Mantis Valkyrie

I remember that bike and when Lawrence bought it. Frame looks legit, but the fork I'm not so sure about. Then again, the later bikes had much more finished/refined brazing that the earlier bikes, so who's to say RC didn't start brazing the forks as well.

All I know is that I've had a dozen or more of mantis forks of all shapes and sizes and other than the bi-plane forks on the very early 82-83 frames none were fillet brazed.
 
oh ya, i had the brazing done at same time bosses were changed.
frame was brazed so i thought, why not.

yes, we have had dialogue regarding this one before. you bought the stem
from lawrence just before he offered frame and fork to me.
 
Lawrence said it had some repairs, maybe the BB shell was replaced hence what looks like fillet brazing at the BB shell, which again was not how they were originally made.

FWIW - these bikes are more often than not a huge mess. I just got a non-elevated X that looked to have some seat tube problems. After digging into it it seems that the whole thing is virtually rotten, cracked and broken. Turning into a huge project. But with maybe 10-15 non-elevated and 25-30 elevated frames in existence each one is worth preserving.
 
and in turn i took frame and fork to paul brodie and had him go over
it thoroughly. it was very rough as well. did the fork, added all the cable guides required.
fixed numerous dents and complete realignment. paul said it was way out. he
had to file rear drop outs to get wheel to sit square in them.

thanks for the input martin.
 

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