Get a Grip

We are always on the lookout for "old" mountain bike parts that are still marketable today. The obvious parts are the typical wear parts on the bikes. Parts such as tires, seats and grips wear out with normal use. Many of the parts that are available today don't look "right" on the older bikes. Black wall tires ruin the look of the pre-1990's bikes since they didn't become available until the early 1990's. We worked with Panaracer to remake the classic Timbuk II tire from the original molds. Now there is a classic skin wall tire that you can use with confidence on your bike while maintining the period correct look of the bike. We are down to our last 2 dozen of these at http://www.firstflightbikes.com/TimbukTire.htm

Another problem area can be grips. The Grab On MTN1 was one of the earliest grips made for mountain bikes. The original grips used a 46lb density foam and had a nice firm feel to them. Grab On still has the grip in production but has changed to an 18-20lb foam which is much softer and will wear much quicker. They changed due to a large price increase in the raw materials. The denser foam is right at twice as expensive as the less dense foam. We called Grab On and they agreed to make us a batch using the nicer foam which are now for sale @ http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/PartsForSalePages/bar_stem.html#Tape

You can still find the lighter duty ones for about $10 and these are $15 but it is worth the difference for the feel and durability.