OP
OP
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
I wrote this a few months ago:
" I've been very fortunate to have worked in the bicycle industry for many years. It allowed me to buy bikes and parts at trade prices and over the years i bought and assembled, tweaked, enjoyed riding and eventually sold lots of amazing bikes. I’ve owned all sorts of pedally things, but mainly mountain bikes. I’ve had nearly sixty of them. Culminating in a 2003 Rocky Mountain Team Scandium which I built up with all of the top parts if the day. It weighed 18lbs at one point.
Anyway. Eventually life got in the way of mountain biking, I didn’t ride it for three or four years and I was persuaded to sell it. I sold some of the high end parts off it and then the bones of it to a lad, Mo, at work. I got good money for it and he cherished it and I had first refusal on it if he ever decided to sell it. That was about 8 years ago. It went to the top of the list of ‘Bikes I Wish I Hadn’t Sold’. But I knew where it lived so that was ok. At one point we discussed me buying it back, but he backed out. He was too attached to it.
About three years ago Mo died. His mum was rumoured to have given all of his bikes, wheels and spare parts that were stored in her garage. And i figured I’d never see it again.
Today my stepson Jake rocked up at the house. He and Mo were classmates and longterm buddies. As I was going up the stairs to the bog he said: “Look out the window”.
And there it was. Flat tyres, parts missing. But in pretty good nick otherwise.
Jake had bumped into Mo’s mum on the bike path. Raised the subject of the Vertex and she said it was the one thing she hadn’t got rid of. She recognised it as something special. So she held in to it. Reader, she let me have it for nowt. Chuffed to bits to say the least.
RIP Mo. I’ll take good care of it. "
mickallan.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/my-2003-rocky-mountain-vertex-team-scandium-comes-home/
Sunce writing the above I've slowly been assembling parts to restore the bike to rideable condition. On a liw income the rule is that i can only spend money as and when i earn it by selling other cycling sh!t out of the garage. So progress has been painfully slow.
One evening i inserted a newly purchased RF XY seat post into the frame. It felt a bit tight so u stopped, thinking "I'll sort it out in the morning". In the morning the post was completely stuck. No amount of persuasion would even move it. My step son managed to twist the head in the seatpost shaft. I've never experienced anything like it. Alu post, alu frame.
I fabricated a pulling jig using angle iron and 10mm stud. The jig bent. The post did not move.
I sold some more cycling sh!t on ebay and sent the frame off to John The Seat Post Man in Preston Lancashire.
It turns out that the seat tube has a 27mm internal diameter. My RF XY post was 27.2mm. Usually a 0.2mm oversized post wont go in at all. So anyway. It came back to me today. I chucked the wheels in, fork, cranks. The project is moving again.
Pictures to follow..
" I've been very fortunate to have worked in the bicycle industry for many years. It allowed me to buy bikes and parts at trade prices and over the years i bought and assembled, tweaked, enjoyed riding and eventually sold lots of amazing bikes. I’ve owned all sorts of pedally things, but mainly mountain bikes. I’ve had nearly sixty of them. Culminating in a 2003 Rocky Mountain Team Scandium which I built up with all of the top parts if the day. It weighed 18lbs at one point.
Anyway. Eventually life got in the way of mountain biking, I didn’t ride it for three or four years and I was persuaded to sell it. I sold some of the high end parts off it and then the bones of it to a lad, Mo, at work. I got good money for it and he cherished it and I had first refusal on it if he ever decided to sell it. That was about 8 years ago. It went to the top of the list of ‘Bikes I Wish I Hadn’t Sold’. But I knew where it lived so that was ok. At one point we discussed me buying it back, but he backed out. He was too attached to it.
About three years ago Mo died. His mum was rumoured to have given all of his bikes, wheels and spare parts that were stored in her garage. And i figured I’d never see it again.
Today my stepson Jake rocked up at the house. He and Mo were classmates and longterm buddies. As I was going up the stairs to the bog he said: “Look out the window”.
And there it was. Flat tyres, parts missing. But in pretty good nick otherwise.
Jake had bumped into Mo’s mum on the bike path. Raised the subject of the Vertex and she said it was the one thing she hadn’t got rid of. She recognised it as something special. So she held in to it. Reader, she let me have it for nowt. Chuffed to bits to say the least.
RIP Mo. I’ll take good care of it. "
mickallan.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/my-2003-rocky-mountain-vertex-team-scandium-comes-home/
Sunce writing the above I've slowly been assembling parts to restore the bike to rideable condition. On a liw income the rule is that i can only spend money as and when i earn it by selling other cycling sh!t out of the garage. So progress has been painfully slow.
One evening i inserted a newly purchased RF XY seat post into the frame. It felt a bit tight so u stopped, thinking "I'll sort it out in the morning". In the morning the post was completely stuck. No amount of persuasion would even move it. My step son managed to twist the head in the seatpost shaft. I've never experienced anything like it. Alu post, alu frame.
I fabricated a pulling jig using angle iron and 10mm stud. The jig bent. The post did not move.
I sold some more cycling sh!t on ebay and sent the frame off to John The Seat Post Man in Preston Lancashire.
It turns out that the seat tube has a 27mm internal diameter. My RF XY post was 27.2mm. Usually a 0.2mm oversized post wont go in at all. So anyway. It came back to me today. I chucked the wheels in, fork, cranks. The project is moving again.
Pictures to follow..
Last edited:
