Sometimes I think I'm turning retro. My first mountain bike was a Bridgestone MB-6. It was a steel frame and I don't even know what it was made of but I don't think it was anything special. I think a year after I bought it, a guy named Dan would would eventually hire me at the shop. I eventually started upgrading that bike until it had some Sampson cranks, XT drivetrain (with those badass XT top mount thumb shifters). The brakes were nothing special but it did have a quill-type Frankenstem from Softride. I rode that bike for years and even got a top 5 at the Specialized Cactus Cup as a Sport racer. Back then I used to cut my bars down really narrow and now I can't find bars that are wide enough and I run Salsa bars that are 710mm wide.

Anyways...every few weeks I check in on Jeff Jones and see what he's building. It's usually something intriguing and the other day the bike that caught my eye was using Paul's mounts that basically convert a Dura Ace bar end shifter and make it into a top mount shifter. I really want to try those with some kind of bar like a Titec J-bar. I'm just scared to change anything on my current bike since it fits so well.