MOMBAT on Facebook

Pop on over to the MOMBAT Facebook page and "like" us. This is where we will post any new bikes we get.

1984 Hanebrink rear suspension

If you ask most people, they would probably guess front suspension came first......but they would be wrong. The earliest suspension bikes used rear suspension about 6 years before suspension forks surfaced. The builders often used motorcycles parts. The damping on this bike was actually adjusted by tightening the quick release skewer on the top of the shock! We've added this one to our Descender and Hanebrink SE Shocker which makes for a nice display of the evolution of the design.

More pictures and details HERE

Salsa Cycles scans and photos

In the slower months around the shop, we get an opportunity to clean up the shop, build displays and work on the web sites. One task that always get pushed to the bottom of the pile is the scanning of literature. It is interesting but takes a lot of time and doesn't generate revenue..........but I do enjoy reading up as I scan and it is a great resource when we are trying to make a bike "period correct". Over the last weekend, I scanned in over 100 pages of Salsa literature and some pictures that Ross Shafer provided. Pretty cool stuff. Check it out on the Salsa Page.

couple of sample pages:

1991 Ellison elevated stay bike

Elevated chain stay bikes were supposed to eliminate chain suck which it did but at the expense of a heavier and more complicated frame. Eventually, frame makers decided this minor advantage wasn't worth the extra effort (although it did make cleaning the chain easier!). Ellison was a smaller manufacturer out of Texas in the early 1990's and it looks like he just worked in aluminum. The bike features the 1.25" head tube and a polished finish. Parts are pretty standard Shimano Deore XT with Rapid Fire shifters.

More details and pictures on the Ellison Page:

Tandem Klunker project??

I had originally checked this bike out at a local swap meet last year and thought it was pretty cool. The seller had this and a neat old Peugeot tandem with MAFAC brakes and some Shimano Deore XT (deer head) stuff on it. I made an offer on both bikes but didn't end up taking them home. At the time, I thought the wheels, fork, drum brake and tires would be pretty cool on an old style Klunker frame. I had originally thought the bike had been repainted but believe it to be original after a little research. There aren't any decals on the bike but it appears to be built by Rixe in Germany. The rear hub has a "56" stamped on it which might be a date code. Anyway, still haven't decided what to do with it yet but it is pretty cool.

Fisher MountainBikes scans

Kinda interesting to see all the different names in the early catalogs: Mountain Bikes, MountainBikes, Kelly-Fisher MountainBikes, Ritchey MountainBikes, Fisher, Gary Fisher and today the Fisher Collection by Trek. We've scanned in some of the older catalogs starting as far back as 1979. check 'em out on the Fisher page.

Here are a couple of sample pages:

Vintage Funk Scans

Next up in the snowed-in-scanathon is Funk. Full set of scans HERE but here are a couple of samples.

It appears as if Funk may be back making bikes again so maybe we can get a little more info for the web site. Don't have one of the bikes in the collection but we do have a couple of the suspension forks.