Synthiaks
Senior Retro Guru
I have it now and it’s a weird one….initial thoughts:
I contacted Drew Lawson on facebook, he got straight back to me which was very nice of him but unfortunately had no memory of this prestige model or of the show bike (which was a little surprising considering the price tag and fuss about it at the time, but it was years ago & memories fade), so no info on if it was sold or revamped with new decals and what may have happened to it. I’ll see if I can track down anyone else from that time, although the other employee who posted here who was heavily involved in building up the bikes, spec etc left the year before this all happened as see he was asked about it in an old thread.
The ‘87 catalogue lists a ltd edition (see below) that has the Suntour rollercams & seems close in spec to the show bike so maybe this type of frame was used and ‘blinged’ up for the show bike? Catalogue says its made in limited numbers but again unless anyone here has seen one not sure how many would have been made……£676 was high but not crazy for the time…certainly better than £5k madness.
‘88 Catalogue has the Gold/black bling rollercam show bike on the cover but no price, pics or spec listing in the actual print although it does appear in this scan from June ’88 bicycle action mag with its £££ price, catalogue does list a Limited Edition with similar spec, but no bling bits and colour is gunmetal grey. I assume they named this 'Prestige' after the Tange Prestige tubing used for its construction.
‘89 Catalogue …nothing similar, but lists a LTD EDITION
The Hatfield Cycles ‘Ltd Edition’ that’s been mentioned on here and been on/off ebay is obviously not a Prestige (not named as one for a start), but its made from Prestige tubing & a lot of the components are the same, just no roller cams & a less nicely styled frame IMO, so maybe MF had some bits left over from a black prestige and did one or two bling LTD ones in 89/90?
So..whatever this one is its not in the best nick, the rims are chrome plated but not well so more for show than longevity as it plated over aluminium and is flaking where damps got in - (I have a pink Raleigh Mustang thats been abused all its life and still has better chrome on the wheels!), same with the gold, seems aluminium and gold don’t mix well if left to the elements and its flaked off on the thumbies, crusty on the hubs & worn/pitted on the chainset (mostly non-drive side) as this was ridden a fair bit by the previous owner before retiring to his shed for a few years before that initial offering on ebay in 2014…..which we are all well aware of in the various threads on here so nuff said.
I was expecting the worst so no regrets & on a positive note no rust that I can see, althought he paint is well chipped in places, the BB and headset are smooth as butter, the seat-post isn’t stuck & the frame is very pretty under the dirt & scratches (I’m no expert of fillet brazing, but it looks well made to me) seat tube flattens off where it meets the BB which is an interesting design note….paint is not nice, but I’ll see what I can do, it gone quite flat from being outside, but not properly washed it yet or given a buff, mostly original equipment on it.....front tyre pumped up! (bargain..
) & has a presta valve - both wheels do...so maybe original tubes.
Seat is a custom Selle Italia Turbo ‘Special’ maybe made for this bike (??) as not seen another & it doesn’t have the usual date code dial underneath (oh, and the Hatfield LTD ed as has the same seat) with gold plated rails, and the remains of ‘Muddy Fox’ in gold metal on the rear although mine just says ‘Mud’.
Black Sansin skewers (well, not the front as that’s been replaced) and seat clamp, the ‘nut’ side is silver but it looks like original equipment as is the same shape as the rear black Sansin ‘nut’, pedals I assume are a replacement, they look plastic/odd and certainly not whats in the pic on the '88 catalogue cover. Tyres are Muddy Fox not Panracer, they look original to the bike, but who knows.
Sweet fillet stem and assume ‘real’ carbon bars…the cockpit is quite pleasing with its little gold highlights.
Not much history from the seller (who was a nice guy..) - story goes his dad bought if for him as a present in the mid/late 90s from a somewhat dodgy sounding bike shop on the Old Kent Road (maybe Happy Cycles), other than that and not knowing it was a bit of a rarity he just used it until parked up and then stuck on it on ebay with the lesser MF…. as we know it sold for £25, he backed out of the sale & apparently had a lot of offers, even contacted a couple of bike shops who were keen, but hung onto it for no apparent reason until now.
