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Never seen or heard of these before so can anyone shed any light on em :?:
Anyone ever heard of the 'Pirana' brand ?
- Thread starter retrobikeguy
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I think I have some details of them in an old VTT french mag from (ish) 93-94. Will have a check but might be mistaken.
If so, I think they might be french?
Lots of ifs and maybes there so poss not much help at the moment but I will have a looksie.
If so, I think they might be french?
Lots of ifs and maybes there so poss not much help at the moment but I will have a looksie.
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Cool guys, cheers 
No luck in the VTT mags, but I have some more somewhere else which I shall check. Have definately seen it somewhere before and have an article on it...
FRED101
Old School Hero
hi, So here we go, i found the article, that's the good news, the bad news is that i don't have a scanner right now and the test is in french anyway, but i'll scan it later and post it.
A small summary though, the test dates from 08 1996. price of the frame was about 1000 euros and the weight is 1860gr (4.1 lbs). It was made by Ultracraft in Zolder (better know for their Ultralight planes activity). They began making them in 91, but the production began really in 93. They only had one mold and cut the "top" tube to make the different sizes before "gluing" the head tube to it. Aside from marketing carbon crap (you know the usual fibre orientation, confort, rigidity etc. they come back every year with the the same arguments, i'm getting sick of it) they say the frame feels pretty light, stiff, nervous but still confortable in the rear (who would have guessed?). It climbs well and is very stable downhill but sitll quick handling (talk about a dream bike?). The only drawbacks were the rear brake cable routing and the single water bottle mount.
The Pirana was the bike of choice of Roel Paulissen (you have seen him since riding for giant cannondale in world cup with nice results) to conquer the belgian champion title back in the days and in total it won 5 national blegian crowns. That's what the mag says.
I for myself remember seeing it ridden downhill by infamous Roger Ramaekers (i think he won the belgian title on).
I will post the scans later so you can see some more pictures of it.
Does it help?
A small summary though, the test dates from 08 1996. price of the frame was about 1000 euros and the weight is 1860gr (4.1 lbs). It was made by Ultracraft in Zolder (better know for their Ultralight planes activity). They began making them in 91, but the production began really in 93. They only had one mold and cut the "top" tube to make the different sizes before "gluing" the head tube to it. Aside from marketing carbon crap (you know the usual fibre orientation, confort, rigidity etc. they come back every year with the the same arguments, i'm getting sick of it) they say the frame feels pretty light, stiff, nervous but still confortable in the rear (who would have guessed?). It climbs well and is very stable downhill but sitll quick handling (talk about a dream bike?). The only drawbacks were the rear brake cable routing and the single water bottle mount.
The Pirana was the bike of choice of Roel Paulissen (you have seen him since riding for giant cannondale in world cup with nice results) to conquer the belgian champion title back in the days and in total it won 5 national blegian crowns. That's what the mag says.
I for myself remember seeing it ridden downhill by infamous Roger Ramaekers (i think he won the belgian title on).
I will post the scans later so you can see some more pictures of it.
Does it help?
:shock: Well certainly 'live & learn' from this site. A european Trimble.
I wonder what Brent Trimble made of this? Surprised he didn't try and take them to court. I think it needs more support round the bb area. But then it would look even more like a Trimble. At 4.1 lb its lighter My Trimbles frame weigh 5.12lb.
Good to see they got some fast riders to race it.
:shock: Now i've got the need to buy one. :roll: every time i come on this site i see some thing nice
I wonder what Brent Trimble made of this? Surprised he didn't try and take them to court. I think it needs more support round the bb area. But then it would look even more like a Trimble. At 4.1 lb its lighter My Trimbles frame weigh 5.12lb.
Good to see they got some fast riders to race it.
:shock: Now i've got the need to buy one. :roll: every time i come on this site i see some thing nice
FRED101
Old School Hero
If you find one it will certainly come from belgium, i'll be glad to help you with shipping if needed. In the article they make reference to the name of the company owner Eric Reyners, the good news is that the company still exists and the guy is still in : go to ultracraft.be, the bad news is that they don't make any reference to the bikes on the site. Phone number? 003211 43 66 78. Good luck.
