Found my holy grail

[vtwinvince]

I had one way back when these were new, great bike by the Sandvik crew.

 

[James89]

I had one way back when these were new, great bike by the Sandvik crew.

 

[James89]

I had one way back when these were new, great bike by the Sandvik crew.

it really is a high quality frame!

 

[ishaw]

Lovely frames these. I've had 2, still have one built up and rather embarrassed to say, a little dusty from lack of use.

I say build it how you want it. If it was a keeper from bits you'd have upgraded it as better things came along and/or as parts wore out and needed replacing.

The one I have is an example of building it how I wanted it rather than catalogue.

Having developed bike snobbery since finding retrobike, and in a dark place due to family bereavement, I threw myself at it with parts I had, then decided to do it with parts I wanted.

It ended up with rigid pace rc31 ti forks, Spinergy cyclone wheels, m970/2 gearing and cranks, Paul's v brakes in purple, Thompson bars, stem and post clamp, carbon bars, flite carbonio saddle and hope grips iirc. Custom black decals finished it off though I do have a set of originals stored away in the same colour as yours.

I'd post a pic but all mine in my build thread have gone aside from the earlier build which was xtr m952, just fsx (regret selling these, carbon styff brace and air internals - cry), titec ti bars and stem, synchros ti post, grey onza ules, grey flite ti, grey umma gumma tyres and fox float rlcs. It did actually look and ride pretty sweetly, I have all but the ti post (have a dean replacement) to go back to one day, and a near nos m952 groupset. Oh, another regret were the magic sunsets on m950 hubs that were on there. Hmmm.

Anyway, have fun building it up, would like to see the results.

 

[PhillB]

Might not be much to some, but I have always dreamt about a nice titanium mtb. Scored this locally last night and couldn’t be happier. 1995 (I believe) Diamondback Racing Axis TT 18”. It’s already had some obvious changes but the thing I cared about the most is in amazing condition, the frame. My only plans so far is to get rid of the grip shift, and get a v-brake on the rear. I know there’s always V-brake vs Canti guys, but having one of each on the same bike at the same time REALLY shows how much more powerful the V brake is. Or maybe I’ll just make the wife super happy and hang it in the kitchen so I can stare at it every day let me know what you guys think.

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I think it is great that you have found your holy grail bike AND now that you have it you love it!!

Diamond Backs are massively underrated IMO and this frame is a super canvas for a variety of builds.

Look forward to seeing what you make of it

 

[markoc]

Congrats on finding your unicorn!

They come in all shapes and sizes - mines a boat anchor GT that I just can't find at the moment - but a Sandvik Ti is up there with the best

 

[KayOs]

Might not be much to some, but I have always dreamt about a nice titanium mtb. Scored this locally last night and couldn’t be happier. 1995 (I believe) Diamondback Racing Axis TT 18”. It’s already had some obvious changes but the thing I cared about the most is in amazing condition, the frame. My only plans so far is to get rid of the grip shift, and get a v-brake on the rear. I know there’s always V-brake vs Canti guys, but having one of each on the same bike at the same time REALLY shows how much more powerful the V brake is. Or maybe I’ll just make the wife super happy and hang it in the kitchen so I can stare at it every day let me know what you guys think.

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Congratulations! Very nice bike, great catch!
If you want V-brakes I'd go for the XT 739, for me they're the nicest V-brakes that won't break the budget and they'd go well with the rest of the polished aluminium parts.
Do you want to keep a suspension fork at the front or convert to a rigid fork?

 

[James89]

Congratulations! Very nice bike, great catch!
If you want V-brakes I'd go for the XT 739, for me they're the nicest V-brakes that won't break the budget and they'd go well with the rest of the polished aluminium parts.
Do you want to keep a suspension fork at the front or convert to a rigid fork?

Thank you! I’m planning on keeping it as is for now. Once the forks start leaking (they’re brand new right now), I’ll probably go rigid.

 

[KayOs]

Thank you! I’m planning on keeping it as is for now. Once the forks start leaking (they’re brand new right now), I’ll probably go rigid.

Always a good choice in my eyes

 

[Lhatch4]

The DBR is a great bike. Titanium rides extremely well. I love my Ti bike. It's a cousin of the DBR. It came out of the same factory under a different brand name. Once you get the bike setup for your riding style you're going to love it.