A Tale of Two Tamaracks - East Coast Canadian Steel

[jimi911]

Here’s something you probably haven’t seen unless you’ve seen them on my FB posts or instagram.

Tamarack is a small boutique brand out of Nova Scotia Canada owned by Mark Beaver. Mark has been making frames for the last 3 decades brazing up about 200 frames, He mostly makes unreal lugged touring bikes, but he has done a few MTBs and I have two of them

The first one popped up on Kijiji out east. With a bit of convincing I talked the owner into sending it west to me. It was inspired by the “ultimate mtb” articles from MBA and fillet brazed with reynolds tubing. The fram arrived in need of some love, which it has gotten. The BB needs rethreading and my guy isn’t working much with quarantine so it's super close to being done, but not quite yet.

Right out of the box from Nova Scotia ...


Fresh black …


Build this far …

Cranks polished, brakes, NOS Rubber, and fresh decals from Mark …


That e-stay frame put me to contact Mark, and he had another frame he was willing to part with; his personal MTB also from c1991. It’s pretty crazy. It was a bit of an easier build so I built it right up to play with. It’s wiggly by design and it works (bit too much so sometimes)! Again, reynolds and fillet brazed. Mark is awesome … he’s even doing brazing work for me on other builds. Great contact







Frame: 1991 Tamarack X Frame

Fork: Tange

Headset: Tange
Stem: Ritchey
Handlebar: Ritchey
Grips: Onza
Barends: NONE

Brakes: Suntour XC
Brake Pads: Suntour
Brake Cables: Suntour
Cantilever cable hangers: Suntour
Brake Levers: Suntour XC Pro

Shifters: Suntour XC Pro
Front Derailleur: Suntour XC Pro
Rear Derailleur: Suntour XC Pro
Derailleur Cables: Suntour
Cassette: Sachs
Chain: Shimano
Cranks: Cooks QCP
Crank Bolts: Ti
Chainrings: Syncros
Chainring bolts: Steel
Bottom Bracket: Suntour
Pedals: 737s

Hub Skewers: Salsa
Rims: Mavic 231
Hubs: Bullseye
Nipples: DT
Spokes: DT
Tyres: 2.1 Spesh Team Master
Tubes: MEC

Saddle: Avocet
Seatpost: Control Tech
Seatpost Binder: Bolt with Hite Rite

More to come ...

 

[KermitGKona88]

Re:

WOW :shock: They are absolutely gorgeous, the black one is fantastic and the yellow one is completely loopy

 

[CTK]

Super cool

 

[yakboy]

Re:

Firstly an all Black Scheme E-stay..Off the charts Cool ..The second one WTF :shock: But equally as cool in quite a unique way And the Bullseye Hubs..what can you say :mrgreen:

 

[jimi911]

Little update ...

So here's a few more pics and the build spec on the 1991 Tamarack E-Stay. As noted already ... its a custom job. All prestige and fillet brazed. It's a lovely little thing. And yes ... that monstrous 29er in the back is also a Tamarack Mark Beaver custom built for me. Brazed Reynolds with a hint of retro as you can see

Frame: 1991 Tamarack E Stay Frame

Fork: Bontrager Comp w/reverse dropouts

Headset: SHimano XT
Stem: Syncros
Handlebar: Syncros
Grips: Onza
Barends: NONE

Brakes: Ritchey
Brake Pads: Ritchey
Brake Cables: Shimano
Cantilever cable hangers: Diacompe
Brake Levers: Ritchey

Shifters: Shimano XT NOS
Front Derailleur: Shimano XT NOS
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XT NOS
Derailleur Cables: Shimano
Cassette: Shimano XT NOS
Chain: Shimano
Cranks: Grafton
Crank Bolts: Ti
Chainrings: Shimano XT
Chainring bolts: Shimano
Bottom Bracket: Suntour
Pedals: 737s

Hub Skewers: Shimano XT NOS
Rims: Campy NOS
Hubs: Shimano XT NOS
Nipples: DT
Spokes: DT
Tyres: Specialized NOS
Tubes: MEC

Saddle: Selle Flite Ti
Seatpost: IRD
Seatpost Binder: Bolt with Hite Rite

Notice a couple of photo bombers in the background ...