The serial number is 7084, I have a Pathfinder which I think is an '89 whos SN is HOC44926, so that’s no help & I can’t find any serial no. dating info for MF’s here or on the web…if anyone has any insights?
@tintin40 you said thought 5 were made where’d you came by that info…anywhere I can follow-up? also you may have been referring to the later Hatfield one. Seems there were press articles about the show bike at least so if anyone has anything let me know, but would think that would already have been uploaded here if it existed.
So in summary, not a minty bargain, but could have been worse & it’s a mean looking thing in the flesh, the dulled gold looks quite nice now, not so brash.
unsure sure what I’ll do as yet and have quite a few other projects piled up (don’t we all) & works busy so will be a while before an update, certainly a full blown resto would be expensive so I’ll see how clean I can get it and go from there, wheels would need stripping/re-plating for one.….but definitely happy to own this strange oddity from a iconic UK manufacturer & hopefully will find out a bit more about it at some stage or maybe it remains a semi-mystery.
My thought is it could be the show bike with new decals, maybe if it was sold or gifted then MF or whoever bought it updated from the old '87 style graphics to the pawprint designs current for the 88 year...my guess if you're spending £5k on a bike you'd want it to be up to date visually, but can't be sure as I went to the horses mouth (Drew) and he couldn't remember so unless I can get solid info from someone who worked there its never going to be 100%, what I can say is its definitely the '88 model, no literature I've seen has a pic of it with these graphics & can't imagine they made or sold many (any) of these that year, so logic would dictate its either a revamp or they sold an identical one with updated logos.......maybe an employee was gifted it? not sure how it ended up at the Old Kent Road bike shop for not a lot of money, but then by the mid/late '90s it was just a slightly bling old MTB, bike fashion had moved on.
Few random pics....pretty much as found...although i gave it a bit of a wipe & removed the d-lock bracket.
theres chrome under there somewhere....
I do like rollercam....they work well.
I contacted Drew Lawson on facebook, he got straight back to me which was very nice of him but unfortunately had no memory of this prestige model or of the show bike (which was a little surprising considering the price tag and fuss about it at the time, but it was years ago & memories fade), so no info on if it was sold or revamped with new decals and what may have happened to it. I’ll see if I can track down anyone else from that time, although the other employee who posted here who was heavily involved in building up the bikes, spec etc left the year before this all happened as see he was asked about it in an old thread.
The ‘87 catalogue lists a ltd edition (see below) that has the Suntour rollercams & seems close in spec to the show bike so maybe this type of frame was used and ‘blinged’ up for the show bike? Catalogue says its made in limited numbers but again unless anyone here has seen one not sure how many would have been made……£676 was high but not crazy for the time…certainly better than £5k madness.
‘88 Catalogue has the Gold/black bling rollercam show bike on the cover but no price, pics or spec listing in the actual print although it does appear in this scan from June ’88 bicycle action mag with its £££ price, catalogue does list a Limited Edition with similar spec, but no bling bits and colour is gunmetal grey. I assume they named this 'Prestige' after the Tange Prestige tubing used for its construction.
‘89 Catalogue …nothing similar, but lists a LTD EDITION
The Hatfield Cycles ‘Ltd Edition’ that’s been mentioned on here and been on/off ebay is obviously not a Prestige (not named as one for a start), but its made from Prestige tubing & a lot of the components are the same, just no roller cams & a less nicely styled frame IMO, so maybe MF had some bits left over from a black prestige and did one or two bling LTD ones in 89/90?
So..whatever this one is its not in the best nick, the rims are chrome plated but not well so more for show than longevity as it plated over aluminium and is flaking where damps got in - (I have a pink Raleigh Mustang thats been abused all its life and still has better chrome on the wheels!), same with the gold, seems aluminium and gold don’t mix well if left to the elements and its flaked off on the thumbies, crusty on the hubs & worn/pitted on the chainset (mostly non-drive side) as this was ridden a fair bit by the previous owner before retiring to his shed for a few years before that initial offering on ebay in 2014…..which we are all well aware of in the various threads on here so nuff said.
