DBR titanium: allowances...

novekili

Senior Retro Guru
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I have the uncanny ability to buy cool bikes and make them worse allowing my personal taste to overcome aesthetics.

When my friend Andrea proposed me to swap his ti DBR with my FTW 29er (plus adjustments) I knew I wouldn't have been able to resist. I'm not too fond of 26er bikes, since I found my Nirvana on big wheels. Many people will not agree with me, but bikes are a matter of subjectivity, aren't they?

I could have resisted a Marin, a Kona, a Parkpre. But not a Diamond Back. Nothing intrinsecally cool about the frame. It was for a picture, a picture of Dave Wiens riding to victory at Mammoth Mountain (or was it Vail, well, whatever), dirty with white dust, in the sun. A picture which has been imprinted in my damaged brain for twenty years. A picture which has always spelt mountain biking to me.

So, enough with cheap romanticism, I had to have that bike. The sight of the rig convinced me about the swap. FRM cranks, Syncros stem, Zmax tires. Beautiful.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=273729&p=2119176&hilit=axis+tt#p2119176

However, as I was saying, "enough with romanticism". I don't do garage queens. Nothing wrong with them, it's just that I can't resist riding my bikes. And I haven't got enough time to ride a bike which doesn't suit my taste. This means an awful lot. For example, that a beauty queen, in my garage, would get her hair clipped marine style, her fingernails cut to avoid breaking, her lipstick washed away because it's just pointless. So, away went those fantastic amberwall tires, leaving space for new school tubeless rubbers. The uber long stem followed the tires along with a superdupershort ITM Super Alloy handlebar. Worst of all, the perfect Flite saddle was substituted by the ugliest seat in the world for the sake of my crown jewels. Not to mention the FRM crankset, sacrificed in favour of a worn Ritchey chainset with 39-24 gears.

This utilitarian devastation of a masterpiece required an adequate background, so my rusty garage door took the place of Andrea's Reinassance villa in the Tuscan country.

So, here's a beautiful retrobike spoiled by my necessity for allowances...
 

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Re:

Did you have a dictionary for lunch :) ?Seriously though,thats a beauty,very clean,love the Mavic rear,I had one for years and it worked beautifully with old XT.
 
No worse than some of my travesties. The rubber looks surprisingly good as do the bars. Only thing I don't like is the saddle though I sympathise with the reasons.
 
Nice!!
I'm using the same type bar on your old Voss Ti frame - by god it rides well.. It's got a lovely pair of AMP F4 BLT and some very nice wheels.

Loving the DBR though - it has the look of being incredibly light, like it will just float over the trails.
 
Osella said:
Nice!!
I'm using the same type bar on your old Voss Ti frame - by god it rides well.. It's got a lovely pair of AMP F4 BLT and some very nice wheels.

Loving the DBR though - it has the look of being incredibly light, like it will just float over the trails.

I couldn't believe the weight: 9.6 kilos without particularly light components! And yes, it's a remarkable downhiller, notwithstanding the rigid forks. Can I see a pic of "my" Voss?

And yes secret_squirrel, the saddle is an eyesore, but you know, better than other types of soreness...
 

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