After allot of lurking and parts hunting, I figured it's time to share one of my project with you guys.
I was a sponsored Rotec downhill racer way back in the dark ages (1998-2001) and have missed my Pro DH more and more as the years have gone by. I've tried riding modern DH sleds over the years but they just don't fit my tall (6'5") height as well as the Rotec did. So I decided to track one down and give it some love.
The two main concepts for this restoration are:
-Address and upgrade known issues with the frame. My original race bike had a few mods that made a big difference and a few ideas left on the table.
-Give a nod to the motocross inspired design. I'll be building it as a motocross replica. Giving it that 'factory' race bike look.
I don't have any digital pics of my old bike (that had to be retired after losing a battle with a tree) so here is a nice example I found on the web of a MkI Rotec Pro DH bike similar to mine:
After about two years of looking I found this MkII bike and snapped it up:
I never liked the look of the MkII bikes, but they did have some useful improvements. The rear axle went from 10x150 to 12x150 and the BB pivot did away with the proprietary square taper spindle and was threaded to allow standard BB options. The linkage was beefed up for huckers (I never had a problem with my MkI linkage breaking, but it did require constant dismantling and greasing)
So this MkII frame would be used for parts. Swingarm and a few linkage parts. I will fabricate some of the linkage parts in the conversion from bushings to needle bearings. I modified my original frame to needle bearings the last year I rode it. Huge improvement!
About the time I stopped racing, Rotec was sold to ex Boing engineer John Sullivan. I tracked down John and afters a couple months of pestering got him to part with a stash of vintage Rotec parts.
I got a MkI main frame (with post-production BB reinforcement) a Fox shock with extended lower mount (for measuring, I plan to use something newer...) a much needed bellcrank, a small subframe (now I have both sizes) and an IS rear brake adapter to fill in the gap left from removing the MkII floating brake (the early chassis has no mount for it)
So I've got everything I need to build this thing! A few parts are not as mint as I'd like, but they will do for now. I'll either find better ones or make new ones.
I was a sponsored Rotec downhill racer way back in the dark ages (1998-2001) and have missed my Pro DH more and more as the years have gone by. I've tried riding modern DH sleds over the years but they just don't fit my tall (6'5") height as well as the Rotec did. So I decided to track one down and give it some love.
The two main concepts for this restoration are:
-Address and upgrade known issues with the frame. My original race bike had a few mods that made a big difference and a few ideas left on the table.
-Give a nod to the motocross inspired design. I'll be building it as a motocross replica. Giving it that 'factory' race bike look.
I don't have any digital pics of my old bike (that had to be retired after losing a battle with a tree) so here is a nice example I found on the web of a MkI Rotec Pro DH bike similar to mine:
After about two years of looking I found this MkII bike and snapped it up:
I never liked the look of the MkII bikes, but they did have some useful improvements. The rear axle went from 10x150 to 12x150 and the BB pivot did away with the proprietary square taper spindle and was threaded to allow standard BB options. The linkage was beefed up for huckers (I never had a problem with my MkI linkage breaking, but it did require constant dismantling and greasing)
So this MkII frame would be used for parts. Swingarm and a few linkage parts. I will fabricate some of the linkage parts in the conversion from bushings to needle bearings. I modified my original frame to needle bearings the last year I rode it. Huge improvement!
About the time I stopped racing, Rotec was sold to ex Boing engineer John Sullivan. I tracked down John and afters a couple months of pestering got him to part with a stash of vintage Rotec parts.
I got a MkI main frame (with post-production BB reinforcement) a Fox shock with extended lower mount (for measuring, I plan to use something newer...) a much needed bellcrank, a small subframe (now I have both sizes) and an IS rear brake adapter to fill in the gap left from removing the MkII floating brake (the early chassis has no mount for it)
So I've got everything I need to build this thing! A few parts are not as mint as I'd like, but they will do for now. I'll either find better ones or make new ones.
