Manitou FS almost finished

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

Retro Spud":3cxyzk63 said:

ez054098":3cxyzk63 said:

Always, always, always wanted one of these! So nice!

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I never slept for 24hr when I saw this come up, just kept telling myself its now or never
I'm not religious but if he's there the big fella smiled upon that day

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I learned long ago not to wait on unicorns. I have missed a couple of amazing bikes because I told myself "another will come along." I did that with a dolomite Attitude and ended up waiting 5 years until another came along.

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

An absolutely fantastic looking bike ... can't wait to see this finished

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

You lucky sun of a gun...

Superb find

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

Retro Spud":wvxcxt0j said:

The rear was a different story each leg returned so slowly it was almost painful, upon inspection all but one of the “top out” and “bottom out” elastomers had all turned to a thick highly sticky red goo which took well over 4 hrs to clean out

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How did you do to clean the inside of the legs ?
I have a couple of Manitou (1 & 2) with the same issue and did not find yet an efficient way to remove that shit .. any tips are welcome !

On a side note, my FS frame was built only 6 weeks after yours (mid-May) and its s/n is over 1100 (don't remember exactly). I'm wondering how many of them they were producing per month at that time ...?

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

My frame's are FS 940512 born 1 February 94 and I have the remnants of FS01140 born 12 May 93 and died of a severe crack habit sometime in 2010....

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

thnos":q89h3qe0 said:

Retro Spud":q89h3qe0 said:

The rear was a different story each leg returned so slowly it was almost painful, upon inspection all but one of the “top out” and “bottom out” elastomers had all turned to a thick highly sticky red goo which took well over 4 hrs to clean out

Click to expand...

How did you do to clean the inside of the legs ?
I have a couple of Manitou (1 & 2) with the same issue and did not find yet an efficient way to remove that shit .. any tips are welcome !

Click to expand...

To be honest it was a horrid afternoon.

I removed as much as possible with a left over length of architectural wooden beading but to clean all the residue out I needed help….

I got a long shanked screw driver and using electrical tape mounted a tooth brush onto it and with the help on white spirit set about the task, all was working well until the white spirit dissolved the glue on the tape.

The mark two version saw a new (hard) tooth brush liberated from the bathroom cabinet lashed to the screw driver with carpet tape and the re-enforced with a few small zip ties, worked a treat in conjunction with more white spirit. To get the cack off the bottom I just used the “muslin cloth” you use to Tecut cars and wrapped it around a length of wooden beading.

Wish it was more hi-tech….

thnos":q89h3qe0 said:

On a side note, my FS frame was built only 6 weeks after yours (mid-May) and its s/n is over 1,100 (don't remember exactly). I'm wondering how many of them they were producing per month at that time ...?

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I guess once they tooled up, the factory was able to churn them out at a rapid rate of knots, must confess it would be great to find a Manitou version of Yeti’s “Frank the Welder” who could give us the low down.

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

boxxer":3lgewikg said:

My frame's are FS 940512 born 1 February 94 and I have the remnants of FS01140 born 12 May 93 and died of a severe crack habit sometime in 2010....

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Shortly after joining Retro Bike I vowed that I'd never join the ranks of “garage queen” owners .....
So what do you reckon, if I take it out and ride the darn thing, it'll fall apart around me quicker than a 1970's Fiat :shock:

I knew they were very prone to cracking when I bought it, but then so are Alpinestars and Yeti's from the same era :cry:


Guess I'll just have to move to Holland and ride it on the flat lands avoiding pot holes in the road



.

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

Ride it but don't abuse it...

...gonna need surgery to remove the grin from your face following the first outing!

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

boxxer":jobmccae said:

My frame's are FS 940512 born 1 February 94 and I have the remnants of FS01140 born 12 May 93 and died of a severe crack habit sometime in 2010....

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mine is from the 12 May 93 too !! (FS0111

Re: 20 Inches of Uncle Sam's Finest ...(Manitou FS Content)

Retro Spud":5zwnuyfn said:

boxxer":5zwnuyfn said:

My frame's are FS 940512 born 1 February 94 and I have the remnants of FS01140 born 12 May 93 and died of a severe crack habit sometime in 2010....

Click to expand...

Shortly after joining Retro Bike I vowed that I'd never join the ranks of “garage queen” owners .....
So what do you reckon, if I take it out and ride the darn thing, it'll fall apart around me quicker than a 1970's Fiat :shock:

I knew they were very prone to cracking when I bought it, but then so are Alpinestars and Yeti's from the same era :cry:


Guess I'll just have to move to Holland and ride it on the flat lands avoiding pot holes in the road



.

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I'm working on the one ride round the local trail centre - no jumps and then either hang it from the roof or all it on, no sentiment around my bikes, if used it will crack - the tubing is stupid thin and mine is even cracked around the bottle bosses on the seat tube, take from that what you will....

The dead one came from a fellow Macretro rider who had made 2 into 1 and be gave me the remnants as a favour

They are about to be sent to Rojo to help him complete his bike - I was so close to asking FTW to make me a modern frame and use the legs from mine - bit like a C26 (or C46 type...) sort of 20th anniversary special and a way to preserve my frame if I decide to keep it

Mine is getting XTR and hope hydros so will be unique among Mani's!!