Dave Lloyd CATS.........

[NeilM]

been meaning to ask for a while your signature Battoowoo Greekgreek

is that a ref from Tim Krabbe's " The Rider "

Yes, it's the crazy word he makes up while riding.

Once I finish reading Catch22, I shall give The Rider another read, which will be my fourth time.

Thanks for the compliments about the CATS, I'm very please with it in every respect.

 

[letmetalktomark]

Neil - What reluctance did you experience re the fork? I contacted Mark a while back re a 5 piece segmented fork and he seemed happy enough to undertake the work.

Just curious.

The bike looks great by the way

 

[NeilM]

Neil - What reluctance did you experience re the fork? I contacted Mark a while back re a 5 piece segmented fork and he seemed happy enough to undertake the work.

Just curious.

The bike looks great by the way

I spoke to him about a couple of options; one was a Pace RC30 which I wanted them to braze a disc mount to, he was pretty unhappy about that, so I asked if they could supply one of their own straight leg mtb forks with a disc mount and again he wasn't happy to do that, as they have never built or tested the fork for a disc brake, so I took the easy option and got the Exotic.

 

[NeilM]

I just realised I have never posted any 'ride' pictures of the CATS, so to put that right, here are a couple.

I set out last night with the intention of riding the same route I had done a couple of days ago on my Dekerf, but 24 hours of rain has taken its toll on the tracks around here and polished up the rocks'n'roots summat luverly, so I modified the route to help keep myself out of A&E and had great fun.

In very brief summary, the CATS it a little more highly strung than the De. It is not quite as grounded, possibly due to the light forks. The upside of this is that it continues to be the all round fastest bike I own. That said, you do need quick reactions, as given an errant root or rock, the CATS will shy away and leap to one side of the track. Again this is probably the fork, but it makes for a pretty interesting ride.

Bottom of the climb into the woods.

At the top of the climb and into the woods.

At the back of the golf course, looking out towards Clevedon.

 

[NeilM]

Re:

Brief update.

I have been contacted by a forum member who owned this bike back in the 90's. He has told me that this bike is the same one as featured in the DL brochure that Coleman passed on with the frame.

Unfortunately, an encounter with a large hole in the road meant the frame had to go back to Dave for a repair, and lack of funds at the time meant that the colour changed to the plain silver it was when I got it and is now.

This is how it originally looked.

Nice to have a little bit of history to go with the bike.

 

[Giom6]

Re:

That's very cool Neil. Shame about the paint scheme but maybe one day one will show up in those colours....

 

[NeilM]

Re:

I'm sure there must still be a few survivors out there waiting to be discovered.

 

[coomber]

Re:

Great bit of history that

 

[Si_33]

Edit: oops, sorry Neil - meant to be a PM!