A brief introduction to my collection
Posted: January 30th, 2011, 6:07 pm
I never really took many real pics of any of my bikes, just occasional cameraphone shots so i still have yet to create any real threads for the individual bikes. I switched phones and was uploading some of the pics off my old phone this afternoon and figured i would throw together a temporary consolidate thread, with more to follow when i have time to spend with the bikes and a camera, and when i am done switching parts around as they are constantly in a state of change
Here is my 14" '95 Comp, as you can see the finish is a little thrashed. I picked it up last year from a pawn shop in virginia with a weird assortment of parts, ranging from a lawwill leader fork and control tech brakes, to crappy Altus cranks and mismatched shifters. It had clearly fallen into the wrong hands. I saw a link to the auction on this site before it was down, saw that it had been a few months and never sold and contacted the seller who sold it to me. Expect to see many changes to this in the future...i think Mark knows what i have planned
Next up, my beloved 97 A2E. This is one of my daily riders, it is a ross built frame but a tange ultimate tubeset. Bought the frame alone NOS on Ebay, from a seller with Ross connections who had a shop somewhat nearby and i became friend with. Running a 98 RS Sid, M950 XTR Derailleurs, Raceface Ti BB and Turbine Cranks, Action Tec Ti cassete, XT V brakes and shifters, and Blue anodized sun cr18 w/ pulstar hubs. I absolutely love the way this bike rides, and i find that this and my '94 Comp get more use than anything else in the stable
YIKES! My skewer after i ran over my wheel with my car :0
With my A2MS
Night riding
Now its time for my 94 Comp. Found on craigslist in Washington DC. The seller was unwilling to ship and i was contemplating the 8hr trip to pick it up. As it turned out she had to come out to Long island to look at a car and i met at her hotel. It was pretty stock, swapped the cranks for a set of Rhino cranks (DEAN) and the drivetrain for a sram esp 9.0sl/srt 900 setup. brakes were changed out for avid sd7's and dia compe pc12 levers. Stuffed the original manitou comp with all the the assorted elastomers i had around the house, which gives it about 20mm of sag and then its almost rigid. I love this setup for riding on the road. Original put on mavic 217's with nuke proof hubs, but currently on spinergy spox with ritchey speedmax beta.
It is my second most ridden bike and one that i nearly died on last summer when a shirt i tied around my bars because lodged in the fork at high speed. Couldn't move, no cell reception, ambulance to ER, most pain i've ever been in for days
Second day
Me forcing myself out a couple hours after being released form the hospital. I couldn't even walk but i made myself get out there
My A2MS, in a constant state of rebuild and parts switching. this was my first barracuda (and real mtb in general)
I got it the summer between elementary and middle school. It was my first love, and i would never ever give it up. It fueled what became one of my biggest passions in life. I was growing out of my trek 800 (24" wheels) and happened to stumble into a bike shop who had this on sale. Waited, saved and eventually got it. Had it not been for this bike i don't even know if i would have become interested in the sport. I was so into riding i remember riding to school, riding to the trail after dismissal, burying my backpack under leaves and hitting the trail for 2+hours every day. Anyway i loved this thing, swapped out almost every part but unfortunately some were lost along the way
Here are some pics of the others, i don't really have too many now as i spend the majority of time living at my girlfriends where i only have the 94 Comp and A2L. I will have to make some dedicated build threads with good pics when i get the chance
A2L on the ferry from CT after picking it up
mock build up on 92 easton
XX Team with a mid level build. too big for me, i actually built it up really nice with high end parts and tried riding it and just couldn't. My uncle is currently using this on his trainer indoors
a few of the "non" barracudas
Some random group pics
Some parts
Thats it for now, more to follow
Here is my 14" '95 Comp, as you can see the finish is a little thrashed. I picked it up last year from a pawn shop in virginia with a weird assortment of parts, ranging from a lawwill leader fork and control tech brakes, to crappy Altus cranks and mismatched shifters. It had clearly fallen into the wrong hands. I saw a link to the auction on this site before it was down, saw that it had been a few months and never sold and contacted the seller who sold it to me. Expect to see many changes to this in the future...i think Mark knows what i have planned
Next up, my beloved 97 A2E. This is one of my daily riders, it is a ross built frame but a tange ultimate tubeset. Bought the frame alone NOS on Ebay, from a seller with Ross connections who had a shop somewhat nearby and i became friend with. Running a 98 RS Sid, M950 XTR Derailleurs, Raceface Ti BB and Turbine Cranks, Action Tec Ti cassete, XT V brakes and shifters, and Blue anodized sun cr18 w/ pulstar hubs. I absolutely love the way this bike rides, and i find that this and my '94 Comp get more use than anything else in the stable
YIKES! My skewer after i ran over my wheel with my car :0
With my A2MS
Night riding
Now its time for my 94 Comp. Found on craigslist in Washington DC. The seller was unwilling to ship and i was contemplating the 8hr trip to pick it up. As it turned out she had to come out to Long island to look at a car and i met at her hotel. It was pretty stock, swapped the cranks for a set of Rhino cranks (DEAN) and the drivetrain for a sram esp 9.0sl/srt 900 setup. brakes were changed out for avid sd7's and dia compe pc12 levers. Stuffed the original manitou comp with all the the assorted elastomers i had around the house, which gives it about 20mm of sag and then its almost rigid. I love this setup for riding on the road. Original put on mavic 217's with nuke proof hubs, but currently on spinergy spox with ritchey speedmax beta.
It is my second most ridden bike and one that i nearly died on last summer when a shirt i tied around my bars because lodged in the fork at high speed. Couldn't move, no cell reception, ambulance to ER, most pain i've ever been in for days
Second day
Me forcing myself out a couple hours after being released form the hospital. I couldn't even walk but i made myself get out there
My A2MS, in a constant state of rebuild and parts switching. this was my first barracuda (and real mtb in general)
I got it the summer between elementary and middle school. It was my first love, and i would never ever give it up. It fueled what became one of my biggest passions in life. I was growing out of my trek 800 (24" wheels) and happened to stumble into a bike shop who had this on sale. Waited, saved and eventually got it. Had it not been for this bike i don't even know if i would have become interested in the sport. I was so into riding i remember riding to school, riding to the trail after dismissal, burying my backpack under leaves and hitting the trail for 2+hours every day. Anyway i loved this thing, swapped out almost every part but unfortunately some were lost along the way
Here are some pics of the others, i don't really have too many now as i spend the majority of time living at my girlfriends where i only have the 94 Comp and A2L. I will have to make some dedicated build threads with good pics when i get the chance
A2L on the ferry from CT after picking it up
mock build up on 92 easton
XX Team with a mid level build. too big for me, i actually built it up really nice with high end parts and tried riding it and just couldn't. My uncle is currently using this on his trainer indoors
a few of the "non" barracudas
Some random group pics
Some parts
Thats it for now, more to follow