boy"O"boy's 1990 Serotta Offroad Pro-flex

[Retro_Roy]

A quality thread. I will be watching this unfold.

 

[sinnerman]

Its quality, and i cant wait to see the progress.

And thank you for the mag posts, I think it was Blanford (i forget) I came in second with Dave in third place, Very close, but mere seconds between us, Carl finished Four or five minutes ahead of us, Like it was on his way home in the car when we finished. His dad was a very hard task master on him, but we always said it was the full suspension advantage from the Pro-Flex that did it.

And i guess you have seen it, but in the mag above, there is A very RARE one of one Bicycle, and i cant find it (despite years of looking ),
worth keeping your eyes peeled, it has to still be out there somewhere.

 

[Cristian-T]

I’m absolutely loving this. I remember all the articles, riders and photos!

You could be right, I may well have the Uk prototype, I’ll get it and take a load more photos

I really shipment get on onto restoring it !

 

[27motorhead]

I’m absolutely loving this. I remember all the articles, riders and photos!

You could be right, I may well have the Uk prototype, I’ll get it and take a load more photos

I really shipment get on onto restoring it !

I suspect you're too busy fixing OTHER peoples bikes! How's the MF1 resto going???

As I and other people have said, this is a cracking thread and loving the old magazine scans of what felt to be happier and simpler times!

 

[lukewheels]

Two thousand for an attitude in 1990; that's some serious money back then.

 

[pete_mcc]

If @pete_mcc is the smaller frame, mine is Medium, and they also offered a Large size? - Still, quite a lot of effort to go to for a limited production run.

If you’d met me you’d know that ‘compact and bijou’ are descriptors of me that instantly come to mind (assuming we ignore mentions of ‘ugly ass-hat’). Small all the way…

Its fair to say that every one of these is a unique, custom frame. That little Serotta badge speaks volumes, and I can only imagine that each of these frames was loss making for them until they sorted their true production run of the next years series. What margin could exist after you’ve had unique parts made for the suspension then had Serotta make the bikes themselves. The alignment alone must have been a nightmare, so unique jigs must have been made of these, especially the rear end.
I would assume that every rear end is the same and only the front end varies in size

loving all these scans, more, more, more!

 

[Cristian-T]

I suspect you're too busy fixing OTHER peoples bikes! How's the MF1 resto going???

As I and other people have said, this is a cracking thread and loving the old magazine scans of what felt to be happier and simpler times!

Slow it Will happen ! It has to. All going well, will star at the muddy fox relaunch later this year

 

[Once A Hero]

Slow it Will happen ! It has to. All going well, will star at the muddy fox relaunch later this year

Re-launch?!?
Any details of that? (eleswhere, not in this thread).

 

[sinnerman]

If you’d met me you’d know that ‘compact and bijou’ are descriptors of me that instantly come to mind (assuming we ignore mentions of ‘ugly ass-hat’). Small all the way…

Its fair to say that every one of these is a unique, custom frame. That little Serotta badge speaks volumes, and I can only imagine that each of these frames was loss making for them until they sorted their true production run of the next years series. What margin could exist after you’ve had unique parts made for the suspension then had Serotta make the bikes themselves. The alignment alone must have been a nightmare, so unique jigs must have been made of these, especially the rear end.
I would assume that every rear end is the same and only the front end varies in size

loving all these scans, more, more, more!

 

[boy"O"boy]

A quality thread. I will be watching this unfold.

Thanks Roy. Expect some updates with the actual bike soon.

Its quality, and i cant wait to see the progress.

And thank you for the mag posts, I think it was Blanford (i forget) I came in second with Dave in third place, Very close, but mere seconds between us, Carl finished Four or five minutes ahead of us, Like it was on his way home in the car when we finished. His dad was a very hard task master on him, but we always said it was the full suspension advantage from the Pro-Flex that did it.

And i guess you have seen it, but in the mag above, there is A very RARE one of one Bicycle, and i cant find it (despite years of looking ),
worth keeping your eyes peeled, it has to still be out there somewhere.

Cheers Carl. Glad this project and scans are re-igniting the memories. The scan of the photo in your post below too is ace!
I haven't noticed the Rare bike you mention above from the same MBUK...but I'm going to go back through now to see what it is?
I'm guessing something like a Tushingham Works Replica?

I’m absolutely loving this. I remember all the articles, riders and photos!

You could be right, I may well have the Uk prototype, I’ll get it and take a load more photos

I really shipment get on onto restoring it !

I've got to get this restoration underway. I'm happy to share info here if you need anything with your resto. One of my next jobs is to contact @gil_m and see what he's got on file and what decals need drawing up. Like the line-up of bikes in your signature btw.

I suspect you're too busy fixing OTHER peoples bikes! How's the MF1 resto going???

As I and other people have said, this is a cracking thread and loving the old magazine scans of what felt to be happier and simpler times!

Cheers! Love reading through these old MBUK's for inspiration. I've done more scans of articles not necessarily relating to the Pro-flex in particular, but stuff I think might be relevant / make a good read to someone. I'm impressed how well received the Zoom articles have been received. Maybe there's mileage in that to start something over in the Magazine Scans section?

Two thousand for an attitude in 1990; that's some serious money back then.

Should that be the Harry Enfield "Loadsssaaaaa Moneyyyy!!!!"
1990 Pace RC100 = £1695
1990 Offroad Pro-flex = £1395
1990 Klein Attitude XT = £1995

If you’d met me you’d know that ‘compact and bijou’ are descriptors of me that instantly come to mind (assuming we ignore mentions of ‘ugly ass-hat’). Small all the way…

Its fair to say that every one of these is a unique, custom frame. That little Serotta badge speaks volumes, and I can only imagine that each of these frames was loss making for them until they sorted their true production run of the next years series. What margin could exist after you’ve had unique parts made for the suspension then had Serotta make the bikes themselves. The alignment alone must have been a nightmare, so unique jigs must have been made of these, especially the rear end.
I would assume that every rear end is the same and only the front end varies in size

loving all these scans, more, more, more!

Cheers Pete. If I did meet you, I'd think we'd quickly determine that we have the same taste and own exactly the same bikes in our collections...just mine are in the next size up!
Some great info there...production on these must have been a nightmare with the size options as you say. It does seem that the rear end is common throughout. I mentioned earlier that the Marin 'browning suspension' limited run of frames were all the same size....probably to simplify the small batch of 100 total.
Offering Small, Medium and Large makes the whole product even more custom. Definitely loss making. More of a 'Halo' product.

Re-launch?!?
Any details of that? (eleswhere, not in this thread).

Say what now???? That desrves a post of it's own!


OK. Final instalment of Pro-flex related scans to close out before starting the bike and Progress pictures.
MBUK December 1990. Anaheim show. Mention of Offroad's upcoming products for the next year.






In the same MBUK issue, the Mike Cookson cycles Ad. features the prices for the 'new' 1991 models. The Serotta Pro-flex has been superseded by the promised 'lighter' models. Mid-range prices are half that of the original.

The Offroad Ad. also announces the new range for 1991.



Thanks all for the positive replies here.... time to get going on this one now!!

Cheers.
boy"O"boy