# My Old Ride..Steelman Mountain 1991



## MerlinRyder (Jan 9, 2011)

Sorry for the last post. Did not see the classified section. Again sorry.

Here is a cool bike not for sale...
1991 Steelman El Gato Fillet Brazed.
Shimano XTR
Grafton Cranks, Brakes, Bottom Bracket, Shifter Perches
White Industries Hubs
Answer Hyperlite
Sycip Stem.

Hope you like it..


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Thanks for editing the thread, please post stuff about your bikes or riding or anything except stuff you're selling. We're all ears!


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## jacdykema (Apr 10, 2006)

I'll second girlonbike. Thanks for editing and sweet bike!


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## MerlinRyder (Jan 9, 2011)

girlonbike said:


> Thanks for editing the thread, please post stuff about your bikes or riding or anything except stuff you're selling. We're all ears!


Do you like this post?


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Now, we're talking! That's awesome! What a great looking bike and there's great love for his old steel mtb!

Great parts too. Keep them coming!


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## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Those are some pretty cheezy pictures  

better get out the DSLR, NOT the iphone


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2011)

Sweet bike, now I really want one. Thanks for posting.


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## MerlinRyder (Jan 9, 2011)

crconsulting said:


> Those are some pretty cheezy pictures
> 
> better get out the DSLR, NOT the iphone


Thanks. I will try that :thumbsup:


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## yo-Nate-y (Mar 5, 2009)

nice ride


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

That has 90's Nor Cal writen all over it. Nice.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

That's super hot. Steelman is one of the greats who built sweet bikes then and now. He's not really well know to the internet crowd kinda like Slawta, etc.

-Schmitty-


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Schmitty said:


> That's super hot. Steelman is one of the greats who built sweet bikes then and now. He's not really well know to the internet crowd kinda like Slawta, etc.
> 
> -Schmitty-


Is he well known to the crowd not on the internet? 

Nicely made frames.

A Don Myrah replica, or his actual bike, would be real cool.


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

Schmitty said:


> That's super hot. Steelman is one of the greats who built sweet bikes then and now. He's not really well know to the internet crowd kinda like Slawta, etc.
> 
> -Schmitty-


I think Brent retired a couple of years ago.


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## Shogun700 (Jun 15, 2009)

Mmmmmmmmmm, me likey. 

The STOP sign cable hangers are kickass.... love how they match.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

Boy named SSue said:


> I think Brent retired a couple of years ago.


http://www.steelmancycles.com/

-Schmitty-


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

Schmitty said:


> http://www.steelmancycles.com/
> 
> -Schmitty-


I guess the retirement didn't last long. Nice to see him back.

To the OP, great bike. Thanks for sharing it.

edit: I guess he didn't retire, just took some time off in 2007. From the history part of the site:

"2007 found me in a funk. I was depressed and felt like we were going nowhere fast. My outlook dimmed to the point of trying to sell the business and start fresh with something else. I spent very little time at the shop and did not accept new orders. After eight or nine months of hiatus I had an epiphany and suddenly felt hungry to create bikes again. Having spent over half my life building custom bicycles I only needed to step outside of it for a few months to realize how much I love doing what I do. A big part of my psychological resurrection was a result of the rekindled interest in steel frames, especially finely detailed lugged construction. It was full circle for me."


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2011)

Boy named SSue said:


> I think Brent retired a couple of years ago.


Brents shop is in home town and he is doing quite well. He shared with me that he has a big following in Europe. He takes a lot of pride in his bikes and just recently has gone back to using wet paint. His bikes are beautiful.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

Looks like it may be made of Columbus MAX... yeow!

-Schmitty-


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## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Schmitty said:


> Looks like it may be made of Columbus MAX... yeow!
> 
> -Schmitty-


They were actually made out of French Excell tubing (GLX if I remember right)


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## kb11 (Mar 29, 2004)

crconsulting said:


> They were actually made out of French Excell tubing (GLX if I remember right)


Oh my, it will fold at the sight if a rock


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## jtmartino (Jul 31, 2008)

That's a beautiful bike. IMO, Brent's one of the best steel MTB frame fabricators out there - his welds are up there with Strong's. I've been shopping for one of his more modern frames for a while now (used)...have yet to see something that fits the bill (cheap.)


