# NOS Steve Potts!!



## cursivearmy (Jan 26, 2004)

welp, I didn't think these frames deserved to be buried at the bottom of a thread so i put them here. Seriously, when's the last time you saw classic Pott's paint jobs like these and not to mention, frames at all that we're this tight.

They aren't mine, i just wanted them to be noticed, cause production frames are cool and all but dang, these are built by one man and not too many people have this to share so thanks DL cause they need to be shared.

these are never built up, totally forgotten about until DL had the wherewithall to have them painted in a totally classic Potts style paint scheme. never before ridden and or built up until now! time warp!

maybe when they are done you'll post some completed pics, but for the rest of you, these are RARE, old or new, when are you going to see more like this. Steve is really one of the originals that new how to do it all, and thanks to DL we get to see what a classic bike with a truly unique (to that time or any other for that matter looks like) bike is.

DL, this is for having and completing some of this time periods most importatant bikes in my opinion and sharing them with the rest of us, thanks.

they are important, and if you are all lucky, DL will share the clompleted pics, i can't wait!

nate


----------



## mwr (Jul 17, 2004)

I'm so excited I think I just wet my pantaloons.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

It'd be cool to see some before pics....

DL, do you have any? If not, I might (though they're not good ones).


----------



## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

*Holy Ship*

Those things are beautiful..... I'm speechless


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

*To Ride Or Not to Ride?*

That is the question.....
Personally, I think it would be like some cruel form of personal torture, just keep them around without riding them. But I'd be rather bummed if I had to "lay it down"

love the paint.:thumbsup:

thanks for sharing.


----------



## holden (Jul 27, 2004)

wow.

are they vintage Potts?

and, ah, who's DL?


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

crconsulting said:


> That is the question.....
> Personally, I think it would be like some cruel form of personal torture, just keep them around without riding them. But I'd be rather bummed if I had to "lay it down"
> 
> love the paint.:thumbsup:
> ...


This could be one of those rare occasions...where it would be ok to have it as a display bike.

All NOS (or near NOS) 87 Potts with all the trimmings...yikes.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

holden said:


> wow.
> 
> are they vintage Potts?
> 
> and, ah, who's DL?


1987, both of them.

DL is the owner of one of the bikes.


----------



## bcd (Jan 27, 2004)

Wowsers


----------



## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

Rumpfy said:


> 1987, both of them.
> 
> DL is the owner of one of the bikes.


so uhhh............... who owns the other one


----------



## holden (Jul 27, 2004)

Were those recently painted in Portland, Oregon? I may have seen them bare.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

holden said:


> wow.
> 
> are they vintage Potts?
> 
> and, ah, who's DL?


Yeah Nate, who's DL? 

Thanks for the comments Nate. The story is, (I think I posted some of this in the WTB thread) I came across these at Steve's shop a couple years ago. He didnt yet have the brake bosses or cable guides on, so I brought them home with the intentions of a buddy brazing them on, but after coming to my senses, it just wouldnt be right for anyone but Steve to complete the frames. So, I went back (Rumpfy came too) and got to watch Steve finish them up. That was fun in and of itself just to see Steve doing his thing with the torch since he does all titanium now. Steve is also the nicest guy you'll ever meet. If you ever need a new ti road bike, mtb, 29er, Type II fork or whatever, you'll be hard pressed to find a guy with his level of crafstmanship and skills.

Now, almost 2 years later, theyre finally painted. Rick at D&D did the work and did a great job. He did a lot of paint for Steve and WTB in the past and enjoyed doing these classics. Rick even used DuPont Imron for these. Nice paint.

The green one is mine and is currently being built up. The other one is a friend's from Colorado. His will ship out soon as soon as he gets me his darn bike box. Also in his enroute bike box is a set of levers I need to complete the bike. Hurry up, Fed Ex! 

Rumpfy, I do have some pictures before they were painted. I'll try and find them.

CRC, I think this one is gonna be a piece of art. You know me, Im not one to not ride vintage bikes, but these are just rare in this condition. I dont know. Who knows, maybe one day, I'll just jump on it and take it for a good long ride.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Rumpfy, I do have some pictures before they were painted. I'll try and find them.


Cool. That'll be fun to see.

