I promised some pictures of the original incarnations of the bike so here we go. As you can see, it didn't stay in one guise for long! That was the spirit back then, and whilst even these days folks swap out parts on new bikes, once they've set on their preferred build, it usually stays that way. Here, that wasn't the case. Things broke, new technology and shiny bits were coming to market thick and fast (some worked, some didn't). It's hard to get them in chronological order but here we go.
Dual clamp fork, black saddle phase. Check out the rear disc linkage:
Dual clamp red saddle phase, spotters badge for the Z1s, the same crusty ones that came on the frame when I purchased it:
So I'll guess this was a slightly earlier incarnation, Z1 phase. It's pre disc tab weld too:
How about some action shots?
And my personal fav:
It's here too...
Great memories and personally, it's made me more confident to build it as I'd like, rather than go for a Misser tribute. For sure, I'm keeping it as era specific as possible and where I can, select parts Tomi would use or perhaps, might of like to have used, but I'm not going to be hung up as much as I was when I first started this.
Just to echo that sentiment and theme of building these, and any DH rig back in the day, here's a great side-shot of one that was shared yesterday on
IG. It's not one of Tomi's and is a "production" model like mine. It's larger for one (too big for Tomi or Paul), and they didn't have a deal with Fox either.