Reyschmidt & Starosta - RS Topline Mammoth

Relatively obscure; welcome to the world of RS Topline..

Apologies for the lack of current pictures, my phone decided to eat its memory card when I tried to get some of the pics off.. :facepalm:
While searching for something completely different; I found this dinky frame on German Ebay, so put in a bid & £42 quid later had this at my door:



Frame is a 16.5" Tange Prestige steel frame, no bells or whistles; but an awesome little bike!

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Doing a little research before sticking in the bid; I found out that 'RS Topline' was the name for a range of bikes produced for the company Reyschmidt und Starosta based near Frankfurt, who were Germany's Specialized importer during the late 80's-early 90's until going under in 1996.

Like a lot of importers, they also commissioned a range of Taiwan-built bikes which they sold under the brand RS Topline including this one; the Mammoth, but also the Sunburst, Durango, Beast and Nutcracker... (http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/t/suche-in ... ine.111907)
Later on around 1995 they also expanded the range with a few hybrids, and operated a Voodoo / Merlin-style custom build option.
The Durango in particular (their full-suspension model) was developed in conjunction with Thomas Kamm and Martin Achenbach; who later founded German Answer/German:A in '95. http://www.german-a.de/company-history.html

This frame dates from pre-95, possibly as early as '93. Many of the earlier RS Topline frames were essentially copies of Stumpjumpers / Rockhoppers of the same era (good thing big S weren't as litigious as nowadays maybe?!), such as this one, being essentially a Tange Prestige O.S copy of a Stumpjumper FS down to the geometry and seatpost size.. If anyone has any more information or could help to age mine to the correct year I'd really appreciate it!

The bare frame came in at a respectable 2.07 kg, which as it was replacing a departed S'bike represented a good deal in my eyes!
Essentially this was built up with all the parts I could use from the S'bike, new tyres and some from the parts bin..





Colour-wise I decided to keep it very plain initially as I want it to look fairly unassuming but actually perform pretty well, so many of the parts are modern or modern variations of older ones (shifters, brakes etc) as I don't have a catalogue spec for it (nor a supply of '92 parts).
The tyres however... I was inspired to use these on this bike, as the white is ultra-retro and I always wanted some white Porcs! These are better, cheaper and actually work really, really well.

Mockups looked promising:

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Forks, and shifting gear was nabbed off my Saracen Hardtrax (also decommissioning that for now..) but giving me a good starting point.

Then I basically got excited and just built the damn thing without any more photos! When there's a weekend coming up & you want to get out on the bike enthusiasm takes over..
It also gave me a good reason to finally use the clear crud catcher I've had for ages & not found a use for..

Apologies for the indistinct picture, taken after its first ride..


I have to confess I've never ridden/owned a Tange Prestige frame before, so I didn't totally know what to expect but damn...these frames are good!
Now I understand a bit of what people found maybe in the first generation of Prestige Stumpjumpers and why they got such rave reviews. This thing climbs like a goat but is really compliant over the bumps - though the carbon forks do help a fair degree in the ride quality too.
I couldn't belive how good the frame is and how well it climbs compared to my RSP Reynolds 853 frame - which has inspired me to get that one sorted out as well and get that going skyward better..

The wheels are PMP hubs on Mavic X221; weigh nothing and spin for about 15 mins; great smooth hubs, which all helps!
Shifting is a doddle with cheap as chips Shimano friction shifters. Initially I had these paired to an LX front mech and a modern SRAM X-9 rear mech, but then managed to get hold of a DX rear mech which suits the whole bike a lot better!

Brakes are 2012 Magura HS33's. If I was sticking to correct-era brakes they aren't even close, but hey, they work better than anything else except old Maguras so they are very welcome and fit the 'retromod' feel of the whole build.

First ride exposed a gaping flaw in the build tho, which was the stem/bar combo. I'd shimmed some Salsa bars into a 31.8 stem and the stem type didn't go well with the shims.. Fine on the bumpy stuff but obviously loosened something up as the bars went left when trying to turn right at the top of a climb, cue a cautious ride home and a bar swap!

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Nice Thompson post & cheap black & silver saddle finished things off nicely. The blue pedals got replaced too once I'd got some replacements in a better colour. It's now fully kitted out in Silver & Black and looks hopefully pretty basic, but goes like hell and makes one heck of a climber/singletrack machine!
So.. new cheap pedals off Ebay, bars nicked off another bike - some Syntace carbon 31.8 flat bars I managed to pick up cheeep; chunky grips & bar ends re-fitted & ready to go later this summer..

Took the bike down to the seaside in the nice weather we got and spent an awesome few hours on the coastal trails & beach head pathways. Even found time to take a couple of shots of the bike in its current/final guise: A retromod oddball not-quite-another-Specialized whippy fast little steel frame, a keeper: welcome to RS Topline:

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Not seen one before and I like it.

Great looking mix of parts too...

al.

I like that build. Judicious use of newer and older parts which works well in my opinion. I'm not usually keen on white tyres, but they look alright on it too.

I'm jealous of those wheels!

I've got the very same bike (even the same size) in my shed. It's a 1992 model if I'm not mistaken.
Original spec was a full XT group with Zoom parts and Araya RM-400 rims and Specialized tyres.

Nice one!

very well done.

Oh, the wheels are something else...! Absolutely astonishing.. No idea what the spokes are and the rims are just Mavics, but the hubs are (quite literally) twice as smooth as an M900, and they are like a watch inside, so easy to take apart and service! The rear had a nasty sounding thud going on when I got it, which was caused by a sticking pawl not engaging and slipping inside the hub until the next set engaged. Took the hub apart & cleaned out the crud, re-tightened the spring, re-lubed the hub and been good ever since.

Ah - thanks Nutallabrot for confirming the year! Looks like I didn't go too high with the spec either then! It's in at just a tick under 24lb, tyres & pedals included
Can't believe you've got exactly the same frame..thought RB might be the place to share these RS bikes and get some people with more info on them.. I keep looking for older RS Topline catalogues too.

I can't see me selling or changing this one for a long time, it's such a nice well-made frame (and looks a lot better after I t-cut the frame before the build..) it's become my 'go-to' bike this summer for the sheer lightweight grin-inducing fun of it!
The tyres may in time get swapped for some black ones, but they go well in the wet so are useful in the winter for visibility too..

Osella":4sbgpr57 said:

I can't see me selling or changing this one for a long time, it's such a nice well-made frame (and looks a lot better after I t-cut the frame before the build..) it's become my 'go-to' bike this summer for the sheer lightweight grin-inducing fun of it!

Click to expand...

This is pretty much the ultimate aim of every build for me, so it's great to hear yours has turned out that way