Enduro bikes have come a long way, but who says you need the latest tech to ride an event?! Max and Josh put this to the test, having built up two retro enduro machines to tackle races in the South of England.
Are they totally out of their depth or can their 20-year-old steeds roll back the years?
Max chose a Peugeot Hurricane from 1989. While there were some original parts, including a Shimano Biopace 3x chainring and Shimano LX gearing, Max gave his bike a proper modern makeover. He added fatter Schwalbe rubber, 760mm-wide bars and a dropper!
Josh stayed the course, however, with an almost fully original Orange P7 from 1995. This rig sports original Shimano XT and LX components, Panaracer Smoke and Dart tyres, bar ends and full XTR rear wheel. The only upgrade Josh chose was magnetic pedals for a more grounded approach to the rough stuff.
Tell us all about your retro bikes past or present in the comments 👇
#retrobikes #retrotech #endurobikes
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:57 Orange P7
02:00 Peugeot Hurricane
03:25 The Race
11:37 Conclusion
Credits:
Photos: Anita Gellatly
Arial: Google
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[Music] I forgot how rough this one was let's go Retro Hello and welcome to bike radar Diaries In fact welcome to a brand new series Full stop this is bike radar retro Diaries a brand new series where we take You through our rickety Rigs and go for Some fun rides this first episode in Particular is going to be an absolute Banger we are taking these two retro Bikes racing in pipping for Park on a Modern Enduro circuit it's a mashup so It's a bit of a fun series there's no Real strict rules or anything like that We're just there to have fun and uh get Some times there's no way they're going To be fast or not but there'll be times We can only hope it was a long day and It was technical descents really rough Trails and we were absolutely exhausted After riding these fully rigid bikes Down them [Music] Before we get onto that race however we Have to take you through our tasty Treats in front of us here so Josh what Have you chosen as your weapon of choice So here I've got an orange p7 from 1995. It's rigged up with mostly Shimano XT Components from the same era since n737 Parts and then a few LX components Chucked in there for good measure I've Also got some brand spanking new tires
These are the panel races smoke and Darts a classic from the era I've also Noticed you've got some mag pedals there Yeah maybe not quite in keeping with the Retro theme but there are occasional Times when you need something modern Just to take that Advantage down exactly Yeah Odd and it came off another retro bike And Scott Sawtooth in fact however the Rear wheel was quite a special one That's a full XTR rear wheel with a Mavic rim from 1995 pretty much the best Wheels you could get back in the day While Josh is stuck with fully original Components on his Lush Lush orange p7 I've gone for a very colorful Peugeot Hurricane from 1989. mine is fully Modded as you can probably tell already It's sporting a seat actuated dropper Post not that it needs it but I found it Was helpful here and there I've gone for A quill stem adapter which has allowed Me to put on much much wider more modern Handlebars tires are slightly more Modern too I've got a Schwalbe Rocket Run out the back and a knobby Nick up The front So like Josh's bike I have got some Original parts on here still I've still Got the LX component tree down here in Fact that looks about it to be honest I've pretty much modded every single Thing of a thing Max is using original
Wheels which is quite surprising yeah You got to keep some parts original Josh I mean uh you know otherwise at what Point does it stop becoming a retro bike Some people might even say right now It's not retro enough I also upgraded The brakes on this which originally had Cantilevers I've now got side pool Breaks and it's nice to say they are a Lot sharper and a lot more reactive oh And I'm also sporting a mud guard Because at the end of the day we are Racing and riding in England and while It's nice and sunny now it definitely Wasn't in the last race no original Versus modded who do you think's gonna Win right enough of the tech talk Shall we go racing let's check it out [Music] Oh man Do you want to go in front not Particularly [Laughter] I think you should lead the way buddy oh God Right I'm not going to catching anyone Up so may as well go Enjoy see you at the bottom This is going to be one of the noisiest Rides I've ever had Yeah okay wow Oh my God This would be a hundred times easier It's dry oh my God this is steep this is