Here's a nice little something...Steve finishing off one of the two frames:


----------



## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

holden said:


> and, ah, who's DL?


easy, DL is doug lexington. wait....... Fillet-Brazed is doug lexington? holy crap!! Fillet-Brazed is doug lexington


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

hollister said:


> easy, DL is doug lexington. wait....... Fillet-Brazed is doug lexington? holy crap!! Fillet-Brazed is doug lexington


Nope, not my name. I think I heard he posts on that Bike magazine forum.


----------



## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

That classic paint sculpture is very pantaloon soiling.


----------



## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Nope, not my name. I think I heard he posts on that Bike magazine forum.


the mystery remains unsolved..........:madman:


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> CRC, I think this one is gonna be a piece of art. You know me, Im not one to not ride vintage bikes, but these are just rare in this condition. I dont know. Who knows, maybe one day, I'll just jump on it and take it for a good long ride.


LOL! Thats funny, I give you 3 weeks


----------



## pinguwin (Aug 20, 2004)

Beautiful bikes, like 'em.

But I have a dumb question, if they are 1987 bikes and from what I gather, recently painted, how can they be NOS?

Maybe it's semantics but what were they before they were painted?

'Guin


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

pinguwin said:


> Beautiful bikes, like 'em.
> 
> But I have a dumb question, if they are 1987 bikes and from what I gather, recently painted, how can they be NOS?
> 
> ...


They were brand new...just never finished. But seeing as how SP finished them off, then D+D put paint on them for the first time, and they've never had a part touch them until now...I think that would qualify as a NOS frame.


----------



## broomhandle (Jul 27, 2006)

nice.... in fact to nice to ride! do you have the stems?


----------



## WTB-rider (Jul 25, 2004)

Absolutely beautiful :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: 

I've been kicking around the idea of having my '92 Potts repainted and that green/cream scheme is so sweet.


----------



## DWF (Jan 12, 2004)

cursivearmy said:


> welp, I didn't think these frames deserved to be buried at the bottom of a thread so i put them here. Seriously, when's the last time you saw classic Pott's paint jobs like these and not to mention, frames at all that we're this tight.
> 
> They aren't mine, i just wanted them to be noticed, cause production frames are cool and all but dang, these are built by one man and not too many people have this to share so thanks DL cause they need to be shared.
> 
> ...


Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## mwr (Jul 17, 2004)

WTB-rider said:


> Absolutely beautiful :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
> 
> I've been kicking around the idea of having my '92 Potts repainted and that green/cream scheme is so sweet.


Isn't your bike the green Tamoflage? I can't imagine wanting to change that. Word on the street is that the CCRs never had the panels paint scheme, so technically that would be incorrect. There is one fellow around here who has done it, but he will be subject to endless ridicule by the cognoscenti.


----------



## WTB-rider (Jul 25, 2004)

mwr said:


> Isn't your bike the green Tamoflage? I can't imagine wanting to change that. Word on the street is that the CCRs never had the panels paint scheme, so technically that would be incorrect. There is one fellow around here who has done it, but he will be subject to endless ridicule by the cognoscenti.


Yep, that's mine. You can't see in the pics I posted but there are a couple of scrapes in the top tube's paint on the non-drive side that are currently covered with plain green paint and a large, old school Dirt Rag sticker.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

WTB-rider said:


> Yep, that's mine. You can't see in the pics I posted but there are a couple of scrapes in the top tube's paint on the non-drive side that are currently covered with plain green paint and a large, old school Dirt Rag sticker.


That just means you can ride the hell out of it and not worry. 

Fillet Brazed is going to have to suffer the heartache of only being able to look at this bike.

Ask him how many times he's ridden his bright yellow CCR.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

mwr said:


> There is one fellow around here who has done it, but he will be subject to endless ridicule by the cognoscenti.


The backlash could be brutal.:nonod:


----------



## DWF (Jan 12, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> CRC, I think this one is gonna be a piece of art. You know me, Im not one to not ride vintage bikes, but these are just rare in this condition. I dont know. Who knows, maybe one day, I'll just jump on it and take it for a good long ride.


Ride the mother. You have no choice. There's already negative karma in the universe from them sitting around for so long without being ridden.

Look, you don't ride that bike and I'll pimp slap you the next time I see you.

:thumbsup:


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

DWF said:


> There's already negative karma in the universe from them sitting around for so long without being ridden.
> 
> Look, you don't ride that bike and I'll pimp slap you the next time I see you.
> 
> :thumbsup:


But wait, didnt I balance out that neg. karma by resuscitating these?


