Curtis SuperX 2001

Roasted

Kona Fan
I've always wanted a Curtis, well, since about 1998 when I first heard of them. The burly T45 tubes, handmade in Britain and fillet brazed made them pretty unique in the dirt jumping world.

In 2001 I was at the Bike Show and picked up the order form from the Curtis stand, went and had a burger while I filled it in, went back to hand it in and then got cold feet. I couldn't make my mind up on the spec. Did I want the SX24, SuperX, RaceLite, what length TT, horizontal dropouts, disc mount, cantis bosses or both and what colour, the clear coat is lush but was about £20 extra. But I think the real reason I didn't pull the trigger was I couldn't actually afford it anyway.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to aquire a Curtis SuperX at a good price. It wasn't till I got it home that I discovered that it was actually cracked. A bit devistated but as it wasn't expensive it could be some nice wall art if the wife would let me put it above the fireplace.

Anyway, fast forward to last Friday and I was travelling to bath for some drinks with friends. The Curtis workshop isn't too far from bath so made the detour to drop the frame off for repair. I met Gary Woodhouse and he thinks that my frame is repairable, which is very good news.

At his workshop I was like a kid in a canyshop. They had a few old frames on the wall from back in the day and we had a good chat about bikes. Then a tall chap walked in who was very enthusiastic about the framed and knew his stuff. Turns out it was Jim Davage, curtis team rider from BITD, if I was younger I would've got his autograph! Jim showed me his bike collection which included a couple of Brooklyn Machine Works dirt jumpers. I spent about an hour there and also walked away with a Curtis jumper and keyring.

Good news today, had a phone call to say frame has been repaired and being shipped off to be stripped and painted. I just need to decide on a colour, due to the repair I didn't pick the clear coat.

Next stage will be the build, which may take a while as I need to get the parts together. But I'm looking forward to this one.
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When I got it the BB was still in it and the axle was bent, I think it was an ISIS BB as had splines, so quite a chunk of metal. Must've been one hell of a crash.
 
Still waiting for the frame to come back from paint, I told Gary at Curtis that I was in no rush but I know it went in before Christmas so expecting it to be ready in January.

Today I picked up some wheels for it. A pair of Mavic D321 32h on Hope hubs with an M770 cassette in remarkably good condition. I always wanted some D321s, I almost specced them on my Kona Roast in 2000 but went for the D521s as a I could switch to rim brakes if the discs failed.

Something I find odd with these wheels is the hubs are XCs, I'd expect rims like this to have Bulbs or Big'uns. Maybe it was a budget constraint for the original owner. 20240106_221317.JPG
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The small problem I have is that the bike will have 20mm fork. The XC hubs are QR only, but as luck would have it I have a pair of later 32h Bulbs. So I can either get the wheels rebuilt with the Bulbs, or source another D321 with 20mm hub to save some hassle. It's good to have options.

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Something I find odd with these wheels is the hubs are XCs, I'd expect rims like this to have Bulbs or Big'uns. Maybe it was a budget constraint for the original owner.

It would have been a very common spec. It was pretty much the cheapest way to get a disc specific wheelset
 
As I don't want to spend any more money than I have to I'm digging through my parts box today trying to get what I need together for the assembly.

I have a choice of 3 cranks, silver is the only colour I have so It'd better suit the frame colour. I have Azonic 453, Middleburn RS7 ISIS and RaceFace Turbine ISIS. I've modified the BB for the Azonics so it has 4 bearings instead of 3, so it'll be close to indestructible. The other 2 are more aesthetically pleasing. I liked BMX cranks 20 years ago, just think I'm too old for them now.
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For the headset I have this Woodman Saturn. Really quirky design and massive bearings. Problem is that most of my other headset are FSA Orbit MX and I have various forks with the suitable crown race, meaning I can swap between ridged and suspension easily. I won't have that flexibility with the Saturn, but I can still use it on a future bike.
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I want to get all the parts together before I start so I can speed through the assembly.
 
What colour did you go for, I reckon a nice olive drab/green or something green would look amazing
 
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