A Devinci Mystery

[MSYT]

Just found the photos of this one on my phone of when I bought it so here’s the start of a build.

Scrolling through FB marketplace something caught my eye. A Pace fork and a blue headset. On closer inspection the headset was a Chris King but it also had a Syncros stem. The rest of the bike was ‘junk’ though or so I thought. Spoke to the seller and I think I ended up picking it up for about £70. Maybe



When I got it home, that’s when the fun finds started…. The fork wasn’t functioning, had a missing brace and a snapped bolt in the crown. It also had the star nut hanging out the top! Oh and no crown race for the CK!

I still thought the rest of the bike was junk. The components were base level and mostly extremely worn. Still hadn’t dawned on me about the frame until a bit of research. Although I did pull the BB and find it was an UN72 so it hinted at a once decent spec.

It’s a bit of a rarity. From what I’ve learned it’s made of 6061 aluminium, locally sourced and made in good old Canadia. I’ve emailed Devinci themselves and they unfortunately don’t have any records that far back but they said they didn’t really have any imports to the UK until the 2010s or so (I’ll have to check the emails to confirm).

All my searches have turned up no matching bikes until recently one popped up for sale on eBay. Same frame design. Same dropouts. Just a different colour. Unfortunately the seller wouldn’t get back to me about my serial number enquiry but it looks spot on and the components match my theory it’s a mid to late 90s bike.

So now I know it’s say around 1997 and it’s a bit of a rarity, at least in the UK, I’ve decided to do a Canadian special build. I’ll clean down the frame and polish it up. Potentially replace the decals. The drivetrain will be XT but the rest of the components I can find will be Canadian. RaceFace, Syncros, whatever era specific I can find.

Should be a fancy pants build when I’m finished

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Subscribed. The Devinci factory is just down the highway from me, I see them all over the place in Quebec, but information is scarce. I know very little about the bikes, except that, at least in Canada, the frames seem higher quality than the spec'd components. I see more alivio than xt

 

[MSYT]

Subscribed. The Devinci factory is just down the highway from me, I see them all over the place in Quebec, but information is scarce. I know very little about the bikes, except that, at least in Canada, the frames seem higher quality than the spec'd components. I see more alivio than xt

Interesting. Are there a lot of the older ones about then locally? It does look like a well made frame - it think it weighs around 1700g too. Not sure how that fits in to the whole idea of a lightweight bike but it feels light.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

They appear from time to time. Hybrids and low end models mixed in with the quality old stuff. Another thing is, they made bikes for local shops in Ottawa. The Eclipse brand, sold at Pecco's, has aluminum frames by Devinci, but usually the shop would pick higher level components.
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-mountain-bike/ottawa/canadian-made-eclipse-mountain-bike/1692311261

 

[MSYT]

Thought I'd throw in some more details for this as I'm planning on building it up soon;

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/any-devinci-experts-here.470061/
My original thread above

Just attaching to this some more detailed shots of the frame. I've only seen one similar - it was on eBay and I asked the seller for some info and a look at the serial number but they ignored me. I'm still leaning to it being a mid 90s frame although I've since found Devinci started in 1993 - I think.

I've been collecting bits - a nice complement of XT and Race Face. Some very nice Race Face infact.

 

[MSYT]

I've also had a look back through Wayback Machine to see if Devinci had a website back then and... 1998 is the earliest I can find.

Unfortunately no pics have survived BUT I do have details of all the frame they did and the specs of each model. I need to have a close look at mine to determine whether it's a 1000 series or 1500 series. They're similiar but the 1500 uses S bend seat stays which I think mine has. In 1998 they were all painted apart from one 1000 series model... Mission. It is slightly lower spec than I'm building it as but I'll see if I can dig anything else up to confirm the model or age.

 

[MSYT]

Oh and this is the other I found on eBay a while back.

 

[MSYT]

There are some more goodies on the way but I thought I’d add some of what I have so far.

It’s going to be an 8 speed XT build. The frame is for Vs so that’s what we’ve gone with. Instead of using the STi units I found the separate M008 shifters though. I do have XT hubs too along with Mavic 231s in silver to build but I’m not fully finalised on a wheel build yet.



Of course I had to get a RaceFace Turbine to go on it but I also found the matching colour headset so grabbed that too. RF Air Alloy bars are on the way along with a RF System stem and hopefully I can find a RF XY seatpost.





Fork wise I do have a RC36 that came with the bike but it’s in awful condition. I might try and resurrect it but what I’d really love is a first gen blue Rockshix SID

Saddle… again not sure. Devinci spec’d a WTB which I can easily find but a Flite is always the go to choice.

 

[dirttorpedo]

No Devinci expert, but I remember when they hit the market in Vancouver - probably the late 90's - and they were considered high end bikes and had a lot of curb appeal. I certainly couldn't afford one just coming out of grad school. The only model I really remember was the Chili Pepper, but that was a fully, so definitely not what you had. I think they would have been on par with the GT Zaskar of the late 90's or the Cove Stiffee.

FWIW, you can buy the crown race for the Chris King headset separately so that you can save it from the bin.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Their website has listings for all the bikes, but unfortunately only goes back to 2006. Here's a bit of company history, with a look into where the magic happens, lots of pictures from the Chicoutimi factory
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/inside-devinci-a-canadian-success-story.html