<![CDATA[T E A M C O W

<![CDATA[T E A M C O W - Blog]]>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:34:04 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[what's good - ritchey edition]]>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/whats-good-ritchey-edition

Spring is coming, so is there anything good for sale out there?

How about a murdered-out Ritchey SwissCross? Do they kids still say 'murdered-out?' I guess if I'm asking, that's my answer. Anyway, this bike is hot - you better believe I've considered selling everything so I can grab this at $1800.

Or maybe a P-650b with Fox forks and tanwall tires for $1299? This is also hot. If I didn't already have a Chromag I'd be after this one.

And finally this barely used P-23 circa 1993. It still has the little sticker on the lower jockey wheel of the rear derailleur. It's very nice and the seller is asking $5000, so do with that what you like.

]]><![CDATA[what's good - old suspension edition]]>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 21:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/whats-good-old-suspension-edition

Spring is coming - anything good for sale out there?

How about a Cannondale Super V 700 for $100? It might have those super crazy XYZ barends on it, but it might also have a dead Headshok. Or maybe it just needs air? After 23 weeks for sale, nobody is willing to find out. Not even me.

$100 will also get you a K2 Proflex 3000 with Noleen forks. Did you know that K2, the 'Original American ski and snowboard company' used to make mountain bikes? And that they used to be called Proflex, and before that, Off Road? And the usual linkage forks were originally called Girvin, before they were Noleen? Hang on to this for when your local pub has a cycling category on trivia night.

Narrator; Your local pub will never have cycling as a category on trivia night.

Finally, it's $500 for this GT LTS-2. I always thought the seatstay design on this bike was funny, as the brake bosses have to be set at a very weird angle for the brakes to work. Also, this bike has a Marzocchi Bomber Z.1 with disc brake tabs on both fork legs. I thought these were really rare, but I've owned two of them in the last few years.

]]><![CDATA[1991 anlen sage]]>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 21:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/1991-anlen-sage

You are looking at a 1991 Anlen Sage, and I'd bet that you don't know what it is, even though it looks really familiar.

In 1990, Gary Fisher sold his Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes company to Anlen Bicycles of Taiwan, and by all accounts, it was a disaster for all concerned, as just three years later, a deal was made to sell the Fisher brand to TREK.

As best I can tell, Anlen was a producer for Haro and maybe Nishiki? There are pics out there of other Anlens that look a lot like Haros. So presumably Anlen decided it was time to sell their own bikes, and grabbing the Gary Fisher Brand was the way to do that,

This was a low point for the brand as Fisher said that he was just a 'puppet president' during this period. They had sad trade show stands in 1992 - three bikes and a chair - and I read that despite Anlen telling Fisher dealers nothing would change, suddenly Anlen branded bikes appeared, looking a lot like Gary Fishers, selling for less but being of much lower quality - which brings us to this Sage.

It just looks so much like a Fisher AL-1. When I saw the ad for it, I didn't know the name 'Anlen,' but it was pretty clear what it was - especially with the Fisher-branded seat, stem, and grips. It is different from the AL-1 in that all the housing stops are riveted on. I can't find an AL-1 with that feature. But, it has a 1 1/4" headtube, a pressed in BB, and S-curve chainstays - all Fisher signature features.

The serial number starts with F9007, which is odd given the timeline we know of Fisher selling out to Anlen. If that '90' means it was made in 1990 for the 1991 model year, or it indicates that it's a 1990 model year bike, either way that's still before the sale, so was Anlen making this Fisher rip-off before buying them? Was Anlen making bikes for Fisher before the sale?

It sure fits with the anecdote of Anlen bikes suddenly appearing on the market looking like Fishers.

Unfortunately, like many aluminium bikes of this era, this one is cracked. Both on the headtube and the seattube. So it became a purchase of a solid DX groupset with good wheels, and a RockShox Judy DH, which was a score even though it had a 1 1/4" steerer, because I just swapped out the steerer for another I had.

I also got some 1 1/4" specific bits, and some Fisher-branded parts. The Fisher stem, seat, and grips - which are potentially worth money to someone needing that final piece. A YST 1 1/4" headset, "infinite band" front derailleur, and the press-fit bottom bracket, a relic of the time. I suppose the spindle might be of some use, but the bearings are trash.

I've always wanted to make an art piece from a frame - an exploded view of the frame. I'd cut it at each of the junctions, separate them a bit, then bolt them to.... something. I haven't worked that out yet. This might be the frame for that project.

]]><![CDATA[what's good - road edition]]>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/whats-good-road-edition

Spring is coming, so is there anything good for sale out there?

Well, there's a something, claimed to be French and 23 pounds with lots of Campagnolo parts for $100. The seller will also throw in a Campagnolo 50th Anniversary group - which is probably worth $5k, so I presume it's a joke.

