Sold, packed and shipped off a Kirk magnesium frame, and bought, received and unpacked a GT steel frame in the same colour. Made a few $'s along the way.
It took Mrs. Spirito about 20 seconds to notice … "When did you get that frame?? Looks heavier than the other one … you better not strip the parts off my MTB. "
:p:D;)
Now cooking Osso Bucco 'coz she is the coolest. Still can’t believe I’ve never actually built one up or owned an MTB … I’m slow at some things. Now I gotta find the right rigid fork to suit
I’ll blame all those Melb cats with their triple triangle obsession + I thought it looked like Blakey’s + I liked the look of it, had eyelets, old school steel + I have a few old parts that it would suit + I thought something traditional (no suspension) might be a good way to start.
$21.00?? bargain! excellent buy. Im going to have to start trawling the mountain bike frame section.
That frame looks great. I bet the guy who sold it was spewing it was sold for 1/8 of the powdercoating price!
It may have been made in the US, not that it matters to me. Like I mentioned I wasn’t looking, or planning. The frame came to be by happy accident. I’m surprised but it was one of those “yeah, why not” moments that wasn’t given a lot of thought. I like that it’s steel and I wouldn’t be the type to pay $'s for a Rockhopper or some other classic MTB. My vision is making a big bmx bike with gears, simple stuff and jumping curbs, doing wheelies, doing some rough roads and all the stuff I don’t get to do with my road bikes for fear of breaking them. And I think it’s time I did some rides away from traffic before I end up on the news. I used to ride BMX (a lot) back when Nicole Kidman was a virgin, and Mrs. Spirito liked MTB riding before she met me so I figured I should join her and build one up.
I also felt building up the Kirk would be akin to NJS walking. That I’d be better with something old, less poseur’y and cheap (if’n it’s not my scene).
Obscure French MTB??? Nope, but I do like this Scultz (french) all terrain bike that was made in the late 40’s. That thing is way ahead of it’s time.
Can anyone suggest a good MTB site to pick up newb tips/tricks and pester for info, where all the experts harangue me to “use the search function”???
Anyway, it’s on the slow burner … I’ll pick up pieces and ideas as it comes along. I still get embarrassed that at 40-something I’m about to build and ride a mountain bike for the first time. I did ride a few here and there but generally they were crappy junkers which didn’t impress me at all and I also didn’t get the bigger picture.
Now I want one to purely ride like a hooligan, and none of my road bikes are built for that sort of punishment. I was obsessed with Evil Kneival as a kid.
If you want to learn about mtb feel free to pm or come ride with me and erle. Any tech questions are welcome I have been working on mtb 's professionally for the last eight years and if I don’t now the answer I know where to find it. I introuduced erle to the darkside a few years ago, after his first ride he said thats just like being a kid again and I said yes thats the point (within six months he had upgraded to a ti hardtail).
Don’t bother with suspension forks, it’s an old frame, and will probably handle better with a set of 400mm axle-crown rigids. If you really want a bit of suspension look for an old set of 75mm travel bolt up marzocchis (google 1998 Marzocchi Z2 BAM).
Run a set of swept back cruiser bars for cruising like Evil K. It will shorten the bike up, as mountain bikes often have a slightly longer TT than road bikes, and it will be stylee.
:p:D;)
