1994 Empella Team MTB - updated 2/2/2013 - p2

[stumpjumper1990]

Good to see another Empella! And it would make a great wall hanger!

 

[MathiasE]

Re:

We were designing new MTB frames for the empella MTB team and we always eyeballed the Ritchey mountainbike geometry as that was the standard those days. In 1993 Tom Ritchey displayed a prototype P-20 with an integrated seat post to save weight and offer some more ride comfort. That frame never made it to market but was used by Frischknecht and Djernis I believe. We decided to go with the integrated seat post for our frame too and hand built all frames to rider specs for the team members. The frames were built with Tange Ultimate Ultralight tubing and performed really well. The bikes were built with XTR components and Tange Struts suspension forks. To improve front end stiffness we changed the frame the next year to a “Cannondale killer V” design. We then also switched to RockShox forks which created a better overall bike. Still on XTR but with gripshift that year. We had vredestein tires sponsored, but the pro’s also ran tubular wheels with Dugast or Wolber tubular tires. I believe Gretienus Gommers was the rider of that frame and became Dutch national MTB champion that year.
We only made those frames for team members.

Hi there,
Fantastic to read this!
I’m new here, Mathias from Belgium, I enjoy tinkering with bikes.
I am in touch with someone who would sell an Empella MTB (or cyclocross?) frame (photos attached). Do you by any chance know anything about it? I can’t see a model name and I don’t know which year it was built.
Would be great to hear from you.
Best
Mathias