Or how about a Fisher Rail? Did you even know Fisher made road bikes? In 2010, Gary Fisher bikes had a full lineup. In 2012, they didn't exist anymore. $350 for this. I like the look of this bike, though it looks bigger than the 56 it claims to be.

And here's a Schwinn Aluminum for $395. It's giving late 80's? It's pre-STI at least, so still has downtube shifters. You know how the Brits pronounce it weird? Alu-min-ium? Well, it's not just a matter of putting the emFASSus on the wrong syLAble (as an old teacher of mine used to say), they actually spell it differently - aluminium vs. aluminum.

]]><![CDATA[2000 schwinn homegrown]]>Fri, 20 Feb 2026 22:07:39 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/2000-schwinn-homegrown

You are looking at a 2000 Schwinn Homegrown and it is widely considered one of the best hard tail frames ever made, but this one, is just a Cheap Bike...

In Canada, we have a couple of long-serving bike companies; Rocky Mountain has been in business since 1981. Norco has been in business since 1964. But American company Schwinn started business in 1896.

Schwinn is worthy of an entire post for certain, but for now, we're going to talk about the five year run of Homegrown models from 1996 to 2001, and specifically this 2000, which is my entry for the 2026 Cheap Bike Build Off run by Max the Mullet Mechanic.

The CBBO is a challenge in which you have a budget of US$175 / CDN$238 to build a cool bike. No 'no-name' Temu, AliExpress, or Amazon parts are allowed, instead you're encouraged to visit your local used bike co-op for parts. And to be fair, people like myself who have bins full of parts have to adhere to a budget, assigning a price to parts that matches what your local co-op would charge.

Last year I built something a little off the wall, and I thought that it was cool as hell. But not many people agreed with me, so we're going a little more conventional this year. I got the Homegrown for free, on a Facebook Marketplace ad, and it was complete minus the wheels. I already had a pile of wheels though; for the rear I had a Shimano DX hub on an anodized Ritchey Vantage Expert rim, and the front is a Specialized Skraxle hub radially laced to an anodized Mavic 217 rim.

That rear hub is an M650 generation 7 speed hub, but it has an XT 8 speed cassette, so someone has modded it with an 8/9 speed freehub body. I didn't do it, but I've done this same mod to other hubs. This wheel came on a Nishiki I bought over the winter, and it was not the stock wheel on that bike, so I don't know what it's from.

The front wheel was surely from a Stumpjumper circa '98/99, and I nearly went with a older Manitou Pro-C because the rim matched the fork colour. As you can see, this fork was an OEM Dekerf fork - how it was taken off whatever Dekerf it came on, and ended up on a Schwinn Mesa that I bought for $50 is a real mystery - but, I decided to stick with the OEM SX-R. It's pretty smooth and would match better from an axle-to-crown standpoint.

Other stock parts include Shimano 9speed LX cranks, Octalink BB, LX 9 speed shifters, Titec seatpost, stem, and an SDG seat. The Avid single digit brakes levers are stock, but the Shimano V-brakes are mismatched. The catalog says it should have a Titec Hell-bent 9 degree flat bar, but it had a regular Titec Enduro 5 degree bar, which is lame. Those Hell-bent bars are the best.

The big changes I made here are with the bar and stem. Going with a BMX cockpit is the popular setup, but I don't like it from an aesthetic standpoint. I tried a couple different setups, but settled on a short Uno stem and Titec Ringleader riser bar. The Ringleader is from the DH school for sure. It's tall and black and Titec which was always the Homegrown choice.

I didn't really do much to this bike. No baskets, no racks, no fenders - there's no way to mount them anyway. Honestly, I've built one bike in my life with a rack, and I never used it.

I also kept the front derailleur. I don't really agree with removing them just because. Like Puddin' says - I ain't afraid, momma never raised no punk.

What I did was build a bike that does what I need at this stage in my life. Gravel riding, very light trails, ride downtown to chill at the lake or the brewery. I can swap to some genuine MTB tires if I want to see how it handles trails. Or not. I have one of the most capable trail hardtails ever built so it would be academic.

I got this frame with all the parts on it, except the wheels, for nothing on Facebook. I'm not certain if I have to assign a price to it though. I got it fair and square on Marketplace - no sweetheart deal, no buddy giving me the bike, so I don't know if I have to assign a value to it.

The rules state that even if you're using parts you already had, you have to assign a value to them, so to that end, my budget here is $156 for wheels, tires, tubes, cassette, stem, bar, and grips. It becomes $206 if I have to put a value on the frame. I can bring up a bunch of complete bikes for sale here at $50 or so, so I think this is fair.

