The 2003 Dean colonel that is actually an Epic Synergy Ti

Have I got a tale to tell :roll:

I bought this frame off a guy on ebay a couple of years ago and it's been hanging up in the shed since then. Due to the lack of work and then work commitments I have never got around to doing anything with it until last week.....

I decided to strip my RL and put the parts on my Dean frame, but firstly I needed to strip all the paint and badly applied decals off that had been applied to the frame by the previous owner.

So out with the Nitromors 1200 grit and a bucket of soapy water.

The strip

So I started sripping the paint, I was surprised at how easy it came off.
Bare in mind there was no primer just a fancy pearlecent sprayed onto bare Ti!

Anywho, as I was stripping off the paint on the down tube I noticed an old decal shadow. I rubbed the paint off as quick as possible, cleaned up the area and found what looked like the word Epic. :shock:

I stripped the adjacent side of the down tube, lo and behold Epic on the other side too.

I then emailed Dean to comfirm the frame number, they told me almost immediatley it wasn't one of their frames. :roll:

I then google'd Epic Ti bikes to see what would happen, there what I had actually bought was an Epic TiRant frame set :evil:

To say I was a little pissed was an understatement! I got intouch with the guy who sold it me on ebay, I called him a liar and a rip off merchant. He told me to do what ever I wanted, but I wouldn't get my money back as I'd had the frame for a number of months. The prick then went on to admit to lying in his ad! Which although added insult to injury will help with a case I'm putting forward to Paypal.

So, sod it I'll build it anyway so here goes

damn shame!
little toerag!

still looks nice though
arent epic frames anygood?

google says its a £950 (approx) frame
which aint too bad
obviously being ripped off is no good though

So picture 007 shows the frame stripped, then picture 012 shows frame with Dean decals in green. Am I to understand you went ahead and stickered the thing up as a Dean anyway? What gives with that? :? :shock: :?

utahdog2003":1s33d3w5 said:

Am I to understand you went ahead and stickered the thing up as a Dean anyway? What gives with that? :? :shock: :?

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Agreed.

Its a shame re the frames origin but re decalling it up as a Dean is surely a bit of a no no :?

Would the better plan not be to decal it up as one of your bikes i.e a Peatie Team SL or such like.

Besides the Dean decals do not look original or even that convincing.

Just my $0.02

What???

I decaled'it up using the Dean items because I paid nearly £40 and they weren't going to waste sat in my shed forever.

By the sound of the comments above it appears like I've done something badly wrong by using the decals?

No I don't have any plans to pass it on as a Dean myself either, before anyone suggests it. (If I did sell it on, there would be a full explanation forthcoming.)

The actual plan was to build a bike for life hence the Titanium frame, and another reason for decalling it up.

The decals are genuine Dean (which is more than can be said of the frame lol.)

It looks really well in the metal, the frame isn't that old and next week I'll see what it rides like.

I just have a wee problem of a snapped bleed nipple to overcome and it will be sorted. :roll:

Finnished pics will be up soon.

Epic cycles became Everti in 2005, mine is a canadian built frame which is pretty cool

It looks really well put together.....

My gripe and the point I'm trying to get across is just be careful when buying anything off ebay. I'm not crying over what I paid I'm just trying to show people not all cyclists are honest and truthful.

Given that you're taking it to paypal you should really have stopped working on it as soon as it you found out it wasn't a Dean. If you have the guy's admission that he knew it wasn't a Dean when he sold it then you will almost certainly win an ebay resolution centre case - I have found them pretty good myself. Plus if it doesn't work out there's always the small claims court.

Building and using the bike while in dispute does not help your case - if I were you I'd go no further with the build.

frame

I think I can kiss a refund goodbye, I've contacted ebay and Paypal to at least warn them of this guys lack of moral fibre in the hope they at least make his life difficult for a few weeks.

I do actually like the look of the frame, it's almost like a Ti Rocky Mountain I suppose thats the canadian thing going on.

Re: What???

peteteamtig":vutuykgr said:

I decaled'it up using the Dean items because I paid nearly £40 and they weren't going to waste sat in my shed forever.

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Should have just sold the decals. I have a TST titanium frame, from the company that made Deans, DBRs, Mongooses, Rockys, Konas etc etc, and while it would be neat to have the frame stickered up, it is in fact none of the above and shouldn't ever be described or implied to be as above, and applying stickers would do just that. Even though I'm quite certain my TST is a DBR, it doesn't have a DBR serial number and was never stickered as a DBR, so naked TI it will stay.

peteteamtig":vutuykgr said:

Epic cycles became Everti in 2005, mine is a canadian built frame which is pretty cool

It looks really well put together.....

Click to expand...

There you go. Everti or Epic decals, and a nice Canadian flag down by the bottom bracket. I think that would be a better solution.

I agreed with utahdog2003.

You have clearly worked out the provenance of your frame and if anything I personally think thats a bit cooler.

Even though the decals are original they don't look it and I think cheapen the look of the frame :?

I don't write this to be harsh or to stir ..... just being honest.