Squashed Tubing ?

After joining the site , I have to admit , I'm bitten by the 'cycling bug' again :roll:

I try and avoid the for sale forums but jeez its hard , I'm like a kid in a candy shop :mrgreen:

Now , I've started to look around and see what's available , from the like's of ebay , gumtree and the like, but never thought of looking in the local lock up at work :idea:

Now apart from all the 'modern junk' and piles of poo , amongst which I spotted a old black mtb , think it was a steel frame , maybe with a titanium fork ? with what looked like round to 'squashed tubes' along the top tube and the bottom tube, into the bottom bracket area :?

Upon further rummaging I noted it had a mixture of shimano xt and I'm not sure but a campagnolo crank on , a threaded headset , cantilever black shimano brakes at the front , and 'SE' ? brakes at the rear does this ring any bells with what it might be ?

(I have left a note on the bike to ask the owner if its for sale and what is it )

Sticking my neck out massively here on the description you have given it sounds like it might be a Kona Explosif they had ovalised (squashed)tubing, pewter project 2's could look vaguely titanium, the SE brake is a Pedersen design 'Self Energising' maybe Suntour XC pro.

kermitgreenkona88 thanks for the input, I do not think the forks were a project fork as the ones I have seen on this forum are all straight bladed and the forks on this bike were curved , could be wrong though.

Hoping its something nice , I'll be back at work tomorrow so maybe be a message waiting for me

An update on this , About an hour ago I had a phone call from the guy who owns this bike

he said it has a lightweight steel frame and fork and is made from colombus tubes, and he was told when he bought it over 10 years ago it was made by a company called cerota ?

I'm going to have a look tomorrow at the bike, but if anyone can shed any light on the quality or possible value that would be a good guide for me to work with

any help would be greatly apprecaited

Like this?

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=231092&hilit=serotta

Serotta. Mmmmm an I have it. Should be MaxOR tubing. Search the web for the Serotta forum

Supreme find. Excellent tubing and excellent manufacturer.

Post some pics when you can.

Mr Toad
Supreme find. Excellent tubing and excellent manufacturer.

Post some pics when you can.

Click to expand...

Mr toad, interesting, are these a rare bike then ?


how do they ride compared to a normal round tubed bike ? question to Mr toad and fluffychicken

suburbanreuben looks very similar , but cannot be 100% as its a different colour and has no writing on the tubes that I could see.

Is there any way to verify its a genuine serotta ? is there anything to watch out for ?

Certainly if it is a serotta then the price discussed is very good, and I'll certainly put some pictures up if I do buy it.

Unfortunately i've never ridden a bike with this tubeset so I can't comment on the ride. My guess is that it would be fairly stiff.

A few other manufacturers also used this tubing, Steelman (ElGato) and Santana (Moda I think). Maybe Rossin as well? Yours is probably a Serotta T-Max.

In any case Google and RetroBike will be your best source of information.

Also post pics when you can. I'm sure there are T-Max owners around that could verify.

Can't wait to see this - what a find!

If you don't like the look of it, let me know, I'll have it!

Seriously though, Serotta only made high quality, expensive bikes, and are very appealing to any serious retrobiker.