I have never seen a retro-shift hooked up to a Hammerschmidt before, so I’m going to say stem shifters are more awful now
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I could tell there was something going on with the crank but I didn’t enhance, and… yeah.
Needs a Cathat
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retroshift by a country-themed mile
the two dozen cantankerous coots insisting on stemshifters know they have a problem
the two thousand radavist readers that think their retroshifts are cheaper/simpler/durable insist that they have the solution
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I know a bike mech who has a Day Ruiner with retro-shift 
I just don’t get how they are less fiddly than bar ends.
Retro MTB: it’s literally just a purple ano display scene
DQ from an MTB ignoramus: why a rigid fork? Is it hard to find a fork with the rake/travel/other that used to be normally specced on mtbs of that Klein’s era?
DQ2, same conditions: why come nobody likes barends? they’re rad and give you more hand positions than risers
Back then, I think you could get that bike with a rigid or suspension fork. Super quick googling seems to indicate that that paintway came with a suspension fork (based solely on the fact that all of the ones I saw with that paint had sus forks).
For purposes of historical reenactment, though, the rigid fork is the much more enjoyable period-correct option than the suspension forks from back then. Those forks also used elastomers as springs, which sucked back then and suck even more now that they are all dried out and hardened.
I think barends just became unfashionable and now that everyone rides the widest bars they can get away with, they just add extra width that you can’t use in your main riding position.
IDK, I don’t have a great reason for not liking barends other than I never got used to riding with them and I think bikes look better without them.
With the wider bars these days, I don’t want to be a deer that hooks its antlers around a tree at trail speed.
Is there a market for suspension forks with modern materials and internals that would fit on retro mtbs?
And yeah, the wider bar + hooking stuff explanation makes sense of the demise of barends. I don’t really interact much with foliage while riding, so it hadn’t occurred to me.
i liked the bar ends i had that curved over the grips because i could bump into trees and it didn’t hurt
Retro MTB folks generally like to stay period correct-ish. A light rigid fork works fine. Period suspension forks work ok too and some people like mess with them.
But few people are truly trying to get modern performance from vintage forks, as you’ll still have vintage frame geometry and brakes: the best way to get modern performance is to just get a complete modern bike.
Most (all) sw8 vintage mtbs you see are like n+3 or so, usually the guy (or gal) has a couple other vintage things built up different ways, plus often a modern MTB too.
Makes sense, the performance factors for a vintage mtb are so far off modern that even a really light, ultra stiff fork with cutting edge internals would still be contending with 500mm chainstays with clearance for a 55mm tire max and wonky hta and all the other joys of vintage mtb?
I’m a little surprised that there isn’t a vintage only scene in mtb like there is in road - is it just too young a sport for something like L’Eroica?
The below video leads me to think that both the machines and the aggregate competence levels of their users may have, how to say, blossomed some time after it was filmed?
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There’s a vtg scene around the bay area, especially Marin. Some vintage rides that people go to there.
Yeah there are definitely a few big vintage get together, complete with trail rides and such. Nothing like the history of road riding though.
That’s Tinker Juarez’s actual 1993 Klein race bike. For some races he did have a RockShox Mag21 fork on it.
Did geekhouse end?
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