This is an odd story which goes back to 2015 abruptly stops and then randomly finished today! Some relic of the past i had long forgotten about decided today was the day!!
In our shop we deal with a manufacturer in China and the intermediary between us at the time was British and lived in China and we ended up talking and another company he worked on behalf produced carbon parts and made KTM bicycle frames.
As a gift, he said he would give me a prototype frame built up with components of my choice. I am not a serious rider but opted for XT all round and some basic rockshox forks and didn't request any specific wheels. I actually never got the bike and he claimed it as lost about 4 months after he shipped it because there were no shipment updates after it left China.
Well well well....today, 7 years later it showed up!! I cannot believe how thats even possible or how it finds its way to me. Not in a box but in a thick plastic bag dropped off by DHL. Initially i thought it was a customers bike for some work to be done!! The original tracking URL is not accessible and the new label from DHL shows the last scan in December 2022.
The bike unfortunately has quite a lot of marks and god knows how long it spent getting chucked about without being boxed. The tyre sidewalls are perished and cracked from being flat for so long and the fork threads are damaged from the looks of it. I don't have the right axle to carefully try and the front hose was slashed so I replaced that.. I will need to carefully check the frame for any cracks in more detail.
Interestingly, the bike came with full XTR M9000 and a fox 32 fork which is not what I had asked for. Not complaining for sure! But its interesting that the intermediary chose to make those expensive upgrades on something he was giving to me for free. The bike also has prototype bars. Unfortunately, I have had confirmation that the intermediary no longer works on behalf of the manufacturer and his work email has been discontinued but I'd love to have let him know I got it.
Here are a few pics. Not sure if that hole by the prototype sticker is a problem:
In our shop we deal with a manufacturer in China and the intermediary between us at the time was British and lived in China and we ended up talking and another company he worked on behalf produced carbon parts and made KTM bicycle frames.
As a gift, he said he would give me a prototype frame built up with components of my choice. I am not a serious rider but opted for XT all round and some basic rockshox forks and didn't request any specific wheels. I actually never got the bike and he claimed it as lost about 4 months after he shipped it because there were no shipment updates after it left China.
Well well well....today, 7 years later it showed up!! I cannot believe how thats even possible or how it finds its way to me. Not in a box but in a thick plastic bag dropped off by DHL. Initially i thought it was a customers bike for some work to be done!! The original tracking URL is not accessible and the new label from DHL shows the last scan in December 2022.
The bike unfortunately has quite a lot of marks and god knows how long it spent getting chucked about without being boxed. The tyre sidewalls are perished and cracked from being flat for so long and the fork threads are damaged from the looks of it. I don't have the right axle to carefully try and the front hose was slashed so I replaced that.. I will need to carefully check the frame for any cracks in more detail.
Interestingly, the bike came with full XTR M9000 and a fox 32 fork which is not what I had asked for. Not complaining for sure! But its interesting that the intermediary chose to make those expensive upgrades on something he was giving to me for free. The bike also has prototype bars. Unfortunately, I have had confirmation that the intermediary no longer works on behalf of the manufacturer and his work email has been discontinued but I'd love to have let him know I got it.
Here are a few pics. Not sure if that hole by the prototype sticker is a problem:
