'94/7 Bontager Race Lite

[hokoman]

I've owned the ti lite, cx, road, race, race lite and a Santa cruise built warthog BMX. I only have 3 of them left, but you're not missing anything with the Sandvik built ti lite. I preferred the race and race lite.

Also, good luck finding one of the early road lites in the thinner stays/wishbone - in the 28 years of having Bonty's - I have never seen a small one for sale. I have a small road lite in Vegas gold though. Taz on this forum has my older road lite in custom Lemond Zurich blue from that Era- my shifter boss broke and Trek took it back and painted it for me.

[br0qn]

Originally Posted by the bottle ride

This is a later Race Lite- probably one of the last batch made before the frame shop was closed in Santa Cruz.
It does not have the segmented seat stay- which they could not afford to do until Trek made an investment into Keith’s shop.
The segmented seat stay was a way to get around the cost of butting. It was a little lighter.
I had both- will look for a picture of both of them together.
In the meantime here is me on one of my race lites: Paul Brakes (need to find the arch supreme set up pictures) with Syncros Ti post, syncros crank, hugi wheels (I think) and grip shift ESP.

These were the coolest MTB’s in my humble opinion- other than the 1 inch head tube

My green one here is a weird one. The one-piece stays are a tell that it's post Trek like you said. I think I read a story about Keith wanting to use the one piece stays but, being a small shop, couldn't afford the minimums from True Temper. The day the news got out that Trek was involved TT called and asked him how many he wanted... something like that.

There is one detail though that makes calling this one a post Trek buyout frame problematic - the front mech pulley. Those were done away with in '94/95 as KB started to feel top pull mechs worked well enough to move away from bottom pull. So, reading all the details, this one was most likely built in '94 and then at some point developed a crack on the rear seat stay (I believe) and went back in (I think) late '96 for a warrantied repair which is when it was fitted with a new rear end. Could have been early '97 but I think Trek shut down the SC shop abruptly, apparently telling everyone to go home for lunch only for them all to return to changed locks, in Jan '97...

Thanks for sharing your photo, super rad. What color panels did you originally have on there? The 1" head tube does limit things a bit I guess and takes more effort to find a good one but I think the bike would get all choppered out trying to put anything modern on it if there were 1" options. In other words, it's not really that limiting, but more the amount of travel is. There were some early '00s forks with 1" steerer and 80mm of travel that would be right on I'd think, I have a 1" judy I've not yet ridden on

my '94 Race that I think I'm going to let go of.

Originally Posted by hokoman

I've owned the ti lite, cx, road, race, race lite and a Santa cruise built warthog BMX. I only have 3 of them left, but you're not missing anything with the Sandvik built ti lite. I preferred the race and race lite.

Also, good luck finding one of the early road lites in the thinner stays/wishbone - in the 28 years of having Bonty's - I have never seen a small one for sale. I have a small road lite in Vegas gold though. Taz on this forum has my older road lite in custom Lemond Zurich blue from that Era- my shifter boss broke and Trek took it back and painted it for me.

Amazing you've nearly had them all. I hear you on the Ti though I'd still love to try one some day. There is a medium out there for sale right now but timing isn't right.

RE the Road Lite - I'd be happy to have any size small but the dream is the white with the svelte wishbones. Please put me on your contact list if you ever want to move the Vegas Gold. Do you have a thread for it apart from your FS thread? I remember seeing that one at some point and I guess you came to your senses and kept it? ;D

There is a medium for sale right now, vegas gold, no fork, in the bay right now if anyone wants contact info for the seller, hit me up.

[taz-t]

Originally Posted by hokoman

I've owned the ti lite, cx, road, race, race lite and a Santa cruise built warthog BMX. I only have 3 of them left, but you're not missing anything with the Sandvik built ti lite. I preferred the race and race lite.

Also, good luck finding one of the early road lites in the thinner stays/wishbone - in the 28 years of having Bonty's - I have never seen a small one for sale. I have a small road lite in Vegas gold though. Taz on this forum has my older road lite in custom Lemond Zurich blue from that Era- my shifter boss broke and Trek took it back and painted it for me.

Yes - and it's not going anywhere.

But I do have a medium RoadLite in Vegas gold that I could be persuaded to part with.

- Taz

[br0qn]

Originally Posted by taz-t

Yes - and it's not going anywhere.

But I do have a medium RoadLite in Vegas gold that I could be persuaded to part with.

- Taz

Wish I needed a medium, I'd whisper sweet nothings until you relinquished your grip.

The Race Lite is built !















So stoked.

[d_douglas]

That is a perfect retro specimen - love it!

[nspace]

Sicckkkkk build!

[d_douglas]

What cassette do you use with those XCPro shifters and derailleur?

[br0qn]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

That is a perfect retro specimen - love it!

Thanks! The frame was so nice it made it all kind of easy.

Originally Posted by nspace

Sicckkkkk build!

Thank you! I'm super stoked on how it turned out. I love it and it rides great.

Originally Posted by d_douglas

What cassette do you use with those XCPro shifters and derailleur?

I have an xtr m900 8spd cassette back there, works perfect with Shimano. Only the Suntour hubs/cassette are proprietary.

I'll get a spec list up shortly