Brodie Nucleus

[Anthony]

That's a very nice bike. Tange Prestige frame, the highest-level frame below the hand-built ones and it seems to have been very well preserved. It's a size 18, intended for height range 1.75-1.85.

I think the silver parts suit it very well, and so did the designer of course. Back in 1997, almost all parts were silver and designers chose the colour schemes for frames specifically to suit silver parts. Consequently black parts sometimes look ok, but sometimes they don't.

I guess the weakest part of the specification must be the Judy C fork, which is an OEM fork that is a bit heavier and with less adjustment than the other Judys. Nevertheless the bike doesn't look as though it has been used very much, so the fork may still be working ok. I have one on a 1997 Rocky Mountain and I must say it is better than I expected.

 

[fabian]

Just recently I read the thread about Paul Brodie's roadie. Which has a black seatpost, stem, tires and handlebars and I liked the look of it a lot. That's why I came up with the idea of using black components.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=162704

As this is my first bike with a suspension fork I can't really tell if the fork is working properly. After the short test ride it seems that approx 50mm of travel where used. According to the Rock Shox catalogue it has 65mm but I don't know what force is needed to get to these 65mm. The elastomers are still original and I think that they might be the reason

 

[Anthony]

50mm is quite good for a 97 Judy C, the other 13mm may be a bit more theoretical than real. RockShox had big problems in 1996 and maybe sorted themselves out a bit for the 97 range - much more reliable damping cartridges, better quality elastomers, and a spring + elastomer design rather than just elastomer. The older ones would have likely rotted by now even if not used, but it sounds as though yours are fine.

By modern standards, 50mm is nothing, but if it's the first suspension you've used it'll probably be good for you. The other thing though is that if you're quite big or a hard rider, you might find a bit too much flex in those 28mm stanchions. When Marzocchi Z2s came out during 97, with 30mm stanchions and coil springs, they kind of took over from Judys.