Back in the spring of 1984 I built my first mountain bike frame for a friend. This friend was o.k. being the test pilot for my first effort at building a fat tire bike after building road and a few 'cross frames for the past six years. I was mainly doing framebuiling as a hobby at that point, selling about three to six frames per year.
This frame has only a tiny resemblance to the original 1984 edition and I'm sure that it will be a better riding bike when all assembled. I got the idea to build this one when I was handed a tubeset at the beginning of a framebuilder's ride/gathering a few weeks ago. The tubes are a re-issue of Tange Prestige, the best tubing of the '80s and '90's. When production o these tubes ceased about 12 years ago I was very sad at the prospect of having to use something else to build with. Since then many other companies have made some great tubes in steel with which to build custom frames but nobody really has produced a tube like the old Prestige...that is until now. On this frame the top, down tube and chainstays are the new Prestige, much the same quality and finish but with some updated features like linger tubes to make 29ers, s-bend chainstays with tighter bends to fit larger tires. I'm hoping to get more of these tubes soon. This frame will be for 26" wheels and will be a complete built bike soon. I will put up photos when it is rolling.
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