Here's a '89 Merlin Project I have just finished off.
It came to me free ... goofy set of circumstances there. It was complete with a XT 730/2 group and Fat Chance Box Crown, which I thought was just the coolest. This was not an uncommon setup for east coast merlins BiTD apparently. Overall, this one really just came together will a whole lot of chance opportunities and luck.
I am not really one for the WTB hype, but a group had made it's way into my hands and I thought this would be a fun bike to put it all on.
(Yes I have the rest)
I thought the box crown was a super cool option for the frame until this fell into my lap. This is a c1988-9 Titanium Merlin "Rubber Fork". Named for its flexy performance in early testing. Gary Helfrich, and Mike Augspurger both wanted to have a ti fork to go with their frames and other ti kit. Only a handful were made. As luck would have it (again), the fork was the perfect size for the frame with a CK headset. This one features a steel steerer spot welded/epoxied into in an attempt to stiffen it up a bit. I haven't had a trail test on it yet, but it seems no worse than my all Ti Dean/Litespeed fork bike. The dean was a a terrifying bike on fast single track so I suspect this thing will stay on the dirt flats.
The rubber fork has a stubby similar to a type II or early ritchey/fisher,. but because the ti tubing ID is greater than a steel steerer the stub is not the normal size. There would have been a custom ti stubby stem for this fork back in the day, but that's likely not coming my way. I had Mark Beaver (owner of Tamerack in Nova Scotia) modify the salsa stem I got with the bike to fit ... perfect job
It' done ... gotta get to pics.
It came to me free ... goofy set of circumstances there. It was complete with a XT 730/2 group and Fat Chance Box Crown, which I thought was just the coolest. This was not an uncommon setup for east coast merlins BiTD apparently. Overall, this one really just came together will a whole lot of chance opportunities and luck.
I am not really one for the WTB hype, but a group had made it's way into my hands and I thought this would be a fun bike to put it all on.
(Yes I have the rest)
I thought the box crown was a super cool option for the frame until this fell into my lap. This is a c1988-9 Titanium Merlin "Rubber Fork". Named for its flexy performance in early testing. Gary Helfrich, and Mike Augspurger both wanted to have a ti fork to go with their frames and other ti kit. Only a handful were made. As luck would have it (again), the fork was the perfect size for the frame with a CK headset. This one features a steel steerer spot welded/epoxied into in an attempt to stiffen it up a bit. I haven't had a trail test on it yet, but it seems no worse than my all Ti Dean/Litespeed fork bike. The dean was a a terrifying bike on fast single track so I suspect this thing will stay on the dirt flats.
The rubber fork has a stubby similar to a type II or early ritchey/fisher,. but because the ti tubing ID is greater than a steel steerer the stub is not the normal size. There would have been a custom ti stubby stem for this fork back in the day, but that's likely not coming my way. I had Mark Beaver (owner of Tamerack in Nova Scotia) modify the salsa stem I got with the bike to fit ... perfect job
It' done ... gotta get to pics.