I was expecting the worst so no regrets & on a positive note no rust that I can see, althought he paint is well chipped in places, the BB and headset are smooth as butter, the seat-post isn’t stuck & the frame is very pretty under the dirt & scratches (I’m no expert of fillet brazing, but it looks well made to me) seat tube flattens off where it meets the BB which is an interesting design note….paint is not nice, but I’ll see what I can do, it gone quite flat from being outside, but not properly washed it yet or given a buff, mostly original equipment on it.....front tyre pumped up! (bargain..
) & has a presta valve - both wheels do...so maybe original tubes.Seat is a custom Selle Italia Turbo ‘Special’ maybe made for this bike (??) as not seen another & it doesn’t have the usual date code dial underneath (oh, and the Hatfield LTD ed as has the same seat) with gold plated rails, and the remains of ‘Muddy Fox’ in gold metal on the rear although mine just says ‘Mud’.
Black Sansin skewers (well, not the front as that’s been replaced) and seat clamp, the ‘nut’ side is silver but it looks like original equipment as is the same shape as the rear black Sansin ‘nut’, pedals I assume are a replacement, they look plastic/odd and certainly not whats in the pic on the '88 catalogue cover. Tyres are Muddy Fox not Panracer, they look original to the bike, but who knows.
Sweet fillet stem and assume ‘real’ carbon bars…the cockpit is quite pleasing with its little gold highlights.
Not much history from the seller (who was a nice guy..) - story goes his dad bought if for him as a present in the mid/late 90s from a somewhat dodgy sounding bike shop on the Old Kent Road (maybe Happy Cycles), other than that and not knowing it was a bit of a rarity he just used it until parked up and then stuck on it on ebay with the lesser MF…. as we know it sold for £25, he backed out of the sale & apparently had a lot of offers, even contacted a couple of bike shops who were keen, but hung onto it for no apparent reason until now.
The serial number is 7084, I have a Pathfinder which I think is an '89 whos SN is HOC44926, so that’s no help & I can’t find any serial no. dating info for MF’s here or on the web…if anyone has any insights?
@tintin40 you said thought 5 were made where’d you came by that info…anywhere I can follow-up? also you may have been referring to the later Hatfield one. Seems there were press articles about the show bike at least so if anyone has anything let me know, but would think that would already have been uploaded here if it existed.
So in summary, not a minty bargain, but could have been worse & it’s a mean looking thing in the flesh, the dulled gold looks quite nice now, not so brash.
unsure sure what I’ll do as yet and have quite a few other projects piled up (don’t we all) & works busy so will be a while before an update, certainly a full blown resto would be expensive so I’ll see how clean I can get it and go from there, wheels would need stripping/re-plating for one.….but definitely happy to own this strange oddity from a iconic UK manufacturer & hopefully will find out a bit more about it at some stage or maybe it remains a semi-mystery.
My thought is it could be the show bike with new decals, maybe if it was sold or gifted then MF or whoever bought it updated from the old '87 style graphics to the pawprint designs current for the 88 year...my guess if you're spending £5k on a bike you'd want it to be up to date visually, but can't be sure as I went to the horses mouth (Drew) and he couldn't remember so unless I can get solid info from someone who worked there its never going to be 100%, what I can say is its definitely the '88 model, no literature I've seen has a pic of it with these graphics & can't imagine they made or sold many (any) of these that year, so logic would dictate its either a revamp or they sold an identical one with updated logos.......maybe an employee was gifted it? not sure how it ended up at the Old Kent Road bike shop for not a lot of money, but then by the mid/late '90s it was just a slightly bling old MTB, bike fashion had moved on.
Few random pics....pretty much as found...although i gave it a bit of a wipe & removed the d-lock bracket.
theres chrome under there somewhere....
I do like rollercam....they work well.
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