Dean Titanium 94? Build thread

[fettler]

I picked up this Dean Titanium frame in June 2022. It was posted on the ebay and marketplace watch on here but I'd already spotted it and was hoping nobody else would notice it. I'd been sort of looking for an early 90's Ti frame for a while so when I saw this within driving distance I kept an eye on it. A bike I had lusted after years ago and would have a good look if I saw one at races BITD. A few questions with the seller mid week and the following week I'm driving down to Birmingham to collect it. There was a few sceptical comments on here whether the BB was stuck but it came out easily. The seller just did not have specialist bicycle tools.





The cranks and BB were sold on and the frame hung in the garage while I sourced a few bits that I needed to get it together. The frame is in lovely condition with a little bit of damage to the downtube decals from a zip tied crud catcher about the worst to report. Only very light surface scratches on the chainstay so no chainsuck nasties.



Frame is 16" C-C, 18.5" C-T, Top tube is 22" Just what the doctor ordered for my 5-8 ish frame.





Randomly found the correct Ti seatpost on ebay only a few weeks later.


Headset & BB in, freshly rebuilt RC35's ready to plug in.




Syncros cattlehead stem and some Raleigh RSP Ti bars and we're ready to sit on some wheels and check the stance.

 

[mk one]

very nice, one of the few frames I am still looking for, missed this one though.

Liking some of the parts too, looking forward to seeing more pics.

What is the serial by the way, that has the frame size in it.

 

[fettler]

Sandvik built D19194

Classed as 19" but only 18.5 C-T. Doesn't give me any clue on age unless it's the first one built in 94. I believe the Sandvik Kona numbers were all over the place too. Maybe @Double-E F might know?

 

[mk one]

Yeah, a lot of TST's frames actual sizing doesn't match up to the bb sizing.

Judging by the canti stop it should be pre '96.

 

[WimVDD]

I looks very similar to the Dean I had (I got it from my brother and now it's owned by Double E-F) so I believe it's 1994 or about. Mine didn't have the "titanium" decal but other guys from our team's bike did (I worked for the Benelux distributor and we had this small Belgian team to promote the brand as it was pretty unknown here back then). Titanium frames were indeed produced by Sandvik (I remember it was written in big fonts on the cartboard boxes the frames came in) whereas the aluminium bikes were built by Redwood.

Very nice frame. Keep it for the rest of your days.

 

[mk one]

I looks very similar to the Dean I had (I got it from my brother and now it's owned by Double E-F) so I believe it's 1994 or about. Mine didn't have the "titanium" decal but other guys from our team's bike did (I worked for the Benelux distributor and we had this small Belgian team to promote the brand as it was pretty unknown here back then). Titanium frames were indeed produced by Sandvik (I remember it was written in big fonts on the cartboard boxes the frames came in) whereas the aluminium bikes were built by Redwood.

Very nice frame. Keep it for the rest of your days.

The frames were produced by TST, or Ti Sports as they were also known, some were made from Sandvik tubesets. They made frames for many manufacturers.

 

[1552]

Been after this exact model DEAN for years, in this size.
If you can be persuaded to part with it I can offer another rare titanium or other frames in exchange.

Unlikely but worth a try