After spending years amassing a bounty of retro mtb gold, Canadian mountain bike legend (and Drop-In star) Dylan Tremblay is slowly trickling out his collection. That’s mostly happening on his amazing YouTube channel. But, over the weekend, BC Bike Fest got an in-person look at 10 of Tremblay’s favourites via a mini-museum pop-up. 20 bikes (10 of Tremblays and 10 from a Vancouver collector) were on display all weekend, giving a glimpse into the sports past.
We asked Dylan to pick five of his favourites, tell us why they’re special to him and why he prefers bikes with a story to pristine NIB builds.
Shaun Palmer replica Mont-Sainte-Anne 1998 Specialized S-Works FSR DH
This ’98 replica of Shaun Palmer’s race bike ties together a lot of the reasons why Tremblay collects, and sees more people getting into the habit.
“I was obsessed with Specialized S-Works, Palmer’s race bike back in ’98. This event [BC Bike Fest] has showed me that a lot of people are interested in these bikes, and have started collecting. People get excited when you see that bike you rode 20 years ago shows up on line, or its an opportunity to have the bike that you lusted over that you couldn’t afford when you were fifteen.”
The details on this re-build are impressive, down to a very hard to track down seat. The Demo, too. Like it’s multiple shock mounting options and adjustable travel and head angle (from 67.1-degrees to 65-degrees is a huge range, but would be very XC these days).
“This showed up on Craigslist in Vancouver, frame only. It was like 100 bucks 15 years ago. There weren’t a lot of collectors then. These days something rare shows up and people are making offers above asking. It might start at 50 and go for 500 in a bidding war.”
Trembley started with the frame and a photo of Palmer racing at Mont-Sainte-Anne. From that, he spent years building up this replica.
“There’s a few differences, like a black coil and some slightly different decals. But it’s 95 per cent there. The seat was actually really hard to find.”
Rocky Mountain Speed
As you might be guessing by the uneven brand distribution in Tremblays selection, he is a bit of a Rocky Mountain fan. That love is not blind, though. “It’s a terrible design” was the first thing Tremblay said about this distinctive look from the wild west days of mountain biking. “There were two or three companies that did similar designs. I think they only did one year. The same year they went to the Pipeline.”
The later, which Tremblay says he probably should have brought instead of the Speed, is iconic as the bike Wade Simmons filmed a bunch of his video segments on, with the purple and green paint scheme.
The Speed is one of the more polished bikes in Tremblay’s collection. That brand new look is something most collectors covet. For Tremblay, its the reason why he’s thinking of getting rid of it.
“I don’t need a super mint bike. It’s just going to get beat up moving around, and I’ll want to ride it. I have three or four Rocky Mountain Speeds. I actually bought this one in a combo deal with a Rocky Ti Bolt, the coveted Rocky Mountain Ti Bolt. The plan was always to sell the Speed to pay for the Ti Bolt. Two or three years later, it’s still here.”
Elevated chainstays, three front tubes…
… no wait, four. There’s a lot going on here
Back when rigid forks weren’t even all that rigid. oof.
1990 Rocky Mountain Summit
Another Rocky that’s more looks than practical trail feel is this very distinctive Rocky Mountain Speed. Hailing from way back in 1990, the elevated chainstays run directly into a bonus top tube. Or downtube. Middle-tube? The proper downtube is actually downtubes, two thinner tubes connected occasionally by braces. All this gives the Summit a very different look. Tremblay loves the signs of a story, but not necessarily the ride.
“This Summit was ridden so hard, probably commuted on too. It was in pretty rough shape when I got it,” Tremblay says. “It feels so terrible to ride. The geometry’s so bad. And that stem? It’s so uncomfortable.”
Unlike the Speed, there’s one’s still staying in the collection for sure.
Fat Chance Wicked w/ Dekerf fork
Among collectors, certain Fat Chance bikes are prized items. Tremblay’s is a little different. That means he got it for a steal. “A guy sold it to me for four hundred bucks, shipped to my door, with this Ti bar and build. It’s not original, but it’s a really cool build.”
While the mix of mid-’90s XTR and the early ’90s Wicked frame may lower the value to some collectors, Tremblay knew the non-stock Chris Dekerf hand-made fork on the front end was worth as much, if not more than the rest of the bike.
“If you want one of those, you’ve gotta pay like $1,000. The person who built it probably had it sent to him to paint.”
The paint may be faded a bit, Tremblay thinks it might have sat in a window, but the fork combined with the Fat Chance frame makes this one of his favourites. It no longer just sits on a wall either.
“The Fat Chance rides really well. Something about it just feels solid, and the brakes are set up just perfectly.”
1986 Rocky Mountain Blizzard
If you’re already a fan of Tremblay’s videos, you’ll surely recognize this one. He says its one of the bikes that actually kickstarted his collecting habit.
“When I bought the Blizzard, it came with a bike stand, which I sold to cover the cost. It was basically a free bike! Then I kept on buying. I’d say, I’ll sell this one to buy another one and… I didn’t. Now it’s a hundred bikes.”
“This is the funnest bike to ride,” Tremblay says of the 40-year-old Blizzard. “It’s pretty much all original. You can tell it was ridden pretty hard. It’s pretty amazing that its survived time from 1986. The cables are a bit frayed, there’s rust coming out of the bottle cage bolts.”
That doesn’t bother Tremblay in the slightest.
“I just love to think about, if it could tell a story, what would it say”