# Late 90's Bontrager Race-Lite



## CycleTron (Jul 31, 2008)

Edited...
Has anyone got a early to mid 90's Bontrager Race-Lite frame that is currently not built up? (pre-Trek buy-out) 

I have finally found a custom builder who is willing to reproduce said frame and he'd like to see how Keith did ALL the gussets on the frame, so he and I are looking to get a ton of high-quality pictures of ALL the welds or if possible, borrow said frame for about 2 weeks. We're willing to put up a deposit or something to guarantee the frame gets returned.

That being said, is there anyone else out there who would be interested in one of these frame in steel or ti?

And yes, I know for those of you who never rode one, that may seem like a strange question, but ask any fan of these frames, there are a totally unique ride. And once you fall in love with said ride, you never forget it.

Sincerely,
CT


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

*a small issue.........*



CycleTron said:


> Has anyone got a mid to late 90's Bontrager Race-Lite frame that is currently not built up?
> 
> I have finally found a custom builder who is willing to reproduce said frame and he'd like to see how Keith did ALL the gussets on the frame, so he and I are looking to get a ton of high-quality pictures of ALL the welds or if possible, borrow said frame for about 2 weeks. We're willing to put up a deposit or something to guarantee the frame gets returned.
> 
> ...


the only problem being that keith didn't build those. those were built in wisconsin at trek after keith sold the buisness. the early 90's models were the best and had all the bells & whistles, many of which were deleted on the trek models, like the segmented stays. anyhoo, i'd look in the mtb museum at www.firstflightbikes.com good luck! i had a 90' race light but it died a sad death.........cool bike, though! the fork was the best part, imo. it kicked a$$. steve.


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## CycleTron (Jul 31, 2008)

Ahhh... so... what I then need is an EARLY 90's Race-lite frame. Thanks for the info.

Sincerely,
CT


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## Francis Buxton (Apr 2, 2004)

Why not just call Paul Sadoff at Rock Lobster? He worked for Keith prior to the buy-out and and even bought a lot of his tubing stock When Keith sold. I'd say he knows as much as anyone about building a repop, especially since he used to advertise a "Nontrager" on his website.


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## Mike T. (Dec 30, 2003)

CycleTron said:


> Edited...
> Has anyone got a early to mid 90's Bontrager Race-Lite frame that is currently not built up? (pre-Trek buy-out)
> 
> I have finally found a custom builder who is willing to reproduce said frame and he'd like to see how Keith did ALL the gussets on the frame, so he and I are looking to get a ton of high-quality pictures of ALL the welds or if possible, borrow said frame for about 2 weeks. We're willing to put up a deposit or something to guarantee the frame gets returned.
> ...


I don't have my Race Lite frame anymore (it cracked 10+ years ago) but the gusset designs (DT, TT, ST, CS) are burned into my brain forever. If you can't get the frame and the pics you need, I can draw them for you. I have the frameset manual but it doesn't show the gussets. Edit - I just found a copy of the Bicyclng magazine road test of the Racelite dated May '94. Is shows photos of all the gussets.

The Bonty ride never worked for me though. The 74 seat angle put me over the front too much and that short rake/long trail idea, for me, was awful. I complained to Keith and he sent me a longer rake (therefore shorter trail) fork crown for my rigid switchblade fork. That fixed it. 31.7mm of rake and 80mm of trail? Ahemmm. Cough.


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## Thylacine (Feb 29, 2004)

That's a good idea getting in contact with Paul Sadoff. I think Kirk Pacenti might've been involved at some point too so he could be a good source.

There are a stack of photos available in the retro forum on this website, so have a trawl through there, too. I probably have a stack of them somewhere too as the grey Racelite MBA tested in the early 90's is etched into my brain, too.

And um yeah, ignore the geometry and make your own.


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## timbercomp (Jan 16, 2004)

Paul had lots of the tubing and partial built frames and built quite a few NONtragers out of the old tubing but he traded off all the left overs he had for a guitar. Still probably a good source or like Thylacine said Kurt P built them whille he worked for Keith. We have a NONtrager shown @ http://www.firstflightbikes.com/2007_Nontrager.htm


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

Francis Buxton said:


> Why not just call Paul Sadoff at Rock Lobster? He worked for Keith prior to the buy-out and and even bought a lot of his tubing stock When Keith sold. I'd say he knows as much as anyone about building a repop, especially since he used to advertise a "Nontrager" on his website.


not really true..........paul didn't work for keith, but was building before, during, and since for himself {and some others, like a bike reviewed in a recent mag} he welded allot of the custom salsa stems on the side. when keith sold to trek paul inherited allot of the old supplies, it was just discarded. {i belive the chainstays were round forkblades} and a bunch of rear ends and headtubes and stuff. {i inherited some of it from paul too, turned it into frames pronto - stuff like pre-drilled ht's, bb shells and mitered dt's with h2o holes even! i still have some of the canti "tower" brazeons for the wishbones, and i just saw a dt gusset on my bench } allot of the "features" on the old bonedraggers were to speed the build - the segmented stays and the wishbone set up, for example. kirk DID work there, as did hans who went on to be one of the founders of santa cruz. the 1st race lites had rivet-on cable stops and i THINK a pulley for the front derailleur. history, ya'll. steve.


