modded 1997 Titanium Phoenix

[bushpig]

Did you consider discs?

No. I have discs on my Intense, and they are good. These brake have a better feel and response compared to discs. While discs are nice when you are squeezing the lever, they don't have the same response when releasing the lever. These do. Honestly, these are much cooler than discs too, imho.

 

[mrkawasaki]

http://blackmountaincycles.blogspot.com ... -this.html

I never forget a sofa...

Mr K

 

[CTK]

these are much cooler than discs too, imho.

Without question! That is a cool looking bike- I really like the look of brakes when they are tucked away under the chainstays. Seatstays look nice and clean.

 

[bryanus]

Pretty nice work with the welding. Did you do that or have someone do it for you?

 

[bushpig]

Steve Potts did the welding.

 

[bryanus]

[cough!]!

Steve Potts did the welding.

 

[Dr S]

Great bike and the craftmanship of those brakes is something else- functional but equaly beautiful as all machines should be.
However, although I like the clean lines and can understand the engineering benefits of mounting a brake down on the chainstays, my own experience of such things are that they are very prone to clogging with mud at the first sign of weather. Finding a twig and scraping out mud from chainstay mounted brakes has become a tiresome winter ritual several times a ride on my own bikes. For that reason chainstay mounted brakes became an evolutionary dead end.
What made you mount a brake in such a place? Do you not think you will have mud issues with that positioning?

 

[mrkawasaki]

What made you mount a brake in such a place? Do you not think you will have mud issues with that positioning?

Would you ride those beauties in real mud??!

This is the sort of interesting project that moves serenely through pure engineering to become an exposition of craft and, in the investors' eyes at least, can often become art (underwriiten, in this case, by the provenance of those artisan engineers) - of course, we Retrobikers are notoriously bad at these types of retro-projects!! ;-)

Mr K

 

[Dr S]

Yes I would ride them through everything. As stunning as they are they are a mechanical item, a piece of engineering designed to do a job. And do that job they must!
Art is subjective, the eye of the beholder and all that, but art can really become beautiful in the right envioroment. Take a Henry Moore sculpture. It looks much nicer out in open countryside than it does in a sterile museum. To my eyes the sports racing cars built by Ferarri in the 50's and 60's are pure mechanical art. To see one sat in a collection leaves me cold. To see (and hear) one blasting onto the mulsanne straight at dusk stirs the emotions. It becomes a living object, the way the light highlights the sensual curves, the sound of the various componants that builds and falls like great music, the smell.....
Machines are machines and no matter how beautiful they must be allowed to forfill their purpose. Then and only then is the artistry and skill of the craftsman truely rewarded.

Si

 

[CTK]

Yes I would ride them through everything. As stunning as they are they are a mechanical item, a price of engineering designed to do a job. And do that job they must!
Art is subjective, the eye of the beholder and all that, but can really become beautiful in the right envioroment. Take a Henry Moore sculpture. It looks much nicer out in open countryside than it does in a sterile museum. To my eyes the sports racing cars built by Ferarri in the 50's and 60's are pure mechanical art. To see one sat in a collection leaves me cold. To see (and hear) one blasting onto the mulsanne straight at dusk stirs the emotions. It becomes a living object, the way the light highlights the sensual curves, the sound of the various componants that builds and falls like great music, the smell.....
Machines are machines and no matter how beautiful they must be allowed to forfill their purpose. Then and only then is the artistry and skill of the craftsman truely rewarded.

Si

I agree that in the UK such a mod would be daft because of our 1 long season of meh. But I hear that in the USA they have 4 individual and distinctive seasons! So this bike for the summer and another with discs for the winter, on the in between days take a gamble- perfect.

Classic Ferrari in the winter with grit salt down on the roads?