For Sale: 1994 Manitou HT restored - bright red

[skillet]

If you are looking for a beautifully restored bright red Answer Manitou HT, check out this listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT

 

[williwoods]

As much as I love that bike, I still wouldnt ride it. I hope you arent offended, and I by no means am trying to ruin your sale. I think its cool you tried to fix the Answer Manitou achilles heel.

I would be very concerned that someone not in the know will purchase this frame and ride it beyond what it is capable of supporting and possibly hurt themselves or worse kill themselves.


I just dont trust them. I was at my LBS maybe about 4 years ago, in one day 2 different guys came in with Answer Manitou bikes, One was the original FS bike the other was a hardtail, both cracked in different places. I dont know if the hardtail was the early or later version. There was also 2 frames in the rafters also cracked, they all cracked in different places, but all had cracks in the headtube at the very minimum. Here is a way of looking at it: Im guessing Cracked Manitous outnumber uncracked ones about 50 to 1. Meaning its nearly impossible to find a frame that hasnt cracked. Thats a complete guess but I bet its accurate or even a little conservative.

its not about IF they will crack but WHEN/HOW they will crack. Im no expert but I doubt what you have done will keep the headtube from cracking. The Headtube diameters are still too thin. The overly thin Headtube wont care that there is a welded adapter in there, the tube is still the same too thin diameter tube. You havent solved the lack of proper thickness in that tube.

Best thing to do is put a fair warning on your sale that whoever buys it should do the proper research before buying it and make up their own mind whether its worth it or not. Make sure to put a fair warning and make it known "Ride at your own risk", I know that goes without saying for anything but spelling it out I think is what makes sense in this circumstance.

If I had unlimited disposable funds I would buy that, build it up real nice and then hang it up for display. I wouldnt even feel comfortable riding off of a curb.

Just my opinion for what its worth, no offense intended.

Will

 

[kingkongsfinger]

Will,

What a stupid post, remove it, how many people who would buy this frame would not know about the history of this fantastic frame, and its pros and cons.

How many people would thrash this frame if they bought it ?

If its good enough for Tomac ......
:roll:

 

[bratfass]

Hi,

sorry for posting offtopic - but I have to agree with KingKongsFinger - do You have any trouble with the seller, of which anybody knows? I ask, because Your post seems near like mobbing - I looked at the ebay add and the Seller has all declared correctly and I donno why this frame should be bad to ride (please excuse my bad english, my mother language is german ;-))

 

[williwoods]

Well maybe I was a bit long winded and perhaps I over-reacted a bit. If I offended or mislead anyone I apologize and certainly if the seller wants me to remove my comments i can, all he has to do is ask.

What can I say i really didnt mean to crap all over the sale thread.

 

[john]

I'd imagine anyone in the market for a Manitou would be more than aware as to the issues with these frames.

 

[Ycawsfach]

What can I say i really didnt mean to crap all over the sale thread.

Well you did, the least you can do is clean the mess up :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[toaster999]

Loverly frame. Had it been my size I would have gone for it. What he has done with the headtube seems very sensible.

 

[skillet]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Williwoods, I appreciate your thoughts on this too. Personally, I think this will be fine. If you look in the <1997 forum, I posted some pics of my brand new 1995 Manitou HT that I am happily riding & racing. Yes, there are risks in cracks (as with any bike really) but a catasrophic break where my life is at risk, very unlikely in my opinion. Its not like I am not racing this downhill or 4x.

I mentioned my 95 frame above because when I compared the head tube of the 1994 to the 1995, I found big differences. The 1994 was was tapered out where the headset cups are pressed in. This taper was also outside of supportive welds around the top and downtube (main problem area). My 1995 frame did not have this taper and the head tube was much thicker (sorry I did not mic the difference). By 1995, Manitou was very aware of the problems with cracking headtubes so I beleive my 95 thicker head tube was an attempt to improve this area. Also, the 1994 taper appeared to not be professionally machined (by the factory). I also noticed that the ID was not the same at the lip as it was ~3-4mm below the lip. This is a big problem if you think about it, especially if the tubing is thin. So, my thoughts on welding in headset reducers would provide parallel surface for the headset, more metal in a weak area, and the insert would be near the supportive welds of the top and downtubes. If this logic works, great. If not, then we are back to the same problems it had before. Since this frame is painted, it could always be repaired and touched up.

As far as posting a warning risk on my listing, I don't think it is necessary. I am not stating that this frame has a warrenty nor do I imply that it will not crack. I planned on building this for me as a vintage race bike and using it myself. This was the plan until I found the 95. If someone wants to ride/race it, they are assuming their own risks and by reading the listing, they can see that I am not hiding anything. They will have to assume any risks. If a person wants to buy it for display, it would be great for that too.

I must say that it was a fun project and I am very proud of it. If it does not meet my reserve price, that is fine. I can always just hang it on the wall and admire it. I will probably just relist it with a set "buy it now" price and set it for automatic renewal. If it sells, great. If not, that's cool too.

Thanks again for everyone's comments. I really appreciate it.
Cheers!
Chris

 

[williwoods]

Right on.

I suppose on further review it may seem that I was suggesting that Chris was not being forthright in his sale. I wasnt really suggesting that I thought he was being less than honest. not at all.

Its cool that you didnt take offense.

Good luck with your sale!

Will