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

broomhandle said:


> nice.... in fact to nice to ride! do you have the stems?


Got the stems. Lets see if they'll load today (they wouldnt yesterday). Here they are pre-paint, more pics to come later:


----------



## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Got the stems. Lets see if they'll load today (they wouldnt yesterday). Here they are pre-paint, more pics to come later:


very cool.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Finally I've had a little time to continue the build. Getting a bit closer.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

That thing is pure sex.

The green looks better with parts around it.

Sweet cranks too.


----------



## HoSS (Dec 24, 2003)

Wow, that is gorgeous! Well done.


----------



## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Woooooweeeee. At first I wasn't sure about the white fork crown/green lowers, but it's working on me. Very nice! Fixed angle post and everything.:thumbsup:


----------



## el-cid (May 21, 2004)

.Wow.


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Finally I've had a little time to continue the build. Getting a bit closer.


That bike is impeccable. In one word, Perfect.......

The cable routing on your drops looks pretty unique (very clean). I'd love to see a front shot of that bike if you have one.

love the saddle and water bottle cage choices, truly "Classic" :thumbsup:


----------



## cursivearmy (Jan 26, 2004)

*perfect!*

nice work! that thing is amazing, you did it all just right, fixed angle post is the kicker for me. is that Brooks leather wrap? that stuff's strectchy.

i'm so stoked you have this done, truly amazing.

nate


----------



## Rody (Sep 10, 2005)

FB,

Just curious, does the Potts stem clamp to an extended steerer or does it utilize an internal expander wedge system?

cheers,

rody


----------



## GRAVELBIKE (Oct 7, 2006)

Sweet mother of Jesus those are gorgeous.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

crconsulting said:


> That bike is impeccable. In one word, Perfect.......
> 
> The cable routing on your drops looks pretty unique (very clean). I'd love to see a front shot of that bike if you have one.
> 
> love the saddle and water bottle cage choices, truly "Classic" :thumbsup:


Gee, thanks for the nice compliments guys. Im blushing. 

This one's gonna be very hard to not ride. :\ CRconsulting may be right in his prediction about not being able to resist the temptation.

The cable routing is standard. I think from the angle of that shot it just looks a little weird. 

Rody, the fork has a tapered, conical-looking thing brazed into the top of the steerer. Then the female equivalent, made of aluminum, slides over it and fastens down. When its all fastened down it makes a 7/8" stub for the stem to bolt on to. Kinda hard to explain.

Some WTB/Ibis/Potts' forks just have a 7/8" sleeve brazed in for stems to attach to, but this taper set up can expand and allows for stems to attach without pinch bolts on the stem that could hit you in the knee cap. I'll try and find pictures of both of these setups.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

cursivearmy said:


> nice work! that thing is amazing, you did it all just right, fixed angle post is the kicker for me. is that Brooks leather wrap? that stuff's strectchy.
> 
> i'm so stoked you have this done, truly amazing.
> 
> nate


Hey thanks a lot Mike and Nate. That means a lot coming from THE Potts experts. 

The tape is some vintage Italian stuff. I need some tan cloth tape and a WTB chainstay protector. There's gotta be some floating around out there.


----------



## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> I need ... a WTB chainstay protector. There's gotta be some floating around out there.


I think they still make those. If not I might have one - but can't guarantee that it will stick to anything after having it for 10 years or so.


----------



## lucifer (Sep 27, 2004)

You should have had your name stamped into the bb shell... because that ones a keeper for sure.
Now go ride the piss out of it.


----------



## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

*Pardon my French*

Sacre Bleu! 

Oo La Lah :ihih:

Creme de la Creme. :thumbsup:


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Gee, thanks for the nice compliments guys. Im blushing.
> 
> This one's gonna be very hard to not ride. :\ CRconsulting may be right in his prediction about not being able to resist the temptation.


That's so funny. Now that I see the bike coming all together, I'm thinking to myself , Boy, it's so clean, I don't know if I I would ride that....



Fillet-brazed said:


> The cable routing is standard. I think from the angle of that shot it just looks a little weird.


I think it was the fact that the shifters aren't hooked up yet is what threw me. Looks super clean.:thumbsup:


----------



## RJG (Jun 17, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Finally I've had a little time to continue the build. Getting a bit closer.


