Being born and raised in eastern Pennsylvania, I've always been familiar with the EWR brand. They were headquartered in my hometown of Bethlehem, and I can remember when I was 15 I had a copy of the EWR catalog and dreamed of owning one of their bikes. (For a complete EWR history lesson, check out Neilll’s site http://www.goatsurfer.com/ewr.html) I saw Jay DeJesus give a trials demo at Mountain Bike Weekend in Jim Thorpe in ‘96, and rode “with” him at another local mountain bike fest. And he was always photographed in "Mountain Bike" mag on an EWR demonstrating for their how-to articles. Their frames seemed so cool to me – they looked like you could toss them around the trails with ease.
When I found this particular frame on Craigslist, I was immediately drawn to it because of the paint. I had never seen another EWR with this paint job and figured it was unique (I later found out that it is very unique). The seller claimed it was the B2 version with a triple-butted True Temper OX III front triangle, and hence pretty rare. After acquiring the frame, I wanted to know for sure whether it was a standard E-Motion, or the E-Motion B2 Race.
I sent the serial number to Don at EWR to see if he could confirm that the frame is a B2 Race. To my surprise, Jay DeJesus was the one who replied and wanted to see a photo of it. He said the way to tell a B2 apart from a standard E-Motion is by the size of the downtube: 1 ½” diameter for the B2, 2” for the standard E-Motion. I sent him a photo and he confirmed that it’s a B2 (which I also confirmed from measurement). Jay knew the seller and had this to say about the paint: He [the seller] was on the team, hence the team-only issue paint job. No one else got that, and I have the only other one left that I know of (besides yours). Pretty cool. [The seller’s] should be in great shape -- he only weighed about 150 lbs, and was pretty smooth.
JD
So not only is this a rare EWR E-Motion B2 Race frame, it also has the team paint job and was raced for EWR back in the day! Wow!
I didn’t want to limit my options by doing completely period-correct build, but many of the parts, some NOS the rest gently used, are period-correct anyway (thanks to several RetroBikers). Comments welcomed.
Frame: 1996 EWR E-Motion B2 Race
Fork: Manitou EFC
Headset: Chris King
Stem: Syncros
Handlebar: Club Roost GoFast
Grips: Grip Shift
Brakes: Paul Motolites
Brake Cables: XTR
Brake Levers: Paul Love Levers
Shifters: Grip Shift SRT-800 X-Ray
Front Derailleur: XTR M953
Rear Derailleur: XTR M950
Derailleur Cables: XTR
Cassette: XTR M950 12-28 w/ Chris King aluminum lockring
Chain: HG91
Cranks: Race Face Turbine
Chainrings: Race Face 44/32/22
Bottom Bracket: UN72 68 x 110
Pedals: Bontrager RE-1
Hub Skewers: Salsa
Rims: Mavic 517 Ceramic
Hubs: Chris King
Nipples: Alloy
Spokes: Silver
Tyres: Panaracer Smoke/Dart Kevlar 2.1
Saddle: SDG S2000 TI
Seatpost: Syncros 26.8 x 425
Weight: 24.0 lbs. (without trying )
When I found this particular frame on Craigslist, I was immediately drawn to it because of the paint. I had never seen another EWR with this paint job and figured it was unique (I later found out that it is very unique). The seller claimed it was the B2 version with a triple-butted True Temper OX III front triangle, and hence pretty rare. After acquiring the frame, I wanted to know for sure whether it was a standard E-Motion, or the E-Motion B2 Race.
I sent the serial number to Don at EWR to see if he could confirm that the frame is a B2 Race. To my surprise, Jay DeJesus was the one who replied and wanted to see a photo of it. He said the way to tell a B2 apart from a standard E-Motion is by the size of the downtube: 1 ½” diameter for the B2, 2” for the standard E-Motion. I sent him a photo and he confirmed that it’s a B2 (which I also confirmed from measurement). Jay knew the seller and had this to say about the paint: He [the seller] was on the team, hence the team-only issue paint job. No one else got that, and I have the only other one left that I know of (besides yours). Pretty cool. [The seller’s] should be in great shape -- he only weighed about 150 lbs, and was pretty smooth.
JD
So not only is this a rare EWR E-Motion B2 Race frame, it also has the team paint job and was raced for EWR back in the day! Wow!
I didn’t want to limit my options by doing completely period-correct build, but many of the parts, some NOS the rest gently used, are period-correct anyway (thanks to several RetroBikers). Comments welcomed.
Frame: 1996 EWR E-Motion B2 Race
Fork: Manitou EFC
Headset: Chris King
Stem: Syncros
Handlebar: Club Roost GoFast
Grips: Grip Shift
Brakes: Paul Motolites
Brake Cables: XTR
Brake Levers: Paul Love Levers
Shifters: Grip Shift SRT-800 X-Ray
Front Derailleur: XTR M953
Rear Derailleur: XTR M950
Derailleur Cables: XTR
Cassette: XTR M950 12-28 w/ Chris King aluminum lockring
Chain: HG91
Cranks: Race Face Turbine
Chainrings: Race Face 44/32/22
Bottom Bracket: UN72 68 x 110
Pedals: Bontrager RE-1
Hub Skewers: Salsa
Rims: Mavic 517 Ceramic
Hubs: Chris King
Nipples: Alloy
Spokes: Silver
Tyres: Panaracer Smoke/Dart Kevlar 2.1
Saddle: SDG S2000 TI
Seatpost: Syncros 26.8 x 425
Weight: 24.0 lbs. (without trying
)
