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A little over two and a half years ago a friend, and fellow vintage bike geek, put me in touch with someone who had a Toad that he was willing to let go, for the right price. For those who know, extracting a Toad from Canada is no easy task, if you can even find one. Given the choice I would go for an earlier model but beggars can't be choosers. Introductions were made, photo's were shared, questions were answered and the price was agreed. These Team Toads were built by Chris Dekerf and, allegedly, only five were made in this smaller 16" size. Here's the first pic I took when it arrived, complete with colour matched Dekerf Tuning Fork....
The bike was test ridden and reviewed in the May 1994 issue of Mountain Bike Action....
In 2012 this one had gone back to Chris Dekerf for some repairs and at this time the noodle for the rear brake was removed, as the bike was running V brakes and the noodle was effectively redundant. The frame was also repainted by Dekerf at the same time.
Once I had raised the funds and paid up the frame made it's long journey from Canada, by boat, and it arrived around Christmas time 2017. I spent a few days drooling over it and took a few pics before hanging it on a hook in the shed. Being snowed under with work and having many other projects meant that this is where it sat for the next three months. In March 2018 I took it down from it's hook and was looking it over when I noticed an worrying crack in the paintwork, which followed the weld where the seat stay met the seat tube. I dropped the frame around to a friend who carefully removed the paint and confirmed the worst :cry: Fortunately my friend, and fellow Retrobike member, was confident that it was, for him, a fairly easy repair and he reinstated the missing noodle at the same time. He did an excellent job of only removing as much paint as was necessary but some cosmetic attention was still required. I visited a local paint shop where they supplied me with some paint to match the existing. Off the frame then went to a local paintshop where they did a great job of blending in the paintwork to a very high standard. Things were back on track, with all work carried out by local tradesmen
This all happened, as these things do, over a period of several months. Here's a few pics of the various stages of repair.
Frame, post repair....
The bike was test ridden and reviewed in the May 1994 issue of Mountain Bike Action....
In 2012 this one had gone back to Chris Dekerf for some repairs and at this time the noodle for the rear brake was removed, as the bike was running V brakes and the noodle was effectively redundant. The frame was also repainted by Dekerf at the same time.
Once I had raised the funds and paid up the frame made it's long journey from Canada, by boat, and it arrived around Christmas time 2017. I spent a few days drooling over it and took a few pics before hanging it on a hook in the shed. Being snowed under with work and having many other projects meant that this is where it sat for the next three months. In March 2018 I took it down from it's hook and was looking it over when I noticed an worrying crack in the paintwork, which followed the weld where the seat stay met the seat tube. I dropped the frame around to a friend who carefully removed the paint and confirmed the worst :cry: Fortunately my friend, and fellow Retrobike member, was confident that it was, for him, a fairly easy repair and he reinstated the missing noodle at the same time. He did an excellent job of only removing as much paint as was necessary but some cosmetic attention was still required. I visited a local paint shop where they supplied me with some paint to match the existing. Off the frame then went to a local paintshop where they did a great job of blending in the paintwork to a very high standard. Things were back on track, with all work carried out by local tradesmen
This all happened, as these things do, over a period of several months. Here's a few pics of the various stages of repair.Frame, post repair....
