WTB Bon Tempe restoration

small update as things are moving but.. very slowly

I found a WTB SST.98 saddle a while back. It was WTB's top of the line saddle back in the late 90's.
Very nice quality as it was produced by Selle in Italy. Also pictured on a Bon Tempe in the WTB catalog from '98 so very much period correct / catalog spec
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I had one already but it's nos in the og box so i didn't want to use that one 😇
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WTB is famous for it's Rollercam brakes design (later licensed by SunTour) but those require different placement of brake bosses so not an option for a Bon Tempe frame.

They also made more standard Cantilever brakes but that would require some creative solutions on a full suspension bike.. so i had to look elsewhere.

I was lucky enough to notice Norman aka bike_keller was selling some Avid Arch Supremes and thought they would be perfect for this build👍
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About 2 years ago i spotted an ad on a local classified website saying “WTB 26” silver 32h rims” for sale..
Kinda weird as WTB didnt have too many rim options available in 26”, definitely not circa 2021… so i had to check it out -

the ad took me to a website in Belgium and there was just a tiny non descript picture up and no model name listed…

..so you know I had to take a punt and upon arrival they turned out to be nos Laser Beam rims, some still in the plastic - score!
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I ended up with about 20 of them and sold most of them on to fellow collectors, mostly in Germany.
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I kept a few for myself obviously, these will do nicely for this build.
The production sticker reads Oct-Dec’98 so they couldn’t be more period correct 😎
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Hi Slackboy,I know that frame,it belonged to my best mate,I sold my Bon tempe here on retrobike a couple of years back .Mine was the Titanium version.They are very nice bikes we loved them.
The point of my post to you is I found a pair of pivots,brand new supplied to me by WTB ,at the back of the cupboard.
If you are interested in them pm me
 

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small update as things are moving but.. very slowly

I found a WTB SST.98 saddle a while back. It was WTB's top of the line saddle back in the late 90's.
Very nice quality as it was produced by Selle in Italy. Also pictured on a Bon Tempe in the WTB catalog from '98 so very much period correct / catalog spec
View attachment 749560
I had one already but it's nos in the og box so i didn't want to use that one 😇
View attachment 749561

Best saddle ever made IMO, ran them for years, super-comfy and near indestructible! 😎
 
Sorry for the lack of updates, currently there is not much progress to report.

I did manage to find a pair of hubs i wanted, currently only have the rear at home, front will follow later this year.
They’re used but will be fine for this project. I’ve heard you can put a titanium XTR axle in these so I might just do that.


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Awesome project! Can I ask if you plan to get Velociraptors for tyres? I am currently trying to get new ones since WTB still makes them and only in 26x2.1. It‘s just a bit hard to get them in Europe.
 
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