1991 Prototype Bradbury FS

I've been a fan of Bradbury Manitous for a long time, but while I've been very lucky to own a couple of his hardtails I've never been in the same postal code as one of his original full suspension bikes. Of the approximately 316 bikes he built over the years only about 50 or so were FS and today you can count the surviving examples on one hand. With that in mind I am thrilled to have found this original prototype of the design, the very first FS ever built!!

Here are a few shots from the brochure and the 91 review of the bike in UK Bike Mag









...and here is the bike as I got it a couple weeks ago. I have all the parts required to build it up, but it'll take some work to put it all together and of course fix the dreaded HT crack!!



The bike is complete with prototype XTR STIs and front derailleur, custom DBM stem, hubs, modified IRD post and a slew of other cool parts!!

I plan on building it up just like in original promo shots. Should be a fun bike in the end!!

Re:

Cor, great find :shock:

Re:

Brilliant!

I have no idea where you keep finding this stuff but you need to share it around a bit...

Re:

Nice one! Fits really good with the old wooden door of the shed. (wondering what's in there....) :facepalm:

A load of other manitou bike frames

Re:

Looking forward to seeing this progress,

and since Martin doesn't do ordinary, you just know it will be a build to die for.

Re:

now THAT is about as 'retro' as it gets!!

cool find.

I remember seeing the article at the time, and it being one of the few American bikes to get me away from my obsession with British built bikes. I love stuff like the rear suspension being one of his forks bolted on the back - brilliant! Signing up for this one!

Oh mama, this is gonna be a humdinger. Glad to see such an icon in good hands...

Thanks. Should be a great bike when done. The rear swing arm has a bunch of unique features compared to even proto #2 (which I'll be building later) and then the production Bradbury bikes (which were quite similar to the Answer bikes). A lot more machining done to the swing arm pieces as the design evolved. Very cool stuff!!