I just entered this one in the BOTM and was told I should have a build thread so here we ago. 4 years ago I found a great guy who owned a shop in the early 90's and he purchased this frameset from the original owner. Through the power of the internet I contacted the original owner to get the details on his original build and that's where it all started for me. Here are the first two photos I received of what came with the sale.
The original owner told me that he use to deliver tofu on the bike in the early 80's and sent me this FTF cover image of him on the bike.
He also said that the bike is buried somewhere at the bottom of both of these stacks.
In the early 80's Mark Norstad re-welded the headtube as a preventative because a few of the frames had cracked in that area and then Steve Potts painted that area.
Last year around this time I received an email from the SFO airport stating that they were going to put on an exhibit of early MTB's and they had heard I had a Trailmaster and wanted to know if I'd be willing to loan it. Obviously I was beside myself but I knew it was not complete so I loaned it with that understanding. This is how it sat at that point.
The bike went directly from the shop to Joe Breezes house. Joe is good friends with both the original owner and Erik Koski so he wanted the bike completely restored as much as I did. Joe was a HUGE part of the exhibit and he has to be one of the nicest guys out there! He contacted Marc Horwitz again(the original owner) and Marc sent out the original Philwood wheels that Koski built for the bike. Joe also went to Erik's place and picked up a set of decals. I bought a period correct Suntour front der and Joe said Erik use to just beat the clamps over a 1-1/4” mandrel and added a longer 5mm bolt...so he went to it.
Some of the good guys from this forum helped with a couple more parts and we were set, here are a couple of photos from Joes stand.
From Joes the bike went to SFO, here are a few photos from the bike room there, some truly amazing bikes!
I know the bike doesn't look like much but it's always been a cool part of the early MTB history to me because it has to be one of the first purposely built MTB's and the only other one I've seen in all these years was a frameset in the Crested Butte MTB hall of fame. Anyway, I'm glad the bike made the show because Erik is an extremely quiet guy and he deserves the credit and recognition for being on the scene at that time, he and his family were significant contributers to the early days of MTB's in CA.
The original owner told me that he use to deliver tofu on the bike in the early 80's and sent me this FTF cover image of him on the bike.
He also said that the bike is buried somewhere at the bottom of both of these stacks.
In the early 80's Mark Norstad re-welded the headtube as a preventative because a few of the frames had cracked in that area and then Steve Potts painted that area.
Last year around this time I received an email from the SFO airport stating that they were going to put on an exhibit of early MTB's and they had heard I had a Trailmaster and wanted to know if I'd be willing to loan it. Obviously I was beside myself but I knew it was not complete so I loaned it with that understanding. This is how it sat at that point.
The bike went directly from the shop to Joe Breezes house. Joe is good friends with both the original owner and Erik Koski so he wanted the bike completely restored as much as I did. Joe was a HUGE part of the exhibit and he has to be one of the nicest guys out there! He contacted Marc Horwitz again(the original owner) and Marc sent out the original Philwood wheels that Koski built for the bike. Joe also went to Erik's place and picked up a set of decals. I bought a period correct Suntour front der and Joe said Erik use to just beat the clamps over a 1-1/4” mandrel and added a longer 5mm bolt...so he went to it.
Some of the good guys from this forum helped with a couple more parts and we were set, here are a couple of photos from Joes stand.
From Joes the bike went to SFO, here are a few photos from the bike room there, some truly amazing bikes!
I know the bike doesn't look like much but it's always been a cool part of the early MTB history to me because it has to be one of the first purposely built MTB's and the only other one I've seen in all these years was a frameset in the Crested Butte MTB hall of fame. Anyway, I'm glad the bike made the show because Erik is an extremely quiet guy and he deserves the credit and recognition for being on the scene at that time, he and his family were significant contributers to the early days of MTB's in CA.
