Dekerf Mountain 95-96ish (Gone)
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secret_squirrel
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Re: Dekerf Team SL 96?
Working locally this week so was able to sneak out at lunch time and ride it back to the office.
Ride is lovely even with fat soggy tyres and the suspension locked out. Not a fan of the bars- waayy to wide for this boy. Bad news is that there is a distinct lack of gooley room 'twixt nadgers and top tube.
Brakes work as you would expect XTR V's to work - i.e. able to make the front tyre squirm easily.
Managed to do a little fettling right now and take some more pics. Main fork chamber read empty of air but the B and C chambers seemed to have held theirs ok. Be interesting to see whats left of A's in the morning.
Also nice confirmation on the BB - truly the gift that keeps on giving, didn't realise they made BB's. Spindle is non-magnetic
Ritchey Dropouts
Anyone recognise these?
A few chips
Working locally this week so was able to sneak out at lunch time and ride it back to the office.
Ride is lovely even with fat soggy tyres and the suspension locked out. Not a fan of the bars- waayy to wide for this boy. Bad news is that there is a distinct lack of gooley room 'twixt nadgers and top tube.
Brakes work as you would expect XTR V's to work - i.e. able to make the front tyre squirm easily.
Managed to do a little fettling right now and take some more pics. Main fork chamber read empty of air but the B and C chambers seemed to have held theirs ok. Be interesting to see whats left of A's in the morning.
Also nice confirmation on the BB - truly the gift that keeps on giving, didn't realise they made BB's. Spindle is non-magnetic
Ritchey Dropouts
Anyone recognise these?
A few chips
suburbanreuben
Old School Grand Master
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Aah! It's interesting that the seat stays are open at the bottom. I would guess they were originally open at the top too and when the frame was refurbed the caps were added. That would suggest it's a '95 mountain.
My first Dekerf was made in March '94 and had a serial number of 450ish (Neil, can you confirm?) so my guess is this is a September '95 build. We could have a sweepstake...
Aah! It's interesting that the seat stays are open at the bottom. I would guess they were originally open at the top too and when the frame was refurbed the caps were added. That would suggest it's a '95 mountain.
My first Dekerf was made in March '94 and had a serial number of 450ish (Neil, can you confirm?) so my guess is this is a September '95 build. We could have a sweepstake...
suburbanreuben
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Make that October...
:shock:NeilM":2mvumgtc said:
Make that October...
Rod_Saetan
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Re: Dekerf Team SL 96?
So you did more than just 'see' this other Dekerf then? ;-)
Looks great, will look better with some more appropriate kit on I'm sure.
So you did more than just 'see' this other Dekerf then? ;-)
Looks great, will look better with some more appropriate kit on I'm sure.
secret_squirrel
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Re: Dekerf Team SL 96?
So managed to trace the original owner and find out a bit more about the bike. On the off chance I contacted the bike shop listed on the seat stays given that Dekerfs are unusual enough that they might remember it.
Turns out they did - mainly because it was the shop owners bike! Turns out its a Mountain - not a Team SL and the guy had owned it for 16 odd years. It was refurbed in 2006 when it got the new paint job and as per Reuben's comment above Mountain decals are no longer available from Dekerf - so they were given Team SL ones instead.
I learnt this all after I got a bit of a bombshell - after my first contact with the owner I got a call from the Police - turns out the bike was stolen from his shop along with 7 others a year ago. :shock: :evil:
So I had the bike for less than a week before the Police turned up to confiscate it . I've just been given leave by them to contact Ebay and try to get my money back. I have no indication at this point as to whether the Ebay seller was legit - he certainly seemed that way - but I guess time may tell.
So currently sitting here £500 down and nothing to show for it. Case raised with Ebay but gawd knows how it will progress.....
The original owner seems like a nice guy - very apologetic that he had to call the police - but I completely understand he had little choice. We exchanged a few mails after the fact and I wished him well at getting his bike back - which no doubt will take a while.
On the one hand Im gutted - on the other Im glad my curiosity has got a fellow retrobiker (in spirit at least) his much loved bike back. I know how I'd feel if the shoe was on the other foot. And who knows - maybe someone will get nicked for it or some of the other bikes will show up as well.
So managed to trace the original owner and find out a bit more about the bike. On the off chance I contacted the bike shop listed on the seat stays given that Dekerfs are unusual enough that they might remember it.
Turns out they did - mainly because it was the shop owners bike! Turns out its a Mountain - not a Team SL and the guy had owned it for 16 odd years. It was refurbed in 2006 when it got the new paint job and as per Reuben's comment above Mountain decals are no longer available from Dekerf - so they were given Team SL ones instead.
I learnt this all after I got a bit of a bombshell - after my first contact with the owner I got a call from the Police - turns out the bike was stolen from his shop along with 7 others a year ago. :shock: :evil:
So I had the bike for less than a week before the Police turned up to confiscate it
. I've just been given leave by them to contact Ebay and try to get my money back. I have no indication at this point as to whether the Ebay seller was legit - he certainly seemed that way - but I guess time may tell.So currently sitting here £500 down and nothing to show for it. Case raised with Ebay but gawd knows how it will progress.....
The original owner seems like a nice guy - very apologetic that he had to call the police - but I completely understand he had little choice. We exchanged a few mails after the fact and I wished him well at getting his bike back - which no doubt will take a while.
On the one hand Im gutted - on the other Im glad my curiosity has got a fellow retrobiker (in spirit at least) his much loved bike back. I know how I'd feel if the shoe was on the other foot. And who knows - maybe someone will get nicked for it or some of the other bikes will show up as well.
raidan73
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Nice to see a stolen bike reunited with it's owner but a real shame for you
Hopefully you get your money back - I would've thought eBay have/should have a policy for this kind of thing. If the chap you bought it from is genuine then the sad thing is that someone is going to lose out.
Nice to see a stolen bike reunited with it's owner but a real shame for you
Hopefully you get your money back - I would've thought eBay have/should have a policy for this kind of thing. If the chap you bought it from is genuine then the sad thing is that someone is going to lose out.