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

As spied at Sea Otter in 07.










Even CK liked it.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

kb11 said:


> Oh my, it will fold at the sight if a rock


yeah, that was super thin tubing. Didn't Brent make a couple matching frames for testing purposes, one with a standard tubeset and one a super light frame with the Excell tubing?

Looks like Max OR tubing to me.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

I've been lost on Steelman's site for the last hour. He has been on my dream builder list since the late 80's. His lug work as of late is beautiful and with Anderson and Bell providing paint it's a winning combo.


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## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Looks like Max OR tubing to me.


I guess we can always ask the owner (since he worked for the Steelman mountain bike dealer in SF in the early 90's)

Maybe he can even take a picture of the frame sticker


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

crconsulting said:


> I guess we can always ask the owner (since he worked for the Steelman mountain bike dealer in SF in the early 90's)
> 
> Maybe he can even take a picture of the frame sticker


yeah, be interested to hear what it is. Never have seen manipulated Excell tubing, but maybe it exists.


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## Jak0zilla (May 16, 2010)

Fillet-brazed said:


> yeah, be interested to hear what it is. Never have seen manipulated Excell tubing, but maybe it exists.


I used to own an early California made Masi (built by Alberto Masi) road bike that was made from embossed Excel superlight tubing. It rode nicely, but was a touch too big for me so I sold it. Nice bike. not much more to say other than to report a sighting of the Excel tubing. 

I believe that Excel was used more in France than anywhere else. An old book I have describes Excel as a manufacturer of tubing for the F1 automotive market.


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Looks like Max OR tubing to me.


Agree

Looks just like the tubing used on a Serotta T-Max that I had.


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## iheartbicycles (Mar 14, 2008)

MerlinRyder said:


> Sorry for the last post. Did not see the classified section. Again sorry.
> 
> Here is a cool bike not for sale...
> 1991 Steelman El Gato Fillet Brazed.
> ...


Now get out there and ride it, Fat Boy!


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## MerlinRyder (Jan 9, 2011)

*Steelman Tubing is Excell my steelman bike.*

My Steelman is actually made out of Excell Tubing. Excell is a French tubing manufacturer that makes some very light road tubesets. It was not designed for the 200lbs rider. This bike has many hours of Mt Tam/Marin/China Camp rides and years of racing...It is very confortable to ride and received years of abuse. If you guys need more information on the tubing we can just email Brent Steelman. Hope you enjoyed looking at it.


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## jacdykema (Apr 10, 2006)

MerlinRyder said:


> Hope you enjoyed looking at it.


I sure did. Thanks for posting!


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## Danielmochuelo (Mar 28, 2011)

Oh, That´s a really nice looking bike!!!!


PD: Does anyone know where the "Welcome to mtbr" post or similar is?


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## colker1 (Jan 6, 2004)

Max OR... one bike i would like to own is the Merckx made of columbus max. sorry.. it's a mtb site. carry on.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

colker1 said:


> Max OR... one bike i would like to own is the Merckx made of columbus max. sorry.. it's a mtb site. carry on.


No difference b/t Max and Max OR other than cs's and decal.

-Schmitty-


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

MerlinRyder said:


> My Steelman is actually made out of Excell Tubing. Excell is a French tubing manufacturer that makes some very light road tubesets. It was not designed for the 200lbs rider. This bike has many hours of Mt Tam/Marin/China Camp rides and years of racing...It is very confortable to ride and received years of abuse. If you guys need more information on the tubing we can just email Brent Steelman. Hope you enjoyed looking at it.


interesting. now I guess the next question is if there was a mixture of tubing used. 

thanks for sharing.


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## Schmitty (Sep 7, 2008)

iheartbicycles said:


> Now get out there and ride it, Fat Boy!


VRC = Vintage Rotund Chubby

-Schmitty-


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## fattybikejones (Aug 17, 2008)

Oh MY! Be still my heart! That is just a work of art! I have been salivating for a steel mtb frame to build up.. This is just wayyy outta my league!

Lovely bicycle!


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

The steelmans nice but I'd rather ride the milf


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## bushpig (Nov 26, 2005)

I like that bike a lot. thanks for posting. I like Max OR too - I have a Rodriguez and a Rossin made out of it.


