Wednesday, November 16, 2011

1989 - 1990 Mantis XCR

Here is something slightly different from what I've posted before.  I've been a huge fan of Mantis bikes for a long time.  Ever since my dad and I bought a pair of Pro-Floaters back in 1997 I knew I always wanted to have a Mantis.  I currently own three Pro-Floaters in various states of completion but have never really had a rigid Mantis.  So, when this crazy thing fell in my lap I decided to get it.




Mantis, now defunct was the brainchild of Richard Cunningham (of MTBR fame) and the XCR was his first entry into more aggressive, racing geometry mountain bike.  This crazy thing is a great example of the last few XCRs produced (or so it seems).  The main frame is made of Aluminum and the rear triangle is Chromoly Steel and is bolted onto the front.  I used to briefly own a Gary Fisher CR-7 which was a mass produced and licensed version of this bike.

                                            My old CR-7



This specific XCR is a bit of a mixed bag of design features.  The rear is set up for a roller cam or u-brake, and the Mantis made fork is set up for cantilevers, kind of unusual for a bike from this time.



Among other features it has a integrated sealed bottom bracket with grease fittings to make it serviceable, something you don't see very often.  The paint on this bike is called Orange Bassboat and is very-very sparkly.  


From what I've gathered from other vintage MTB fans and the previous owner this bike was originally built for the owner of Bike Beat (a once great bike shop in LA) and was actually going to be a Team Bike Beat bike (hence the Bike Beat logo on the head tube).  For whatever reason it was never built up and ridden and passed hands onto the current owners of Chumba Wumba where it hung up for another several years.  Then it was sold to a private owner who also never got around to building it up and it hung up for yet another couple years.


I hope to break this bike's curse and get it built up very quickly and take it out for a test ride, I've always wondered what a rigid mantis would ride like.

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Source information about Mantis courtesy of: http://www.blackbirdsf.org/xframe/

10 comments:

  1. Yeah, it's in great shape. Sadly just a bit too small for me, but still a very neat bike. I need to build it sometime.

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  2. Martin, I just bought a Fisher CR-7 for $75 bucks, do you have any resources or can you tell me how to disassemble the BB so I can clean it? It seems that its a ball and cone/press fit. maybe I should have my LBS do it?

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  3. Send me a photo. I can't remember what a CR-7 BB looks like. Odds are the bearings are just pressed into the frame, but they may be held in with a circlip.

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  4. This is an awesome example of XCR!!!
    I'm from Italy and let me say Mantis has been the most exotic MTB of ever!
    I've a little collection of these bikes, and my worry it's to reproduce in the most precise way the Green Mantis colour, because with the age the paint of these fantastic frames become very poor...
    Based on your experience you think it's a feasible challenge?
    Thanks, Alessandro

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    1. Absolutely. I would use an original mantis frame as a template for that color. A friend of mine has a Green Tree Frog Butt Pro-Floater I could borrow. The color was very bright and vivid on that frame and Spectrum could attempt to make a sample paint tube based off of that color.

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    2. This is a real good news!!!
      I will get in contact with the mail of the website in order to arrange the way to proceed. The important thing is that the green Mantis will be also a metallic colour, in other words that inside the green will be also a gold particles that give the brilliant effect with the sun light...
      Thanks, Alessandro

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  5. Please keep on posting about This topic. I want to know more details about it. Anyway, I have read some of posts in your blog here. And all of them are very informative. Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment. I'll be writing up a few more Mantis stories shortly!! Stay tuned.

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  6. We painted the Orange heavy medal flake bike for Jay. It was cool. He was into the dead happy face. We also were paid by the Derby Corporation to create the TFBGreen also called Slime Green by the Derby Corporation on the Haro Bikes. That was at the time Bobby had sold his company to them and I had the privilege to work with him and Richard because he was designing for them the alien bike. But we had already been doing Custom painted Mantis frames for Richard. He opened many doors for us.the green you all love was lime green with gold pearl over it. We loved our work and the cool people we got to know and love...great fun and many great memories. Thanks Martin for posting Jays bike. Nutzo aka Colleen Wilburn of Cycle Fantasy

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