Hi
Usually I do not post many built threads. Simply, because I don't document my work step by step. However, I would not have the oportunity to build this one without the help of the awesome RBUK community! Thus, I want to show what has been done so far.
Special thank goes to
@Retro_Roy for pointing towards the bikes sales ad and another special thanks goes to
@Double-E F for letting his interesting U-brake go that perhaps could be a prototype of a McMahon Power-Link. But check yourself:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/mrc-u-brake.474109/
As probably many others with the same issue, I have been looking for a TOAD since years. Whenever one showed up it was either gone instantly, or the seller wouldn't be willing to ship it abroad. This time I was lucky and thanks to Retro_Roy quick enough to start a talk with the bikes seller. Interestingly, I knew him because we already dealt before. So I was sure that I had finally found my unicorn.
But, at first I wasn't fully convinced by my plan to buy this TOAD. It seemed a bit worn for the asked price. According to the seller, who was selling it for a friend, the paint "is an 6 out of 10", and there is "a couple of hangers with rust on them". But the color matching IRD fork was a goodie that eventually convinced me
So everything was arranged to ship it from its homeland to Europe.
Meanwhile, I started sorting some parts and information on the frame. The plan was to get a nice pair of Ubrakes for the rear and then decide what front cantilever to equip. My preferred option would be either some IRD U-brake/canti combination or a MRC power link in blue plus whatever would fit well in the front. Luckily Double-E F offered his MRC alike for a good price. It seemed in bad shape and I was not sure if I could make it running again. After flushing everything with WD-40 I hammered out the bushings and voila - they seemed okay! I was lucky again!
A collegue on MTB-news offered me two pairs of IRD switchbrakes. The bad they are a bit color faded. The good, they perfectliy fit to the rear brake, color wise. Lucky again! My excitement to finally recieve the frame set rose.
Unfortunately, the seller wasn't able to tell me any information on the frames history. Now I already assumed that it must be an early TOAD. The missing aluminium dropouts is a feature that does not come up often on TIG TOADs.
It's good that Chris Dekerf responds quickly to emails:
I did build that frame although I have no information on it other than it is the first TIG Toad I built. It was built while I was still working at Rocky.
In terms of date, all I can say is that it was built prior to May of 1989.
WOW! His first TOAD and probably the very first TIG Toad ever built. Now I was fully excited to eventually hold it in my own hands.
And a few days later. There it was.
Unfortunately, the rust was worse than expected in some places.
View attachment 961034View attachment 961035View attachment 961036
But hey, I guess that's how a TOADs skin is supposed to look like:
View attachment 961046
Btw, the caps of the forks blades did almost look the same.
View attachment 961057
A replacement for the caps was found quickly, again, thanks to some collegues on MTB-news. But what to do with the rusty drop outs? The rust was really bad and almost killed the drop outs. Hence, I decided to Dremel grind them and give them a new coating of black 2K paint. Thus, I hopefully would not kill the frames soul by fully restoring or even repainting it, but prevent it from further destruction. That actually worked well in my opinion. Yes, there are quite a few paint chips and even some rusty parts in the blue paint, but I will leave them for now!
Now I was able to put everything together.
View attachment 961029View attachment 961030View attachment 961031
I will do some nice photos when the build is final. I will not be fully time correct, but I want it to be "special".
I am still missing the right saddle - a turbo is planned. And I would love to install an IRD seat post. But 26.8 mm posts are apparently hard to find.
I already mentioned the forks. They seem to be a special version of the IRD expedition. Or are they even a prototype?
I have never seen an expedition fork with a bridge painted in frames color. Then, the two external Allen screws are not locked in the forks bridge but are locked with two special nuts. Also, the fork legs are neither aluminum nor titanium, but appear to be made of Cromo! As far as I know, this material was not usually used for these forks. Maybe anybody can help out with more detailled information here?
Thanks for reading!
Alex
