Product Description
The Moots Mountaineer is one of the most iconic and innovative designs in early mountain bike history, and was among the first mountain bikes ever made along with names like Breezer, Ritchey Everest, Mountain Goat Deluxe, Charlie Cunningham Indian. The model was introduced in 1981 by Kent Eriksen who operated out of his Sore Saddle Cyclery in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Before Moots became legends of the titanium frame, Mountaineer was lugged and featured standard gauge ultra-thin steel tubing, in an era where many mtb's were using oversized tubing or even aluminum. It was purpose-built to be ridden fast over rough ground for long distances. It was revered as both a mountain bike and a touring bike. They were designed to accommodate full size fenders (made by Rich Cast) and carry lots of gear via racks as well as numerous bottle cage braze ons (this one has three). It comes with the original Moots-made and paint matched fillet brazed stem & custom-bent handlebars. This one's frame number of 567 indicates 1984 build date.
At it's core the Mountaineer was a gorgeous handmade bicycle with luscious paint, and the build sheets featured a handful of very unique features to make the frame your own. Whoever ordered this one checked all the boxes! The most "what the fuck is going on there" feature is "Moots Mounts", which are clamp on cantilever braze ons that allow you to use whatever wheel size you desire. The mounts slide up and down on the seatstays and fork legs to allow swapping wheel sizes on the fly. Next up is a portage pad under the top tube to facilitate carrying your bike over unrideable obstacles. As for rack mounts, it has chainstay rack eyelets, front lowrider bosses, and higher ones for a randonneur rack (the fork mounts are a rare feature on these). The only significant option this frame does not have are Moots Road Handles, which were essentially the first bar ends ever made (though they were intended to mount inboard of the grips).
A few different fork crowns were available, including a bi-plane a la Tom Ritchey, a square shouldered tubular crown, and a gorgeous fillet brazed one like this frame has. This fork is even more unique as it features Moots's dual position fork ends. These weird dropouts have two axle slots per side. Each slot provides a different rake and fork length, which gives a different effective head angle and bottom bracket height. There were at least 3 different versions of the dual position fork ends, this being the most refined to my eye. The more common version is a square plate with a big horizontal slot; one position you slide the axle forward the other you slide it back. Another is similar to this fork's, but both slots are in the same vertical plane.
The paint and decals are luxurious and creative. Moots wasn't the only early mtb maker to use this camouflage "Commando" paint scheme, but they were by far the best at it. This paintjob invokes rays of sunlight poking through the deepest forest, illuminating the jewels within. The base color is a metallic dark forest green, and it's interspersed with varying shades of deep sea turquoise, trout green, sunny yellow, gold, and brown. The brightest spots are pure magic, these spots where the forest gives way to the sun truly look like they are bioluminescent! Particularly the bright spot rearward the downtube logo and underneath it looks like its lit from the inside. The decals are an inspired artistic statement along the lines of "take me to the woods to commune with the fae"! The downtube Moots logo uses a whimsical font lined in ultra-glittery gold. Either side of this loosely oval logo is three concentric crescent moons in green, white, and gold conjoined by three smaller full moons (am I listening to Jefferson Airplane as I compose this?). The top tube logo is a boxier, regal and folksy font cut through by a bucksaw. It's centerline is wrapped by a lil alligator! The headtube logo is of the original Mr. Moots, a cartoonish gator in a tailcoat balancing two wheels on their arms. All these beautiful logos are "probably" waterslide decals, but they have a hand painted quality to them.
*I included some outdoor photos, as this paint job shines even more vibrantly in the sun!
Condition
Near mint unrestored condition, fully original paint and decals! The frame has bits and pieces of patina here and there but overall is very show worthy and clean. The paint is deeply glossy and clear, decals are very close to pristine except a bit of wear on the bottom of the non-driveside top tube decal. Zero dents, dings, bends, or rust (what you see in the chips is primer). The paint wear is very scattered leaving the majority of the surface looking nearly showroom condition (for example the downtube is very close to pristine). The big spots of paint imperfections are driveside chainstay, underside of fork crown from tire throw, and little chips along the sharp edges of the lugs. There are a few small chips here and there, well represented in the photos. All in all, it would be a crime to even consider repainting this frame. It's a living piece of history with the right patina to make it right at home in a museum.
Details
- Frame number: 567
- Tubing (via early catalog: Tange Prestige & Champion, double and triple butted (though other early catalogs noted Reynolds)
- Size based on seat tube center to tube: 20.5 inch
- Seat tube c-c: 20"
- Top tube: 23"
- Head tube: 151mm
