1991 Alpinestar Cromega LX T26......Part 1

Recently, feeling kind of bored and looking through my past and present collection of vintage / classic bikes, something seems to be amiss. I have actually missed out in a MTB or BITDs it's called 'ATB' collection. Flipping through my old school MTB Action magazines, a strange feeling rushed through me. It's none other than a picture of an Alpinestar. I have always love this bike the moment I set my eyes on it. The unique design and that EOS ( Elevated Oversize Stay ) system was way advance back then.
With that 'sudden rush', I immediately scan through the web for information regarding this bike.
It seems that in UK, there is a huge following for the Alpinestar Cromega DX. Since there is a huge following, why follow then? Well, if everybody has one, that means it not so 'rare', right?
So, I dug further and found that Alpinestar also produced another model, frame smaller in size, meant for short riders.

This saddle comes orginally with the bike. I presume it's the ORIGNAL set up.

Look at those tyres from Alpinestar. After 20 years, it's still soft and no sign of hardening or cracking. That's what I call 'QUALITY'.

Chromoly is actually an alloy, made up of Chromium and Molybdenum or also know as CRMO. It is easy to weld and the best thing is that it's stronger and harder than standard steel. It also possesses excellent strength to weight ratio, thus suitable for making high-end bicycles. This bike's frame and fork is made entirely of this material, CRMO.

Vintage cargo tricycle

These tricycles used to be a common sight on Singapore's road but I guessed their days are more or less numbered. These are very hardy work horses, mind you. I think the main problem contributing to their dwindling population and popularity is :-
1) the front tyres are pretty hard to get nowadays.
2) it's heavy.
3) parking it and cycling on the road can be hazardous as it actually occupys nearly 1/2 a lane.
4) no young riders /takers.

But then, you can customize these rides to carry eg. ice-cream, fried kway teow (hawker fare on the go), garang guni...practically anything you can think of, even as a people mover.
There are newer version, costing around SGD$140. Made in China. Filmsy and not made to last. Smaller but comes with gears? That I have to explore and take some pics to confirm.

Vintage Japanese 26 inch spotted!!

I was shopping at Giant Plentong and lo~and~behold! A vintage Nitto Japanese make 26 inch is up for sale! And of all places, Cash Converter. Yes. Cash Converter. I'd never thought of it either but well, I immediately home in for a closer inspection. In my sputtering Baharsa Melayu, I chatted with the sales guy. Told me this is a real antique. Correct me if I'm wrong. The bike lookd kind of modern. The decals have Chinese words and not a single Japanese writing and I was told it's a Japanese bike, brand name 'Nitto'.
However, I do love the accessories. The front carrier looks good. So does the big bell. The leather saddle looks well seasoned but no brand. The sales guy keep saying the rear carrier is good and can 'tonpang' another person. Whatever.
Given that the selling price is RM$699 and the day's exchange rate is SGD$244.00, I reckon that I will dump in SGD$286 for this bike.

Apache Pinto head badge

Apache Pinto head badge, originally uploaded by the_meadows21.

Bought the cool looking head badge sometime back and finally got the time to post it online. The brand is Apache Pinto. Any idea which bike it belongs to? It's NOS.