That's a long way from the surface rusted 20 year old frames I saw 2 years ago. Nice job DL. You should take the picture down though, Rumpfy's wife is probably wondering why the picture is on their nightstand:skep: 
R


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

RJG said:


> That's a long way from the surface rusted 20 year old frames I saw 2 years ago. Nice job DL. You should take the picture down though, Rumpfy's wife is probably wondering why the picture is on their nightstand:skep:
> R


I was so dum for not hopping on that band wagon.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Haha, thanks RJ. That was a fun day up there watching Steve finish up the brazing. 2 years? Wow, time flies. 

We need to go up there again.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Bigwheel said:


> Sacre Bleu!
> 
> Oo La Lah :ihih:
> 
> Creme de la Creme. :thumbsup:


 Thanks Bigwheel. You still have your mystery Potts bike?


----------



## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Thanks Bigwheel. You still have your mystery Potts bike?


Yeah, why, do you want to swap? 

Never could get any info out of the the TU boys other than they thought it was a Potts due to knowledge from the guy who owned it and ultimately ended up ditching it at the shop. So it languishes here on the pile as my only thread to 26" MTB history.


----------



## Guest (Jul 9, 2007)

instead of starting a new thread with the same title i thought i post the pic of the finished build here. it's all NOS and has a similar story like the other two in this thread, hung unpainted in Steve's workshop for a couple of years until a nice guy bought it. Steve picked the color and built fork and stems (i have a matching LD and dropbars too). it remained unbuild though until i got it. more pics here in the sub album

https://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/Klein_photos/

password Deluxe










Carsten


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Carsten said:


> instead of starting a new thread with the same title i thought i post the pic of the finished build here. it's all NOS and has a similar story like the other two in this thread, hung unpainted in Steve's workshop for a couple of years until a nice guy bought it. Steve picked the color and built fork and stems (i have a matching LD and dropbars too). it remained unbuild though until i got it. more pics here in the sub album
> Carsten


Wow...that thing really is something special. 

I'm hoping my comes close to what you've done with this. :thumbsup:


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Rumpfy said:


> Wow...that thing really is something special.
> 
> I'm hoping my comes close to what you've done with this. :thumbsup:


beauty!!


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Carsten said:


> instead of starting a new thread with the same title i thought i post the pic of the finished build here. it's all NOS and has a similar story like the other two in this thread, hung unpainted in Steve's workshop for a couple of years until a nice guy bought it. Steve picked the color and built fork and stems (i have a matching LD and dropbars too). it remained unbuild though until i got it. more pics here in the sub albumCarsten


I been away for a while so I'm catching up on my VRC porn.....

Man I'm jealous 
OK, I have to know. Have any of you guys with these NOS Potts broken down and ridden them? I'm not sure I have the discipline NOT to ride them.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

*Does the driveway count?*



crconsulting said:


> I been away for a while so I'm catching up on my VRC porn.....
> 
> Man I'm jealous
> OK, I have to know. Have any of you guys with these NOS Potts broken down and ridden them? I'm not sure I have the discipline NOT to ride them.


Not I. But I have been riding my non-NOS Potts. 

Its very tempting though.


----------



## DoubleCentury (Nov 12, 2005)

FB, is it ready to ride?


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

DoubleCentury said:


> FB, is it ready to ride?


yes. Well, all except for a WTB chainstay protector. I have one of the later ones, but its just not right a Potts this age.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Fillet-brazed said:


> yes. Well, all except for a WTB chainstay protector. I have one of the later ones, but its just not right a Potts this age.


Post the pics already!


----------



## DoubleCentury (Nov 12, 2005)

You only need a chainstay protector if you ride it.


----------



## DoubleCentury (Nov 12, 2005)

More progress since this photo, but the project got too expensive; had to seek sponsorship,


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> yes. Well, all except for a WTB chainstay protector. I have one of the later ones, but its just not right a Potts this age.


you mean somethin' like this......


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

DoubleCentury said:


> More progress since this photo, but the project got too expensive; had to seek sponsorship,


Is that some sort of burglar device for that jersey, tying a metal coat hanger around a live electrical outlet? I kind of like that concept


----------



## DoubleCentury (Nov 12, 2005)

LOL!

My shop has come a long ways since then, while the Potts has made only minor progress.


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

DoubleCentury said:


> LOL!
> 
> My shop has come a long ways since then, while the Potts has made only minor progress.


