What's In The Box? (Brad Pitt Voice) An Early Bontrager OR! **Finished Photos Page 11**
- Thread starter pw_pw_la
- Start date
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Now the lovely black Composites came with a moderately sized steerer. Which would have been fine on the Large. But the XXL has the longer head tube we were just mentioning, which meant I needed to combine the best of both forks!
Here are the silver Race ones that came with the XXL, along with the lovely and classic Suntour XC post:
As you can see, the silver are not in anywhere near as nice a condition as the black. And with the rake difference and the fact I was always going for a pretty Johnny Cash vibe with this build, it was a no brainer to stick with the ones I already had.
Nice, long steerer tho!
But why switch-out just the steerer when you can do the entire crown and keep that lovely original B-Paw decal?
Well, because the legs have different diameters, that's why! So the crown on the silver won't work with the black.
Just a shame I didn't think to check that before I pulled them both apart!
Oh well, never mind. The longer steerer moved over, giving me plenty of stack height (arguably too much), which was good because the rest of the cockpit was already sorted too.
Here are the silver Race ones that came with the XXL, along with the lovely and classic Suntour XC post:
As you can see, the silver are not in anywhere near as nice a condition as the black. And with the rake difference and the fact I was always going for a pretty Johnny Cash vibe with this build, it was a no brainer to stick with the ones I already had.
Nice, long steerer tho!
But why switch-out just the steerer when you can do the entire crown and keep that lovely original B-Paw decal?
Well, because the legs have different diameters, that's why! So the crown on the silver won't work with the black.
Just a shame I didn't think to check that before I pulled them both apart!
Oh well, never mind. The longer steerer moved over, giving me plenty of stack height (arguably too much), which was good because the rest of the cockpit was already sorted too.
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Tease!
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
I actually have a bunch off stuff being worked on by Velo, right now.
Let me see if I can add a couple.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Yep! Just wish I'd been paying more attention before I pulled it all apart.
It's definitely not as nice as the Composite/Competition, but still kind of cool to have for other future projects. Especially those I'm not being too fussy about.
I haven't seen too many of the Race forks to compare them all against each other, but I do wonder how much variation there is between them. I saw a bike recently that had a very early prototype version of the fork on it, decalled as such, as it was a race bike for a Bontrager sponsored rider here in California. That one looked markedly different from the one I have, too.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Okay, so moving onto the cockpit...
First, the less exciting part: the headset!
Which is always a nice excuse to open up my favourite box:
(Spoiler alert on those Salsa skewers!
)
This black Chris King No Logo came off another incoming project. That bike is in New York at my friends shop, getting built out there for a ride we're doing in the fall, and the build plan for that one is very silver. So the black No Logo was swapped for another silver Gripnut I acquired from @iveto1983, and the black one shipped out to me here in LA.
It's definitely well-used and abused, but still functionally sound, with plenty if cable rub and wrench-scuff! But that's pretty in keeping with the rest of the build.
Overall this bike will hopefully have a certain well-worn appeal. A few components are in impeccable shape, but for the most part this will be one of those highly functional and exrtemely well-ridden bikes. Both in terms of build aesthetics, and its subsequent use.
First, the less exciting part: the headset!
Which is always a nice excuse to open up my favourite box:
(Spoiler alert on those Salsa skewers!
)
This black Chris King No Logo came off another incoming project. That bike is in New York at my friends shop, getting built out there for a ride we're doing in the fall, and the build plan for that one is very silver. So the black No Logo was swapped for another silver Gripnut I acquired from @iveto1983, and the black one shipped out to me here in LA.
It's definitely well-used and abused, but still functionally sound, with plenty if cable rub and wrench-scuff! But that's pretty in keeping with the rest of the build.
Overall this bike will hopefully have a certain well-worn appeal. A few components are in impeccable shape, but for the most part this will be one of those highly functional and exrtemely well-ridden bikes. Both in terms of build aesthetics, and its subsequent use.
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pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
And now the REALLY exiting part:
Now this is nice!
It came my way from @Flow, who reached out to me back when I was hunting for a Prolong saddle for the Phoenix. We got chatting and he happened to have this stashed away and was willing to let it go to a good home.
Now, obviously it wasn't cheap. BUT JUST LOOK AT IT!
It might be the single most perfect vintage component I own. Everything about it screams retro MTB to me. And, sure, it's from a slightly earlier time than the bike, but not beyond the realm of realism, I don't think.
And, of course, it just belongs on a Bontrager:
(Because you can never see this ad too many times!)
I mean, it probably belongs on a Merlin, too.
Or an Ala Carte!
But I digress.
So this is where deciding on the XXL really worked out. The Moto stem is pretty short and steep, and I don't think would have come close to fitting me right on the Large. On the XXL, however, it's completely perfect. The short, steep rise of the stem combined with the wide (uncut!) sweptback bar fits just right on the larger frame, and the all black look is exactly what I was after for this build.
Not mad at all the little matchy-matchy hits of red on the various decals either!
Now this is nice!
It came my way from @Flow, who reached out to me back when I was hunting for a Prolong saddle for the Phoenix. We got chatting and he happened to have this stashed away and was willing to let it go to a good home.
Now, obviously it wasn't cheap. BUT JUST LOOK AT IT!
It might be the single most perfect vintage component I own. Everything about it screams retro MTB to me. And, sure, it's from a slightly earlier time than the bike, but not beyond the realm of realism, I don't think.
And, of course, it just belongs on a Bontrager:
(Because you can never see this ad too many times!)
I mean, it probably belongs on a Merlin, too.
Or an Ala Carte!
But I digress.
So this is where deciding on the XXL really worked out. The Moto stem is pretty short and steep, and I don't think would have come close to fitting me right on the Large. On the XXL, however, it's completely perfect. The short, steep rise of the stem combined with the wide (uncut!) sweptback bar fits just right on the larger frame, and the all black look is exactly what I was after for this build.
Not mad at all the little matchy-matchy hits of red on the various decals either!
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