Moto-Ace

 Long before Salsa , Bontrager, Rock Lobster or any of the Santa Cruz built mountain bikes there was this- Moto Ace. This frame was a high school project of a friend of mine, Johnny Thess-once an employee of both Salsa and Bontrager and a sales rep of my own brand. Back in the '70's Johnny fashioned this frame and a number of people rode the piss out of it, much of the riding was in the dirt here in the forests behind U.C.S.C.

 The bike was crashed and severely bent and subsequently repaired by Ross Shafer so that it could resume duties and the bike to be abused frequently. One of its duties was to be used in a really race that was part of the Santa Cruz criterium. The bike was on the winning team two years and note of that is written on the top tube.

This frame is part of early Santa Cruz dirt riding history and although it has been in storage for a couple of decades it re-surfaced and I had a chance to photograph it. It is now making its way up to Petaluma to reside at Ross Shafer's house.