Dave Lloyd - CATS WISKAS

BOTM? I would need to get at least one decent picture of it before I enter it, and none of the pictures I have taken do it justice

Cleaning it would probably help, which has not happened in the year plus I have owned it There are also some tidying up things with helicopter tape to replace the black electrical tape I applied to stop the cables rubbing.

Too busy riding to worry about cleaning and taking nice pictures

I keep tryng to get decent photo's of this but it never looks it's best under a layer of protective mud





Cuddling up to my other retro friend last night while fiddling in the garage.



Both bikes are awesome to ride... which is the whole point.

Hey Messiah, thta is a very classy ride.

And whatever you put on those Bombers you should use on the rest of the bike too, it obviously fends of the mud

IbocProSX took this bike out for a spin with me at my local forest earlier this week... I was riding my trusty Explosif

Both bikes functioned perfectly and it was a lovely sunny summers day to be riding through an unseasonably muddy forest. Two days earlier the forest was at least dry but not dusty as one would be hoping for in August. Conditions caused my guest a few "issues" but we had a great ride on a lovely day.

No photo's unfortunatly but IbocProSX has now seen first hand why it is not worth me cleaning my bikes , and why I have a habit of breaking them

The two bikes in Messiah's yard last wednesday looked is a spitting image of the last picture above: steel, purposeful, and muddy. The grin on my face hasn't worn even a bit, awesome ride! Can't wait to get back out there again some time soon.

The "issues" mentioned graciously refer to me stacking it, twice. I guess there's nothing in Holland to prepare me for what muddy Scottish trails had in store for me that day. Happily I did find a soft spot for the one-handed face plant on the second crash.

The Lloyd is wonderfully crafted, classy, but still built to ride and I felt right at home on it. Smaller than my old 20" Explosif in every way and similar length but lower in the front compared to my Ti hardtail. The size worked well enough though the low front end probably did me no favours. But great details, wonderful action on the Bombers (stiff springs) and enough bite from the Tri-align canti's. Kudos to a fine build.

Enjoy!! I know I did

I've had a lot of fun building this up and riding it over the last two years but I'm now thinking of selling.

I've got the spec perfect as far as I'm concerned and with this done I'm really not sure I can see much point in owning it any more It's fun to ride but I would rather ride my other bikes which I can ride harder with less worry due to my frequent habit of breaking stuff I don't see the point in me owning a garage queen, and with it seeing little use or fun-fettling time I see sale as the regretfully obvious solution - complete or split.

I have a plan for a replacement and the funds from selling this will get me well on the way (and cut the considerable grief I expect from the wife when i mention a new purchase).

I will not be ditching the retro... my Kona is a bike for life... until I break it permanently and completely that is.

I suspect it will be too expensive for me right now but that's my dream bike! Can't you look after it for another half year for me?

Actually its probably too small anyway - what size is the frame?

I would say it's bigger than an 18" but smaller than a 20". Imaginary top tube is 23.1" - pretty standard for a 19" frame. The low slung top tube and seat post extension makes it look bigger/smaller than normal looking bikes, and the headtube length is very short at only 100mm which makes it feel every inch an old school head down arse up XC race machine.

I'm 5'11" and rode it no bother, and IbocProSX who also rode it is considerably taller - 6'4"???

I'll go and post it in the for sale section shortly as a complete bike.

If no takers it will be getting stripped and sold as components

Before I get a chance to change my mind

Hey, any chance of resurrecting the pictures. I remember seeing this in the BoTM and thinking it was super cool and was thinking about it today, but could remember why or what, so searched out and found...the pics were dead, so i still can't remember why I thought it was cool.