Can't get these bikes out of my system

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frankbullitt
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Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by frankbullitt »

Hello, everyone.
I live in Greensboro, NC and my first "real" mountain bike was a 95 A2Z my parents bought me when I was 13 at Cycles de Oro. After some months of riding the only two trails in the area at the time, and it was apparent that I was nuts about mountain biking, my parents would take my brother and me to that shop after church about once a month to buy ridiculous components we had seen in magazines that about half of their customers would never spend their own money on. My roughly $400 A2Z ended up with White Bros cranks, Real levers, Onza HO brakes front and rear with the Ringle peace symbol cable hangers in purple. I think I had an Ultimate Machining BB, which I can find almost no info on even though my brother had the blue ano cranks, and I still have the Ti crank bolts with the astronaut laser etched on the bolt caps. I got a set of wheels with Nuke Proof carbon hubs (Atom Bomb, I think) from the original Performance bike in Chapel Hill, NC. Serfas kevlar saddle with Ti rails and lastly a 96 Judy XC which I resprayed with an airbrush to a red to yellow fade like the fork Paola Pezzo rode to gold in the 96 Olympics in Atlanta which I gutted and installed what I think was called an Englund air kit. I never had a shock pump so I couldn't get it set correctly but that thing looked amazing and the cognoscenti back then asked me how I had gotten an RS Olympic team fork. I had the red Ritchey Logic spd's and the Airwalk shoes that Eric Carter is wearing in that ad for 'cuda. I still have those shoes in size 11 so they are a bit snug for me.

If you look on the cycles de oro website they have an A2RS for sale. Its from the time with the tree amigo decals. They want $350 and the thing has some period bling parts. I don't know if this is useful info to people on this forum but its been sitting there for several moths so I don't think the price would be hard at this point.

I'm not promoting the shop's best interest as I don't really care for the place any more. However, I propose this info as consideration for trying to get some files with which to reproduce some Barracuda frame decals for a weird project I'm trying to do. If anyone could help me, I have a client that could generate reproduction decals for me from scanned decals or whatever. All I'm looking for is the frame decals in any of A2-and then a letter or letters model configurations. As in not the XX team bike decals. I cannot begin to express how much this would help me to relive my early teens when the only item of business was getting to Hagen Stone or Country Park after school with the bike rack on by brother's 1964 Plymouth Valiant and then smoking cigars on the way home from riding.

I also had a bell helmet of some sort that I put a cool head visor on and did a fade silver and something airbrush job and put the "flaming bird" decals on. Like the tattoo Nicholas Cage has in Raising Arizona. I would also kill for a cool head visor.

Thanks. Be nice to the new guy

Niika
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by Niika »

Don't worry, we're all nice here! And welcome to the forum! :D

I can't help you with your questions as I am probably the least expert person here, but I'm sure the others will soon answer your queries in full. I just wanted to welcome you. ^__^

manbeer
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by manbeer »

Welcome!

Your story is remarkably similar to mine, only i started back in 94 with an a2ms, and what was originally a entry-mid level bike quickly got decked out with kooka levers, race face cranks, full xt, and all sorts of other goodies. I easily ended up spending double what i paid for the whole bike in parts alone, and thats not including the ones i destroyed

I was a little into biking before that, but had it not been for that bike i can safely say it may have just been a passing fad. Fortunately i still hung onto the frame, although many of the parts went missing along the way.

AFAIK the Ultimate Machine BB was essentially the same as the TNT, a sealed cartridge setup which had identical specs. I may be mistaken though. Loved the astronaut!:)
92 Easton * 93 A2X * 93 A2L * 94 A2MS * 94 Comp * 95 Comp * 96 A2E * 97 A2E * 97 XX Team * 97 A2F * 98 A2FS * 96 A2T and more

frankbullitt
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by frankbullitt »

I ended up giving that bike to a friend of mine in high school. His father is a client of mine and we have been back and forth as to the exact location of the bike or if indeed it was sold by me friend or thrown away. My friend spends most of his time in Africa so it is hard to get timely communication between me, him and his dad. What I wouldn't do for that bike again.

Again. I will pay for quality scans of decals for a frame.

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Mark
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by Mark »

Hey Frank,

What images are you looking for? The "A2X, A2Z, A2B, A2V, etc" decals?

frankbullitt
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by frankbullitt »

I'm looking specifically for the head "badge" decal, the down tube logo, any of the top tube logos with A2-Z,B,R,M, or RS would do, and if it exists out there, banding that wrapped around the top and down tubes where the two paint tones met. The specific model logo doesn't matter so much because I would like to modify the text. I'm not doing a restoration so much as a resto-mod. Rest assured I will not be defacing a real Barracuda frame but doing more like a tribute. I don't know if that's kosher with you guys but I hope so.

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cudarider1
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by cudarider1 »

I scanned in all of the frame decals and emailed them to a lot of guys on this site. CTK actually made replicas for his resto project from them. I'd be glad to send them your way if you PM me your email address Unless Mark already forwarded them too you. And welcome to the site.

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cudarider1
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by cudarider1 »

I sent them this morning there were 5 images all together.

traghp1
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by traghp1 »

I finally got my 95 A2Z back from my daughter-she has had it for about 7 years. My bike is completely original down to the 'tree amigos' decal. I have had a giant warp 2, and a gary fisher sugar 3-both more expensive and both stolen. I can't wait to get the Cuda back up to trail ready condition. I just aired up the tires and took it for a ride around the neighborhood. The brakes are as tight as ever but the grip shifters and the alivio derailler both suck. I'm also hoping to upgrade to a front suspension fork but I'm unsure as to which fork will not dramatically change the steering geometry of the bike. Any suggestions as to the fork, rear derailler, and shifter upgrades would be appreciated. Cheers, Biker a

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cudarider1
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Re: Can't get these bikes out of my system

Post by cudarider1 »

Which ever fork you pick don't go more than 80mm

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