Been threatening to post pics of this for ages, so about time I got onto it.
This is one of my unicorns. I had a poster (well a magazine cutout) of this model on my bedroom wall as a fourteen year-old in 1992, but there was no way my parents could afford it and no amount of tips on my newspaper round would afford me it either. Besides, I had the previous year's DX model anyway. Still, was nice to dream about it and last year that finally became a reality.
A surreal experience getting this because it's NOS. One of those rare ones that's been sitting in its original box for 20+ years, never seen daylight or been ridden. It only got roughly assembled for advertising on here, then packed away again for shipping.
It was a 'must have' but I ummed and arrhhed for a few days then contacted the seller with an offer and did a deal on it. Luckily he was Italian, so bartering is to be expected and I paid a fraction of what my DX restoration has cost me, probably classing it as a bargain given the groupset.
Full M900 XTR, Easton VariLite tubing on frame and forks. That strange Alpinestars clamp-on stem with a threaded headset and Alpinestars own-brand tyres make for some quirky additions. Factory-built wheels are beautiful: Mavic M231 rims, 32-holes, on M900 XTR hubs, DT Swiss stainless DB spokes, black alloys nipples. It originally came specced with Deore XT M735 beartrap pedals, which don't look right, so I've swapped them for NOS M737 SPDs. That's all I've done apart from clean/detail it (they're never mint out of a box!). Decals are peeling at the edges on a few spots (and one's even fitted skewiff) but that's fine by me!
I honestly love this thing and because of its rarity - some reckon less of these were made/sold than the Ti Mega framesets - I'm keeping this one as a show bike only.
The advert...
As it arrived, fresh out of the box...
And now...
This is one of my unicorns. I had a poster (well a magazine cutout) of this model on my bedroom wall as a fourteen year-old in 1992, but there was no way my parents could afford it and no amount of tips on my newspaper round would afford me it either. Besides, I had the previous year's DX model anyway. Still, was nice to dream about it and last year that finally became a reality.
A surreal experience getting this because it's NOS. One of those rare ones that's been sitting in its original box for 20+ years, never seen daylight or been ridden. It only got roughly assembled for advertising on here, then packed away again for shipping.
It was a 'must have' but I ummed and arrhhed for a few days then contacted the seller with an offer and did a deal on it. Luckily he was Italian, so bartering is to be expected and I paid a fraction of what my DX restoration has cost me, probably classing it as a bargain given the groupset.
Full M900 XTR, Easton VariLite tubing on frame and forks. That strange Alpinestars clamp-on stem with a threaded headset and Alpinestars own-brand tyres make for some quirky additions. Factory-built wheels are beautiful: Mavic M231 rims, 32-holes, on M900 XTR hubs, DT Swiss stainless DB spokes, black alloys nipples. It originally came specced with Deore XT M735 beartrap pedals, which don't look right, so I've swapped them for NOS M737 SPDs. That's all I've done apart from clean/detail it (they're never mint out of a box!). Decals are peeling at the edges on a few spots (and one's even fitted skewiff) but that's fine by me!
I honestly love this thing and because of its rarity - some reckon less of these were made/sold than the Ti Mega framesets - I'm keeping this one as a show bike only.
The advert...
As it arrived, fresh out of the box...
And now...
