Bike Stuff

2002 Ventana El Saltamones as delivered So, what do you see when you look at this picture? Well, some dude up on Mt. Tam recently thought it looked nice but "totally obsolete" and I should get a new bike. (Of course, he was riding a 10k eMTB and his young daughter only a slightly cheaper one.)  Vintage rides get no respect in the MTB world. 😏 So what is it? It's a custom-built Ventana El Saltamontes that I gave myself as a reward gift years ago when I was living in the City and there were lots of MTB rides easy to access from the house. And yes, mountain biking has gotten more aggressive in the intervening years. This was a 'trail bike' bordering on an 'all mountain' bike as distinct from the 'downhill' or 'freeride' bikes at the more aggro end back then. But still full suspension with a generous (for the time) 100mm of travel front and back. The frame itself was built by Sherwood Gibson of Ventana out in Rancho Cordova. In theory, it was ...