Steep Jesus can't stop can't stop drop my Chain Oh God My chain keeps coming off right now Oh no oh my God Go go All right Daddy's finished My chain kept coming off did you do the Drop I know oh I did the job oh I got to It it was I bunny hop Right let's carry on Oh yeah this is the future back to 26. We've literally just finished Stage two it was a very Stark Awakening To what to expect from the rest of the Day on bikes like these stage three now Feeling even more scared than when we First arrived Oh thank you [Music] I'm not going to be catching them up Today Loamy corners Foreign [Music] Not that it really matters Yeah boy Oh nice short one fantastic [Music] Go on lad IES That was much nicer nice and short as
Well yeah loamy flat Corners I wear These bikes Excel and you can just go Flat out yeah there's a few bits I could Let go the brakes completely yeah and Just have a go Right ready yeah retro Train choo choo Actually I can't see nothing Oh not this section oh my God Oh no I missed the climb Yeah Josh catch up It's so rough Walk on Ah I forgot how rough this one was Going on there Are you in the bushes he's in the bushes Oh no I'm taking the tape This is easily the roughest stage Actually I'll take it all back thank you Oh man Yeah I fully went into the tape [Music] Stupid A lot of people It is yeah it's almost like people want You to do well Thank you My hands are hurting so much check that Out oh yeah no suspension has taken his Toll All right the final race stage I'm not Gonna I thought I'd be slightly more Enjoying this
Just make sure you give us loads of Space we ain't gonna be quick oh man Let's go let's have it Oh my God yes this is the stage Oh [Music] Ah Oh This is my face [Music] Wow Look at this this is what these bikes Were made for fast smooth trails and Really built up Burns 26 ain't dead yo Oh God Oh man I'm barely pedaling and I'm still Out of breath just because there's no Suspension so it's just it takes it all Out of here jeez this Foreign That was the best Stage ever oh man my Arms were just going halfway down yeah It's barely hold on anymore Oh [Music] Yeah oh yeah Gonna hand back our timing chips and see How the Retro bikes did see how we did Ready 16 minutes 20 months and 17 Minutes 18. I'll be 17 I think and I'll Be 16. brilliant okay good job next one Sixth and seventh it's actually done That's actually pretty good isn't it 30
Year old bikes it's all right I think we Did okay we did okay There you have it we finished we Survived we're alive the bikes are in One piece amazingly and we didn't come Last and we didn't come last mid pack Yeah Don't know about you but I feel like We've got a lot of support from that Race we had people screaming and Shouting at us cheering us on asking us How we did it yeah lots of support I Feel like we inspired many a rider out There yeah how did you feel like you got On I'm pretty happy with the bike to be Fair I was really impressed with how it Survived I was gonna say handled but Yeah no it didn't you may notice that The Barons have disappeared from my bike My arms were getting so tired from Holding onto such narrow bars so I've Scrapped those just to get an extra inch On either side of my handlebars a little Bit more more width and a bit more Control I was having a lovely time with My uh 760 mil wide bars so you know it Was still very very rough however I Noticed that your tires were running Slightly higher than mine I did let out Quite a bit of pressure from my tires Because of running fully ridges I wanted To make sure that I had as much squish As possible over the rough stuff and Just have my fingers crossed hoping that
I wouldn't get a pinch puncture And we have one more surprise the lovely Event organizers at the southern Enduro Series felt sorry for us that we were Entering on retro bikes in a hardtail Category so for the next race they've Actually opened a retro bike category Yeah the news has spread the Retro buy Category exists and there's more people Entering so we're not going to be alone Fantastic next one's qecp which is Queen Elizabeth Country Park which is based a Little bit down the road from here and It's very Steep and quite techers Luckily it's our local so we do know the Trails reasonably well but doesn't stop Them from being Steep and rough we might Even have a few crashes this time That's it thank you for joining us and Thanks for watching us get absolutely Terrified and having lots and lots of Fun on these rickety rigs if you want to See more race videos like this let us Know in the comments and if you don't Tough because we're gonna do it again Because it was so much fun See you the next one see you in the next One don't forget to like And subscribe And click that little bell icon so every Time we upload a video like this you'll Get a notification Bye [Music] That was the best Stage ever oh man