Either way I'm well under budget, and my actual spend is $0. Which brings me to the issues I have with the contest. I understand the need to be fair for people who may not have bins full of parts from years of buying junk bikes and fixing them up.

I don't need a bike co-op, I am a bike co-op.

Because we're needing to assign a value to all the parts I've used, I've found that it's not possible to do this challenge on a bare frame. I've built a Gerber road single speed from a frame, and it's so much cooler than the Schwinn, but it cost $325 based on the CBBO rules. There's just no way I could put that bike together for $238

I feel like the reason I'm able to do this at all is that I refuse to throw things away. Eventually I'll find a use for stuff. It might take five years, but I'll find a bike to put parts on. I like that the rules open it up to anyone wanting to start out doing this, but I feel that it penalizes to some degree, those that have been doing this for a while.

But whatever, it's all for fun. The contest is coming soon, so keep an eye on Instagram for details.

@t_e_a_m_c_o_w
@mull3tmechanic

]]><![CDATA[1993 maxam lightheavyweight]]>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 22:30:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/1993-maxam-lightheavyweight

You are looking at a 1993 (probably) Maxam Lightheavyweight, and it is peak early 90's alloy.

This is going to be a quick review as I bought this bike nearly six years ago, and it is long gone.

Maxam originated in Toronto, and after its founding in 1989, it was eventually taken over by the CyclePath bike shop chain. Interesting bikes to be sure, many were aluminium with those iconic, massive tubes.

This one had a Shimano LX groupset - one of my favourite mid-level groups - but strangely had a Rocky wheelset. Unless Wheeltech also built wheels for other companies?

I got it as part of a package with a very nice Kona. I didn't really want it to be honest, but it was hard to say no to the package deal.

And it didn't stay long in my collection, because of that shredded headtube. Cracked tubes are are sadly all too common on aluminium bikes of this vintage.

]]><![CDATA[1994 rocky mountain blizzard]]>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 22:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/1994-rocky-mountain-blizzard

You are looking at a 1994 Rocky Mountain Blizzard. I've had this for a bit, and keep changing it, so time for an update.

I guess we have to start with the blasphemous fork. Yes that is a Kona P2 fork on a Rocky Mountain. This is entirely in my head, but putting Kona parts on a Rocky feels like that Canadian Film Board short The Sweater in which a well-meaning but uninformed grandmother agrees to take a substitution from Sears of a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater for her Quebecois grandson, who must have a Montreal Canadiens sweater, as he and everyone he knows is Maurice Richard when they go out to play hockey.

Anyway, I really like the look of it. The P2 is one of the best mass-produced rigid forks, and I really like the straight leg look. Rocky never put straight leg rigid forks on their bikes, so it looks different. Though detractors could certainly say that it looks like a Kona.

Not long after I picked this up, I grabbed another '94. Very worn out, but with good RaceFace I-beam cranks, a silver Syncros seatpost, and SunTour 8 speed thumbshifters. And I used the crown off that Judy on my Judy DH for the Edge (more on this bike later).

I had initially set it up with a lot of XTR bits, and Hugi compact hubs on Mavic rims, but that all got moved over to the Edge. Instead we have custom painted Cane Creek WAM wheels, XT shifters, and Ritchey Logic brakes. Also, we went with a Zoom Brahma handlebar with barends built-in to the end. From the factory this Blizzard came with similar RaceFace bars so I thought these might be cool.

The Blizzard is really one of the best bikes Rocky has ever made because it works well with a high-end build, or a more pedestrian, daily-driver type build. And what's really special about the '94 Blizzard is that they were made by Chris Dekerf. Some of them anyway - I'm not sure that he did all of them.

Either way, I won't be letting this one go any time soon.

]]><![CDATA[want list 3]]>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/want-list-3

Quick want list update; I was able to pick up a Schwinn Homegrown from my last want list post, so this really seems to be working.

Here's a few more bikes I've always wanted to own, starting with a Gary Fisher Supercaliber. I believe this is the 1991 model. I just love those graphics and the huge aluminium tubes. And to get it just right, you'd want it built up with SunTour.

Here we have a 1991 Klein Pinnacle - just another piece of evidence that 1991 was the best year ever for mountain bikes. I personally prefer this and the Top Gun over the later bikes with the fat aluminium forks. Though if an Adroit or Attitude came up at a good price, I wouldn't say no necessarily.

I've always been a fan of Greg Lemond, and even though I'm not a road bike guy, those Team Z bikes were just fire. And even if a more basic one like the one in the middle came up for sale, I'd be interested. Let's be real though; I'll never have the budget for a Team Z replica.

I can't find any catalogs older than 1998, so I don't really know what was available. And I would only be interested in one from 1995 or earlier. Which brings me to the theme of this want list; have you worked it out yet?

