1990 Klein Attitude Team

I seem to have a bit of a penchant for these 90 box crown Attitudes. This is the 5th Team 1990 bike I've had in my garage and may be one of the cleaner original examples yet. The build is very basic Shimano XT with a subtle black theme. A little extra touch courtesy of black Ringle QRs, I'll add a Ringle cage when it gets anodized.

Started like this:

Now looks like this:

Yeti ARC-AS : 1996 Ringle catalog replica build

One of the latest builds to come out of SSC may be one of the most intense to date. I began this project over a year ago and mid way through the part collection process decide to dramatically change course and start collecting parts all over again.

It started out like this:

The frame looked great aside from the shattered seat tube. It went off to FTW and came bike looking like this:

The original plan was to built it as a replica of the Jimmy Deaton Kamikaze bike, but then I came across the ARC-AS featured on the cover of the 1996 Ringle catalog and decided that it was a much more interesting way to go. This is what it ended up looking like:

This bike screams overkill, but it's so damn amazing... I just can't get over how it all came together!!

Ringle Ti-Stix rear hub laced to a matching 28h HED rim, totally sexy!!

Ringle stem, Ringle headset, Yeti Thermoplastic handle bar, Grafton levers and perches - there is nothing more that I could jam into this cockpit!

Grafton SC IIs with DKG brake braces on a Risse Engineering modified Rock Shox Judy SL. Ringle Mojo brake hanger hiding in the background :)

Ringle Ti-Stix front hub with a matching 18 spoke HED rim!!! Where else are you ever going to see that!!!

Grafton cranks and BB... oh yeah I lost an NOS Grafton BB during this build, that's fun!!

Freshly serviced Risse rear shock!!

1993 Yeti ARC rebuild

Some of you may remember this Yeti from before. I've owned it for about two years and originally had it built as sort of a Yeti Team replica bike for the 92/93 season. The build was heavy on 3DV Ringle and Grafton which has been done to death and so I decided to try something a bit different. I'm sure it's been done before, but it's not the most common color choice for this ARC.

Original frame pic:

First build iteration:

Latest iteration

Full Grafton cockpit with levers and perches. I swapped out the brake stops for black ones. If / when the headtube cracks I'll repaint the dark in black. But this works for now.

The thing I hated the most about this bike was the Manitou 2 fork. I do like the look, so I decided to try and make it better. To fix the brake problem I simply added a DKG brake booster, as the M2 is notorious for the amount of flex it has this is an easy fix. I have an AC brake arch in black, but I think that might be too much. Second, the travel on the fork is nothing short of inconsequential, so I decided to try and retrofit it with the internals from a Manitou EFC. I happened to have a very nice one sitting around so I set about the surgery. Most of the parts are interchangeable, but I had to swap the dropouts from the EFC legs onto the M2 legs, that was about the only real challenge. Swapping over from the M2 to the EFC internals gives a longer elastomer stack (will change to springs in the long run) and adds an oil damping cartridge to smooth out the rebound. It also takes the travel from about 1,5" to almost 3" which is pretty good for an old bike.

Getting these dropouts aligned properly is a bit of a nightmare, I think I need one more attempt to get the wheel really dead nuts straight. It's close enough, but could be better. In the long run I might swap the QRs out for some Critical Racing ones, but these will do for now.

Out on the Brown Mountain loop heading to El Prieto. The bike rides great, still needs a bit of a tune as cables re-stretch and everything settles in. 

I think I'll keep it this way for a while and hope to ride it a fair amount this fall!!