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

Mlf ad before my previous post has been deleted, making me sound insane/perverse. Oh well, lovely bike though.


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## wheelskid (Oct 17, 2011)

I have a similar vintage ('89-'91) Steelman MTB. I acquired it secondhand and it came equiped with a different fork than pictured by MerlinRyder. I'm curious if Brent built forks for these bikes or if they were supplied with off-the-shelf varieties. Can someone confirm either way?

Also, a detail regarding the Excell-tubed frame that may not be easily discerned from photos is the top tube and down tube are ovalized where they meet the headtube. I had not seen this before on mountain bikes and it struck me as distinctive. I emailed Brent regarding this aspect of his early frames and he indicated that he did "ovalize the front end of the bike for impact resistance because the tubing is super thin."

Here's a picture detailing this on my bike. You can see how the top tube tapers dramatically as it meets the head tube. You can't really see it, but the down tube follows suit.


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## wheelskid (Oct 17, 2011)

I feel like this bike has harsher front end ride quality compared to other rigid bikes I've ridden. I suspect it's a result of the ovalizing, but I suppose it could just as easily be due to the fork that's installed. It doesn't taper as significantly towards the dropouts as on many forks of that era, so perhaps it's a bit stiffer.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

First of all, it's bad form to post teaser pics. Lets see some full bike shots. Second, I've personaly never ridden an Excell bike that wasn't somewhat harsh, but I'm sure it's a combo of all three factors.


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## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

wheelskid said:


> I'm curious if Brent built forks for these bikes or if they were supplied with off-the-shelf varieties. Can someone confirm either way?


No, Brent made them for these bikes. Your fork should be fillet brazed too. Is it?



wheelskid said:


> I emailed Brent regarding this aspect of his early frames and he indicated that he did "ovalize the front end of the bike for impact resistance because the tubing is super thin."


Hence why people assume Columbus.....

Cool bike, post some more pictures of it please :thumbsup:


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## iheartbicycles (Mar 14, 2008)

iheartbicycles said:


> Now get out there and ride it, Fat Boy!


To the person who gave me neg rep for this comment. Please tell the OP that Chuck Davis, his long time friend and college MTB team mate that I said "hi."

You dumb ****.


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## wheelskid (Oct 17, 2011)

crconsulting said:


> No, Brent made them for these bikes. Your fork should be fillet brazed too. Is it?:


Nope. The fork on mine is not a Steelman. I believe it is a Tange, or at least the steerer tube is. It's a welded steel unicrown design with hooded dropouts. Not a bad looking fork, but not special either.

It's a little dim out right now, but I'll try to get some pics soon.

Can anyone provide an idea of what these frames go for in the second-hand market? Does their scarcity and hand-built pedigree elevate their monetary value above being "yet another" classic old-school MTB frame?


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## StanleyButterfly (Nov 4, 2009)

Nice hijack. There's a whole thread to help you out.


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## wheelskid (Oct 17, 2011)

Oh, wait... I did find these I took earlier this summer. I've been messing about with different stem/bar/fork combos, so the bike is not fully operation in these pictures. Haven't settled on the saddle either. Components are a mix of Shimano XT and Suntour XC Pro.


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## colker1 (Jan 6, 2004)

stunning! love the colors.. those grey mavics, black cranks, fork, post against some silver and the pretty blu... beautifull build.


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## wheelskid (Oct 17, 2011)

Hey, thanks. It's getting there, slowly. :thumbsup:


My fork is a spitting image of the 1986 Koski model below, including only having single spring holes per brake boss. Not sure how to confirm authenticity, however. Later versions I've seen of the Koski fork (featuring brake bosses with three spring holes) have dropouts stamped "KOSKI." My fork dropouts are stamped "ATB."

When I get a chance, I may pull the fork to see if indeed the "bearing ring is sweat brazed" as mentioned in the marketing copy of the ad.


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## wheelskid (Oct 17, 2011)

Hey, wait. I just noticed at the bottom of the ad that the company offering the fork for sale is All Terrain Bicycles... A T B. Same as on my fork's dropouts. That makes for reasonable conjecture that I have the same fork. Sweet!


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