1998 Jamis Dragon project

[PeteC]

I've been meaning to post this one for a while. Last winter, I spied this little 15" Jamis Dragon on craigslist. It had been posted and re-posted a few times. Finally, the price was dropped one last time. I figured a nice 853 reynolds frame with all xtr m950 parts for $300 was a steal. What could go wrong? Below is a picture of the frame only. 'Fraid I've since lost the pic of the full bike as it came it to me.

Plan was to build it up for my wife.

Of course, the first problem was a siezed seatpost. After a weeklong soak with PB Blaster, I used the freeze off spray on the inside of the seatpost, and a lot of leverage, and freed it. Problem 1 was solved.

 

[PeteC]

Luckily, the seatpost escaped relatively unscathed.

 

[PeteC]

The paint was another matter. Lots of oxidation, flaking, chipping etc. So, it got stripped, following by a thorough once-over with a wire brush and treatment with rust inhibiter.

 

[PeteC]

Next matter was to fill in the dent with a little brass. The pic was taken mid-way through the process, the edges will filled in prior to powder coating.

 

[PeteC]

then it was off to powder coat. My wife's favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz, so I asked my guy for ruby red metallic... matches the ruby slippers pretty well. 'Fraid the lo-res pics just didn't do it justice.

 

[PeteC]

And here's the first iteration of the build. Mostly XTR m950 (brakes, hubs, mechs, shifters). Silver RF Turbines. Flat easton carbon bar. Z2 atom bombs. Moby post. etc.

 

[PeteC]

Alas, that version wasn't to last long. 'Too low' was the chief complaint of 'V1'. So a second iteration was in the works. This time with a white Fox f100 to lift the front end up, carbon riser bar, thomson stem and post, white selle italia saddle with a little more cushion, and a new set of white Turbines to match the fork. I thought this version would be a winner...

 

[PeteC]

But no. It still wasn't right. Maybe the frame was too small to begin with. But for whatever reason, she didn't like it. And I understood by watching her on it. So, here's the final version that I sold to a buddy. He loves it. For V3, I swapped out all of the XTR for XT and swapped out the Fox for a Z3 long travel. In the end, it was still a fun build and my friend loves the bike, so I guess it's all good. I still need to find a bike for my wife though :facepalm:

 

[Muddy paw]

I loved version 1 as i'm a big fan of the old school straight bars which it just so happens that i've got some lined up for the RockRider that i'm sorting out and i loved the matching ruby red forks as they just complimented the frame beautifully ..

 

[syncrosfan]

It's difficult to put a bike together for the missus... You're looking at a cool build with nice parts, the missus wants some nice girly color an a suuper soft saddle.
I think the Flite or Serfas saddle might have soured it for her? I got for my wife's build a Terry Butterfly Ti railed saddle and she loves it (it's rather ugly and massive but comfort will always win out) and I got her some of them Ergon grips as well for better wrist support. Yes she made me re-spray a perfectly fine '95 Cannondale F2000 from factory red to a pearl white (thank god it wasn't pink or something like that). The finished build tipped the scale at something like 20.8lbs so she loves the fact that it's super light... Too bad your missus didn't like her bike (I find V1 the best).