georges1

Good Afternoon Everyone

My 44th birthday approaching soon, I wanted a high end steel MTB frame. But nothing from Tange or Columbus, I didn't mind True Temper but I still prefered Reynolds. After having looked during many months the ideal MTB frame, I have seen a Kona explosif but which was in poor shape and a very rare 1996 GT Psyclone in Reynolds 853 but which was too small for me and nearly 2000$ the frame alone. I then remarked this very rare and uncommon 1998 Jamis Dragon made of Reynolds 853 tubing which was fairly priced, the seller gave an additional discount which was a very good deal. Pics from the seller. I have already a program how this MTB will be equipped. But first pics of the frame (pics from the seller)











Have a nice day
Best regards and stay safe
Georges

katsup

Good looking frame.

Out of curiosity, why no Tange or Columbus?

AdventureManCO 

Lovely frame. Any chance you have a weight on it (oz or gm) ?

georges1

No,not yet,when I receive I will let you know.

georges1

Tange frames are much heavier than their Dedacciai, Columbus or Reynolds counterparts. Much heavier is a niet for me. If I s h i ttawa tubing was still existing, I wouldn't have minded a quad butted I s h i ttawa frameset. With Columbus, I have seen back in the days a number of Columbus Genius MTB frames not ageing that well and prone to cracking , that wasn't the case on the Columbus Cyber,Nemo and Max MTB frames I have seen. I prefer for what is italian steel Dedacciai Dr Zero steel. But Reynolds has my preference,when it came on the market the 853 and 631 tubes were a revolution, it is from these materials that the 1998 Kona Explosif, Kona Kilaeua were made of, notable mention to the GT Psyclone and other frames that had the 853 tubing that ride better than most other steel frames. Excell was a very good tube maker as was Vitus but they stopped to manufacture bike tubes 20 years ago.Oria was also another italian well known tube maker which proposed decent quality tubes, not sure if they still exist.

Schweinhund

Very nice bike, thank you for showing us.
Where does Richey Logic fit into that order of predominance? I know in my bike it's just prestige custom double butted (1991 khs)
But they still make steel tubing now, how does it rate?

georges1

It used to be tange prestige double butted indeed , they were a match for the fuji stout light tubing often used by the french MTB brand Sunn or a match for the Columbus cyber. Also Ritchey made Nitanium frames a mix of tange steel,niobium and titanium which was a rival of the columbus genius and the 853 frames. I don't know what kind of steel Ritchey uses to be very honest. I have never ridden a Ritchey frame but what I do know is that vintage Ritchey MTBs are expensive.

nlerner

Very nice! I really like the ride of 853 steel. Light and zippy. About a year ago, I scored a ‘98 Kona Explosif on eBay from a local seller, so I was able to pick it up rather than deal with packing and shipping. The original Marzocchi fork was trashed, so I replaced it with a rigid one and used it as my Cino bike:

georges1

good for you, most of the explosifs, I have seen for sale on ebay were too small or in bad shape. So I got this one without regrets

t2p

I believe a Tange Prestige tube set (main tubes) has the same wall thickness as a Reynolds 853 tube set - .7 / .4 / .7 - and both were/are available with short butted sections - so the frame weights should be similar

Tange Prestige Super Lite is .6 / .3 / .6 - but this tubing was primarily developed for road frames

cheffyjay

Very nice! I have an Explosif (true temper ox platinum) as well as a Voodoo Bizango in 853. Love the mid-to-late nineties MTBs. Congrats!

georges1

Interesting but most of the Tange frames built backin the days whether it was for Lapierre,Scott and some other brands were building their frames in Taiwan ,Specialized made their Tange frames in Japan and they weren't handmade in the US like Fat Chances or Ritchey, Voodo, Jamis, Kona, Breezer, Independant Fabrication and other handmade frames. If I check the Tange Prestige OS ,it is a 09-0.6-09 tubing nothing comparable to the 853 much more comparable to the reynolds 520 not even on par with the 631. The only tubes that could be a matchfor the 853 would be the Tange Prestige Japan which is indeed a 0.7-0.4-0.7 and even Tange Ultimate which is 0.65-0.35-0.65 Tange was quite popular in the late 80's early 90's but their tubes aren't air hardened like the Reynolds 631 and also 853, no frame builder works with Tange. Most of high end steel MTB bikes since the mid90's use Reynolds,Dedacciai and Columbus tubes. As what concerns theTange Prestige Super Lite it must be a scarcity, I never seen one in my whole life. No bike manufacturer uses Tange tubesand this since the mid 90's,maybe it is a sign of something

georges1

Ok as it was my birthday today bought some stuff for the project:
Ritchey stem,why because the frame I baught is a M whereas I usually ride L ,so I will remove the old stem and install this new one and revert it to gain height

Ritchey Comp 35 mm Riser

much more comfy than the flat version ,I have one Ritchey riser 35mm bar on my Kona, it is more comfy to ride
Deore XT780 T V Brakes because much more sturdy,extremely stable and more reliable than the XT and XTR Vbrakes with deformable parallelograms

Deore XT FC-M780 Crankset with 175mm because it is a triple and because it is an XT


MavicCrossmax SSC SLR because they were wheels I have always dreamed about but that I could never afford ,I jumped on the occasion when I saw these

georges1

The frame was received , I changed the original stem by another one , also painted the small dings with nail polish which is a good protector, also treated the seat tube and the bottom bracket with a specific antirust treatment black and finally added the xt shark fin. The crossmax wheels arrived as well.






Waiting for the crankset and v brakes delivery. Next step will be end of January, purchase of two XT 780T rear derailleurs, a XT Cassette, two XT CN HG95 chains, a vintage XT seat post, XT 780 T pedals, conti tyres and a selle italia saddle. Then my bike shop will assemble the bike

georges1

Some updates, the non finicky XT 780V Brakes were purchased (40% more powerful than the XT 750 and XTR M952with deformable parallelograms, my three MTBs are fitted with those) and so were two RD-XT-780-T rear derailleurs much better quality than their shadow mountain counterparts





Next updates will be in February with a seatpost, saddle,cassette sprocket, tube, conti tyres and shimano pedals

georges1

The project has been completed
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Very responsive and fast cornering mountain bike

mhespenheide 

Tange "Prestige" was a treatment or process, not a specific tubing set. You (by which I mean the general audience) need more information before you can interpret anything about the tubing diameter and wall thicknesses, as @georges1 points out. There's a lot a variability between the road and mountain tube sets alone.

SoccerBallXan

Remember, the bike is only as good as the rider. I like bikes, so I ride and own bikes of every tubing, even gas pipe! Sometimes, I think to myself, "Wow, this POS would shred my Merckx!" And it's moments like those that make you appreciate bikes of every kind.

So... did you ride this bike? Nice build.

georges1

Thank you. Yes I did yesterday on a 15km local trail. The Reynolds 853 steel is incredibly comfortable and nervy as frame and the XT 780 T tranmission, is flawless, couldn't be happier.