The unofficial Bigfoot/Ozone/Smokestone thread

mrlee

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Right its time to show off anything made by Bigfoot,Ozone and Smokestone
so lets see them oversized underated british made frames,

Mine and the Dukes at the Fod meet 2011
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The Duke has put together a bit of history on these frames im sure he will be willing to share it with us ;)

please leave pics, thoughts and any links to build threads below.
 
As far as I've got with mine though I do have all the parts now!

Frame # 059302

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Tc
 
I have an Ano Red Oxygen (non e-stay) in my cupboard that I keep meaning to build up. I did sling some pics up a few months ago, when I have more time I'll add them.

Great thread though, much love for these UK alu bikes on here.
 
I picked mine up a while back from a garden in Swindon!

After speaking to Graham Foot and trawling the internet I managed to form a potted history of the brand, but it is still sketchy and ever changing!

The frames are 6061 T6 aluminium and I believe welded in the Malverns. Some were anodised in the various colours of the era, purple, gold, blue etc. It retailed as a frame for £680.

This image was taken from (I think) MBUK in 93, it shows Ivan Marchant's race bike.

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Early incarnations like this had Shocktech Forks but in Graham's words were more like Shockingtech! They changed the race bikes and options to include Pace.



Around 1994 a few things seem to have happened at Bigfoot. They 1st released the 2nd gen frame which had neater welding / arrangement at the rear drop outs. This is the only historical pic I have of this frame in Bigfoot guise, you can see the blue head tube badge.

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Also in 1994 there was a challenge from Muddy Fox over the use of the name Bigfoot. Subsequently the brand Ozone was formed and the Co2 frame was released. Its near identical to the 2nd gen Bigfoot frame but (I think) the Ozone had attachments for a Crud Catcher on the down tube.

This image is from MTB pro in 1994, and shows the improved welding at the drop out.

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Bigfoot was seemingly made up of 3 guys. 1994 saw Graham leave and 1995 the other 2 split their partnership.

Ozone continued with the Co2 and o2 (non estay).

Smokestone Bikes started up and released their own version of the same frame. It had a few differences including removable brake pivots, removable canti hanger, a plate style drop out system, and scallops between the estay to fit a bottle cage.

Here is a pic from MTB Pro March 95,


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After that I dont know what happened. I would love to hear any info people may have and we can change the page as we go!


By the way, I love mine!


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Here's mine, Ozone CO2,

Full XT but with M900 XTR shifters
Manitou 4s
Answer ATAC stem
Easton hyperlite bars
Ringle Moby seatpost
Ringle hubs
Mavic SUP rims
had panaracer magics but replaced with later Fire XC pros in 2000

Im the second owner and have had it 12 years, the first owner was a NZer on an OE - love it to bits!
 

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the_duke":24gicqhp said:
Subsequently the brand Ozone was formed and the Co2 frame was released. Its near identical to the 2nd gen Bigfoot frame but (I think) the Ozone had attachments for a Crud Catcher on the down tube.

Great summary of the history there - bit more info - mine has Crud Catcher mounts which suggests that these were a minor addition to the phase 2 frames just before the name changed to Ozone.

Anyone else got serial numbers?
 
Mine is 4373 and has no mounts for the crud catcher but does have the updated welding at the rear drop outs.

Looking at the NZ one it seems to be an Ozone but with the older style drop outs like the recent purple one.

I can only assume that a number of Bigfoot frames were re-badged as Ozone during the changeover period due to excess stock???
 
I'll check my seriel number tonite after work, mine may be a 95 even, has the updated rear dropouts even though the pix dont really show it
 
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