Real Nice First class:thumbsup:

Nice 9x42 J-head bridgeport!! looks like you even got a DRO for it. Much better than travel indicators eh. Kurt vice?

Whats the story with the wheels on the Hardinge?? mobile or just to get in place I'm sure. That baby needs to be on the floor nice and rigid. Nice setup, yea tooling will make you broke. How do you like the pricing on chucks and collets? I'm not talking the cheap Chinese stuff either. That machine is worthy of so much more. Hopefully you got a lot of tooling with it.  one word "Auctions".

You saw my cheesy chinese lathe gets the job done with the right operator, But leave a lot to be desired. I wish I had the space. I had to sell off most of my equipment in the eighties


----------



## DoubleCentury (Nov 12, 2005)

Thanks for the shop praise.

A machine is only as good as its operator.

Yes, J-head, Gates drive, Sony DRO, Kurt vise, power feed...solid machine, but nothing special.

However, Hardinge is 1942, full threading gear box, fully restored, and fully tooled with Hardinge. It sits on 8" of concrete with rebar and fiberglass. Training wheels were from previous transport.

I also have a Hardinge dividing head. All chucks, collets, closers, and faceplates in the shop are 5c or Hardinge external taper. Complete 5c set of round from 1/64 to 1-1/8, and hex and square sets.


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

DoubleCentury said:


> Thanks for the shop praise.
> However, Hardinge is 1942, full threading gear box, fully restored, and fully tooled with Hardinge. It sits on 8" of concrete with rebar and fiberglass. Training wheels were from previous transport. I also have a Hardinge dividing head. All chucks, collets, closers, and faceplates in the shop are 5c or Hardinge external taper. Here is the complete 5c set of round from 1/64 to 1-1/8. I also have the complete hex and square sets.


Sweet:thumbsup: 
Makes an old aerospace guys eye's water  That Hardinge is something sweet. I'm Monarch guy myself I had a10ee for a while. All those old lathes run so sweet. Its funny, I got sucked into the computer biz in the late 80's and I remember sitting around with my friends laughing about how it used to take $100,000 worth of tools to make $100 but in the computer biz it took $100 worth of tools to make $100,000! But at the end of the day, when you take out that shinny new part out of the chuck. There's a certain sense of accomplishment that you get from that kind of biz that you cant get anywhere else.....

Real nice:thumbsup:

edit: Just saw the taper attachment too that's got to be pretty rare....


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

CR, DC...I don't know what the hell you two are talking about...but it's entertaining!


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

crconsulting said:


> you mean somethin' like this......


yep, thats it. The lower one looks just right (I have one like the other). Do you know of a source for those by chance?


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Rumpfy said:


> Post the pics already!


okey dokey. I'll try and take a few here soon.


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Rumpfy said:


> CR, DC...I don't know what the hell you two are talking about...but it's entertaining!


You know me I'm always entertaining....

Hell, I can make circus animals out of inner tubes AS I'm ridding

we have pictures to prove it.


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> yep, thats it. The lower one looks just right (I have one like the other). Do you know of a source for those by chance?


I may have bought the last five on earth a while back.

Now how many NOS Potts are running around?


----------



## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

crconsulting said:


> Now how many NOS Potts are running around?


At least one more (not mine, BTW).


----------



## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

ssmike said:


> At least one more (not mine, BTW).


What is that 5? sheesh, pretty soon there will be more NOS ones in this group than used ones.


----------



## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

The cool thing about the blue one I posted is it is this bike - kept unridden all these years.


----------



## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

ssmike said:


> The cool thing about the blue one I posted is it is this bike - kept unridden all these years.
> 
> Hey, I dont know about that. When I pulled that down off the rafters I pumped up the tires and sat on it. When Steve wasnt looking I pushed it forward about 6 inches and lifted up both feet while doing so. It was glorious!


----------



## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

Fillet-brazed said:


> ssmike said:
> 
> 
> > The cool thing about the blue one I posted is it is this bike - kept unridden all these years.
> ...


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Mine'll be pretty close to NOS...


----------



## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

Rumpfy said:


> Mine'll be pretty close to NOS...


give ya a ritchey for it.


----------



## dick (Dec 13, 2006)

now everyone can have a Potts that can't/won't be ridden. Yay.


----------



## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

hollister said:


> give ya a ritchey for it.


Yeahno.


----------

