation of lycra
 
There's nothing wrong with vintage road if suited to your taste and lycra is never required to free-thinking people like the denizens of RRB.

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Besides that, I find good vintage compact geo mountain frames suited better for uses well beyond the road or gravel.
 
Thanks for the welcome from everyone.... I already feel I'm amongst kindred spirits- so thanks to you all for that!

And MattiThunderrr- YES- you are totally in line with my thoughts for the Diamond Back Ascent project that I'm envisioning.
(...and when I said I was even looking at road bikes now- I can't envision myself in lycra. I'm happy for those that wear it- but my physic isn't one that can probably ever likely pull that off!! I think you'll just be seeing me in shorts and t-shirts... LOL!)

Some more on that Acscent... When I realized that there was a worldwide bicycle shortage due the pandemic and that I'd have to wait 6 months for my new Trek, I actually pulled the Ascent out of deep freeze with a rather optimistic / foolish notion that I was going to air it up and lube it up and get a headstart on getting in "race shape" actually riding for when my shinny new Trek finally arrived...
Wrong...!!
Upon wheeling it in my garage and initial assessment- the Ascent was discovered to be a complete train wreck.
Bent front wheels, missing nearly every tooth on the chain wheels, shift levers seized that snapped when I tried them, dry rotted tires, crank arm bent... Etc... etc... etc.. You get the picture! Its no wonder it was sitting for the last 15+ years!

When I was still entertaining fixing it as a mountain bike- I was doing some research on the model and actually came across a couple Ascents (and similar old MTB's) that had been converted in hybrids / gravel bikes/ even road bikes.
This- to me- seemed like a better use of the bike for resurrection purposes and resources and funds then the brief bit of nostalgia of riding my 30-year old mountain bike on trails in the woods.

On a sidenote- we are building a new home about 1 mile from a 40 mile-long rails to trails system. Its mostly gravel, so I would envision building it into something more along the lines of a gravel bike like MattiThunderrr has mentioned. I'd like something that I rode to the trail system and be able to jump off onto some side country roads that intersect all along the trail system.

I'm planning on resurrecting my 80's beach cruiser for rides around my new neighborhood too- so these are the projects that brought be here.

Besides inspiration from all the cool bikes and projects I've seen so far, it totally seems like this is the right place for help/ advice and suggestions, resources and parts, etc. I'm psyched to have found this place and be here with everyone that shares this same interest!
Thanks again for the nice welcoming and for the feedback on my projects and I'm looking forward to sharing with you all as I start finally digging into them!
 

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