1994 Dekerf

[markjohnson76]

Thought I’d make a little build/find thread for my 1994 Dekerf Mountain.

I found on eBay listed as a Dekurf so it was a bit of a fat-finger spelling mistake bargain. It was located only a mile or two from my parents place in Dorset and it ended on a weekend while I was down there so it was meant to be.

Seller was a nice old guy who was a bit of a keen cyclist and intended to build the Dekerf up for his wife. He lost interest so it sat as a rolling chassis for a long time before he sold it to me. He told me it came from a neighbour, and given the affluent areas that they lived in, it I wouldn’t surprise me if there were more high quality old mountain bikes languishing at the back of some garages there. Here’s the as found pics.

 

[markjohnson76]

It’s an 18” so my perfect size. I wasn’t sure what year but with the cable stops for cantis I guessed pre 96. The frame has a few marks but it’s solid and straight. The parts were useable but I knew I’d like it to be a period correct ish XTR/syncros build.

I’d not known a huge amount about Dekerf other than they were high quality, low build number bikes and really well thought of.

I took a pic of the frame number (242) and decided to ask Mr Chris Dekerf himself on email if he could tell me a little more about it. Thought it was a long shot but worth a try.

 

[markjohnson76]

Chris Dekerf replied almost immediately! What a great bloke. Here’s what he had to say;

Hello Mark.
DEK242
Dekerf "mountain". It officially had no model name but was often called a 'Mountain'. So your frame would have been repainted at some point and given an incorrect model decal.
Completed March 26, 1994
Part of the group of 34 frames in total built together in a batch, yours being an 18.5".
There are no other notes in my log on that frame.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Chris

 

[markjohnson76]

So it’s a 94 frame and painted in a 97ish colour. Wonder how that came about? Anyway it’s an early one and I was even more excited to build it up.

 

[markjohnson76]

Then life got in the way a bit and I could only grab a little time here and there to clean the frame and test forks. The mag 21 seemed too short.

I used to have some metallic ‘red wine’ colour marzocchi Z2 so I sourced another set and the colour was a really close match with the frame.

 

[markjohnson76]

Anyway, yesterday I finally had a clear window to put it all together. I really wanted to use a threaded headset and quill stem so had to cut down a steerer I had. I did it quite poorly so it took a while to get the headset on.

I’d had some red middleburn and Ringle skewers so knew I wanted to use them.

Syncros stem and seatpost. Hyperlite bar. XTR m900 groupset and Mavic ceramics 217/521 rims with Ritchey Z max.

I think it’s come together pretty well. Looking forward to giving it some proper mileage.

 

[markjohnson76]

A few more

 

[vtwinvince]

That's a result, congrats on a fine build. I've been looking for one of these in a large size for some time, unobtainium.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Excellent and Chris has a load of notes as you found and a memory from way back when.

 

[d8mok]

I do like a Dekerf. I’ve had two so far now.

I regret selling my 97 Team SL in the same colour a bit back if I’m honest.