Verlicchi dh '94

Here's my first public project, a Verlicchi dh -frame with almost all the original bits from 1993/94. I bought the bike straight from the 1st owner, a guy who used to have a great influence on the small Finnish mtb-world by developing the way of marketing of the so-called "extreme" and "outdoor" sports and equipment.

The beginning:



The original Marzocchi shock was missing, so I ordered a new one from Risse. Unfortunately the rear swing and the shock mounts were crafted with Italian precision, so I had to shave some material off the shock to make it fit properly (I didn't want to touch the frame..). Saddle had suffered badly from humidity, but mainly my job was only to clean the frame and components.

The condition of the bike is so good that it is quite a challenge to find the tires and saddle, NOS I mean.. I just put the re-issue Smokes & 1990 Flite, but I'll also search for the originals. In the coming years the bike won't see major changes because I want to respect the original and the way the original owner built it in the end of 1993.

Components:

Frame: Verlicchi dh, Risse Genesis shock
Fork: Marzocchi XC500
Stem: Syncros Cattleprod
Handlebar: Club Roost GoFast
Grips: Odi "Yeti"
Saddle: Flite ti re-issue 1990
Seatpost: Kalloy, original, came with the frame
Brakes: Critical Racing with SRP ti bolts
Levers: Dia-Compe SS-7
Cranks: Grafton Joystix
Pedals: SPD 737's
Rims: Araya RM-400 (front), Mavic M2?? with Sugino disc
Hubs: xtr (front), xt
Tires: Panaracer Smoke re-issue
Derailleurs: xt (front), xtr
Shifters: Grip Shift SRT500

Lovely.

One of my favourite old school DH bikes.

yeah, very nice

Absolutely stunning, good job

Thank you!!

Skinwall tires would change the bike's appearance quite a lot. Actually I have a nos Smoke magnum 2.2 and a Dart on another bike at my parents' house. They would be nice on this..

That what they did with the contrast ano colours on the silver, champagne or black ano is very distinctive and often resulted in a cosmeticly pleasing bike. Yours is a lovely (later) example. Maybe I would have done some things different, but on the other hand the brakes and cranks top it off very nicely.

There is quite some Verlicchi scan content present on Retrobike. Search for Italian Stallion in the MTB scan section. I have Verlicchi with red on silver. It was a Sintesi originally, but I fabricated the Iron Horse decals for it.

This was also a show-off bike on some downhill events. The owner did a few runs (not too many as there's no bigger scuffs on the cranks) and then started selling goods out of his car. That was the beginning of his business . The components of this bike have been partly selected to represent the products & brands for sale.. Probably chosen in a little hurry :roll: .

"The Stallion" is a stunning bike! I have been lurking it a few times before . I was also thinking of Iron Horse decals on this bike, but let's see..

Love it!

Nice to see it finished!
Was it easy to find shock?

I bought a lot stuff from Ransu on 90´s...

At first I tried to find the original shock, with no result. Didn't find it on Ebay, so I contacted Marzocchi, but still no result. I guess they have thrown away a lot of stuff when the company was bought by Tenneco..

Somehow I just found myself surfing on the Risse website. They were already making shocks for similar Iron Horse frame, so it was an easy solution. The Genesis shock doesn't have any fine tuners, but it's not a big deal because this bike won't be ridden that often -and hard.

I also got some spare parts for the el Kaboing's Elroy shock by Risse when I ordered the Genesis, which was nice.

People still talk about Ransu's legendary R-cycles shop in Tampere.. In the 90's you didn't see many shops in Finland selling Yeti, Mountain Cycle, Rocky Mountain, Ibis, WTB, Bontrager, Salsa, Syncros, Roox, Santa Cruz, Sintesi, Paul Components, Club Roost, Marzocchi, Race Face..among others.