ti_pin_man
Senior Retro Guru
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Back in 1994 I saved and saved and bought an Ibis Ti Mojo. I managed to persuade Ibis to sell me one of their prototypes, a frame that was built up and sent out for early review with magazine. It was just goppingly gorgeous.
I then used and abused the bike, it had bumps and grazes, tire wear marks, it was my only ride for years, it took me into a lot of European Alpine and Pyranees areas, lived with me in Germany for a while, took me down the Continental Divide and Moab, Gunnison, Fruita, Downieville, Toads, Marin and, of course, our own Lakes and Scotland. She was my mistress, she kept me sane through a divorce, the birth of my first daughter, moving house many times... the love of my life. I raced her and used and abused her big time...
Then a couple of years back I found a hairline crack in the junction at the top tube and seat tube. It was kind of not surprising, I'd been riding her rigid SS for about five years and living in north wales.
BUT she was love of my life. Sure I had other newer more expensive bikes now, but she had still be my mistress for so very many years. I mulled it over and decided I would get her repaired. Seemed only fair.
Now, you dont send a bike with this much love and history to any old frame builder, so I saved up and decided she'd go to one of the true masters of Titanium, Steve Potts.
Photo of her stripped to frame, obviously the crack isnt visible and I do have a picture of it on my NAS but dont have access today. I'll see if I can dig it out later and edit.
So off she went stateside. Sob sob.
Now this was well over a year ago and I knew patience would be needed, the man is an artist and I didnt want to push and rush him, I wanted it done properly. recently I chased him and finally he sent me some pictures and updates. The pictures scarred me witless.
He'd needed to basically replace the seat tube completely, its a bit like open heart surgery as you can see:
Wow wow wow. then he sent me a picture of it all coming back together:
And a completed one:
He'd even found nos decals, wow wow wow.
Finally she arrived home. She has a larger seat tube so I'll need to find a 27.2 seat post to match BUT just look at the work man ship on this. Its not work man ship but artistry in bike terms. My pics are crap, taken in my garage last night, in the shade and with me casting my own shadow but here she is:
I hope you like my little story. I thought some of you, fans of old bikes might appreciate the pictures. The frame weighs 2.8lbs with king headset installed. Its a medium 17.5 frame. It has an inch head tube which always make life interesting. It rides like a whippit.
Now I'm left wondering if I just rebuild it as a rigid SS again... all the parts are in the garage. I think I will, I think it suits the Black Sheep Ti fork... but I can take my time, I have other great bikes. This girl aint going anywhere now shes home.
I then used and abused the bike, it had bumps and grazes, tire wear marks, it was my only ride for years, it took me into a lot of European Alpine and Pyranees areas, lived with me in Germany for a while, took me down the Continental Divide and Moab, Gunnison, Fruita, Downieville, Toads, Marin and, of course, our own Lakes and Scotland. She was my mistress, she kept me sane through a divorce, the birth of my first daughter, moving house many times... the love of my life. I raced her and used and abused her big time...
Then a couple of years back I found a hairline crack in the junction at the top tube and seat tube. It was kind of not surprising, I'd been riding her rigid SS for about five years and living in north wales.
BUT she was love of my life. Sure I had other newer more expensive bikes now, but she had still be my mistress for so very many years. I mulled it over and decided I would get her repaired. Seemed only fair.
Now, you dont send a bike with this much love and history to any old frame builder, so I saved up and decided she'd go to one of the true masters of Titanium, Steve Potts.
Photo of her stripped to frame, obviously the crack isnt visible and I do have a picture of it on my NAS but dont have access today. I'll see if I can dig it out later and edit.
So off she went stateside. Sob sob.
Now this was well over a year ago and I knew patience would be needed, the man is an artist and I didnt want to push and rush him, I wanted it done properly. recently I chased him and finally he sent me some pictures and updates. The pictures scarred me witless.
He'd needed to basically replace the seat tube completely, its a bit like open heart surgery as you can see:
Wow wow wow. then he sent me a picture of it all coming back together:
And a completed one:
He'd even found nos decals, wow wow wow.
Finally she arrived home. She has a larger seat tube so I'll need to find a 27.2 seat post to match BUT just look at the work man ship on this. Its not work man ship but artistry in bike terms. My pics are crap, taken in my garage last night, in the shade and with me casting my own shadow but here she is:
I hope you like my little story. I thought some of you, fans of old bikes might appreciate the pictures. The frame weighs 2.8lbs with king headset installed. Its a medium 17.5 frame. It has an inch head tube which always make life interesting. It rides like a whippit.
Now I'm left wondering if I just rebuild it as a rigid SS again... all the parts are in the garage. I think I will, I think it suits the Black Sheep Ti fork... but I can take my time, I have other great bikes. This girl aint going anywhere now shes home.