All three of these companies were purchased by TREK, and I would only be interested in the pre-TREK bikes. If you'd like to read more about the worst bike company that has ever been, I've written about how their corporate approach to the sport wiped out Fisher, Klein, and Bontrager, and how awful their handling of Greg Lemond was.

]]><![CDATA[gallery of bikes - teamcow edition]]>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 22:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/gallery-of-bikes-teamcow-edition

This week in a very special Gallery of Bikes, we go back in time - right back to the beginning of TeamCow.

As best I can remember, we started TeamCow in 1996, and if my math is correct, that makes us 30 years old in 2026. So what better time to put a gallery of my favourite bikes; Specialized.

Joking of course - if you've been here for a bit, you probably know that I'm not a Specialized fan. Yes I do have an S-Works Carbon that I'm happy with, and there is a very specific FSR XC model that I might buy if I found one, but beyond that, there's no Specialized that I'd buy to keep, no matter how cheap. And I don't even know if I'd buy one to flip. But anyway, let's get to it;

1. Specialized Stumpjumper Comp. I bought this in '97 or '98 after my beloved Rocky Mountain Nimbus was stolen. Why I bought this instead of a Hammer or Oxygen, I have no idea, but it probably had something to do with that Marzocchi Bomber Z.2. Pretty sure this bike had a RS Judy from the factory, so I don't know why this one had the Bomber. And given how much I liked the Bomber, I'm not sure why I decided at some point to go with the Manitou FS Ti Palmer edition. Probably for the colour and the weight savings.

I remember reading a post at some point, from someone who worked at Manitou maybe, and they said that that fork was a fraud. It didn't have proper FS Ti internals, probably didn't have 80mm of travel like the FS Ti did, and was actually a way for them to get rid of a bunch of extra FS parts that they had. Interesting if true.

2. Specialized FSR Comp. At some point in '99 (maybe?) I decided it was time for a full suspension bike, and I acquired this FSR Comp from Pinkbike for some amount of money. I swapped over all the parts from the Stumpjumper, but decided that the Palmer fork was not right - I needed more travel. First option was a very cool Manitou X-Vert triple crown fork that you can just barely make out in the shop pic there. This never worked though because the steerer tube was too short.

Second option was a Rock Shox Judy XL, and I can say, unequivocally, that this was the worst fork I've ever ridden. It was a coil spring fork with damping provided by the friction of the springs rubbing up against plastic sleeves. So in other words, no damping. And on top of that, I think the springs were way too soft. I can remember a couple of occasions where I nearly went over the bars on flat ground when the fork just blew through all its travel and I just stopped dead.

I'm pretty sure the headtube was ovalized on this frame too - I remember having to make my first beecan shim to make the headset work. So after a couple months of this experiment, I put all the parts back on the Stumpjumper - then it got stolen.

3. Specialized FSR Enduro. Pretty sure that's what this bike was called anyway. I bought this with the insurance money from the Stumpjumper, and it felt like a really expensive bike, though it was the last one in the shop and they were wanting to get rid of it.

It had a nifty adjustment for the shock mount that allowed for different amounts of travel and different geometry. I enjoyed riding it, though it was bad for pedal strikes. After riding it for a while, I noticed that it seemed big - I just didn't have clearance over the top tube like on other bikes. That's when I found the 'L/XL' sticker on the frame. I never checked it in the shop, I just jumped on and rode it.

Once I had it in my head that this was an XL frame, that was it, I couldn't ride it anymore. Eventually I bought a Santa Cruz Superlight, and switched all the parts over to it. Of course the Superlight didn't last either as I bought a medium instead of a large and it was the same situation.

Late 90's me made really poor decisions.

]]><![CDATA[want list 2]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2026 22:00:00 GMThttp://www.teamcow.ca/blog/want-list-2

Back in '22 I posted a wanted list with five bikes, and I thought it was time to update the list, as I was able to buy two bikes from that list. So, here's five more bikes I'd love to find;

The Schwinn Homegrown is one of the most sought after hardtails there is. Some were made by Yeti, some made by Control Tech, and others made by Anodizing Inc. in Portland, OR. The later ones were known for their flashy 'bass boat' paint jobs, but I'd be happy with the earlier ones that were black or red.

Way back in the day a friend of mine had an Alpinestars cr-mega DX and there was nothing else like it. I especially like the graphics on them, though I'm torn between this black XT and the yellow DX. I'd prefer an aluminium one, but the steel ones were good too.

Just about the least controversial or surprising thing I could say, as the Santa Cruz Chameleon is one of the very best hard tails ever made. Build it as an XC bike with an 80mm fork, or as an all-mountain bike with a 100mm fork - it's fine either way.

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