TThoughts/Info early BONTRAGER fillet'd w/ art stump wheels?

ericbaker

Retro Newbie
Hello everyone, first post from a long time lurker.

I was hoping someone here could give me any info on this recent find of mine, It is an early custom Bontrager, fillet brazed presumably by Keith. Sold to me as a 1984 from the 2nd owner who had it since the mid 90s, she told me it was custom made for her female friend in California.

It had quite the interesting build on it, with a thing or two I'd never seen before. A few obvious recent replacements with whats left as a wacky mix of the original build.

The wheels seem to be something special. but ill go back to that and tell you about the frame first.
-Its smallish, 16.5" c2c seat tube 21" top tube.
-serial number is hand etched 130 (maybe 730) on underside of BB shell
-rear spacing is 120mm
-26.2 seatpost
-Campagnolo dropouts front and rear
-rack mounts front and rear
-braze on underside of top tube and front of seat tube for shoulder carrying strap
-typical Bonty brake studs

The wheels have black anodized Campy Record hubs. this was not something I'd seen before. After some research I found that Art Stump was known for anodizing piles of campy parts black for his projects and that he was somehow at some point affiliated with Keith Bontrager. ALso Im speculating that the rims are rolled down 700c mavics. the spokes are DT stainless, with a very fine tie/solder job. The locknuts match the date i was told - '84
Also very interesting, inside the rim, under the rim strip, written in marker, it read on one side, "Valerie Ross", and on the opposite side "Vicious Cycles"

-Specialized headset
-early XT cantis
-campy BB
-avocet cranks
-campy seatpost QR
-she included the og SR stem to match the seatpost
-DX pedals
-campy downtube shifters mounted on something like Pauls thumbies on the bars
-Dia Compe 183 brake levers

Just looking for whatever info you guys have on early Bontrager frames

Here are some pics, Its stripped to a frame now and I can take some other pics if needed.

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ok thanks for lookin
 
the fork and the crude paw decal point towards the early customs. the brake cable routing points to the middle years, the finish on the fillets does too, but there's been cases where that was less than accurate..

the most glaring thing is the brake bosses. if they're typical bontrager style its a later custom

the number etched into the shell isn't gonna tell you anything. 3 of mine have it and it wasn't ever recorded what they mean

neat mix of details. if you ever wanna let it go..
 
Thanks that's good! Was there a cutoff date to when he stopped producing these frames? Before the race and RL, so maybe he tapered off into the late 80s or early 90s?
Just trying to get a feel for a loose timeline, so I understand "early" and "later" customs
 

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