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## Thylacine (Feb 29, 2004)

Yeah Steve, that's one of the cool things about the Bontys - how they were geared towards production.

I do feel however a lot of the features of those old frames are now outmoded - eg: why gusset a butted frame, and why extend the headtube lower to avoid ovalisation when a properly designed heatsink does the same thing. To do a repro Bonty would just be an exercise in fun more than anything.

You're right about the rivet-on guides and derailleur pulley on the early Racelites, too.

I know this is horrible to say, but the first Bonty Races to ever make it down here sure did look pretty rough, not to mention that geometry. Yoiks.

Still, there's something lovable about them.


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## 95bonty (Oct 6, 2004)

*been there, almost did that.*

I have a mid nineties Racelite frame i've owned since new, it's a great bike, but a few years back i got well and truly over trying to maintain/find a decent 1inch steerer fork and started looking at a custom "replica" to replace it - didn't want an exact copy, but something true to the spirit of the Bontrager it was superceding.

Ultimately, I decided it just wasn't worth it, it wasn't going to be a Bontrager so it didn't need to try and be one - it ran the risk of being neither a good custom nor a Bontrager, just a hotchpotch of ideas from two generations.

Now for some blashpemy, last winter I bought an On-one Scandal (26) - it's aluminium, it's got a more modern geometry, but everytime I look at it, it makes me think Bontrager. For me it's unpretentious and practical just like a Bontrager was, it's got a pseudo wishbone, it's got gussets where i want to see them - on the chainstays and under the DT, and i like it, like i never thought i could like an aluminium bike.


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## mojo722 (Feb 17, 2004)

Check out this guy's site. He explains the differences between the off-road, race and race lite. Lots of close up pics.

http://www.eandsweb.com/me/bontrager/


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## Thylacine (Feb 29, 2004)

It's amazing how much cooler the older bikes were.


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## IXXI (Oct 14, 2004)

*got an XL for sale*

NOS/virgin/never built. unsure of year and it may be post-SC (it doesnt have the sticker) but it does have the hangtags that have the SC address and info on them. anyway, still hasnt sold cause i'm asking too much, but if you need pics, i can get some for ya etc: http://picasaweb.google.com/andyaskren/BontragerRaceLite


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## CycleTron (Jul 31, 2008)

Heya IXXI - 

Thank you, thank you and thank you. The pics are great and my builder should be able to get a great idea from them.

Again, my sincere thanks.
CT


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## oldindi (Aug 18, 2008)

*small correction....*



coconinocycles said:


> the only problem being that keith didn't build those. those were built in wisconsin at trek after keith sold the buisness. the early 90's models were the best and had all the bells & whistles, many of which were deleted on the trek models, like the segmented stays. anyhoo, i'd look in the mtb museum at www.firstflightbikes.com good luck! i had a 90' race light but it died a sad death.........cool bike, though! the fork was the best part, imo. it kicked a$$. steve.


Actually the final frames were pushed out of the Santa Cruz facility in mid 1997. Kieth was mainly into R&D at that point but the frames were still hand made in Santa Cruz and held to incredibly tight tolerances. The bikes that were made at the Trek plant in Wisconsin were called Privateers. Keith did sell to Trek In the early 90's but Trek gave us a chance albeit a small one to continue producing the frames in Santa Cruz Retaining the original staff and adding a hand full of new employees. Just couldn't do it fast enough for them as I remember it. They did offer a few of us the option of relocating to Wisconsin, which i believe a couple of people did.


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## casladek (Jul 23, 2008)

Cycle Tron,
Where are you located? I have a 93 Race, 93 Race Lite, 97 Race Lite and an 88 Competition Race fork all located in Oakland, CA. If you are local, let me know.


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## Ride2Suffer (Dec 14, 2008)

Here is mine:
rarely ridden......
















































































































































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## Yogii (Jun 5, 2008)

I test rode one of those.
Short top tube, short wheel base, VERY twitchy. Not for me.
They did have a "cult following" though.......


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## seat_boy (May 16, 2006)

What's the deal with the weld line on the seatstays?

Eric


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## Live Wire (Aug 27, 2007)

seat_boy said:


> What's the deal with the weld line on the seatstays?
> 
> Eric


No "deal", just 4 piece stays, classic Bontager (now classic Coconino!)


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## Ride2Suffer (Dec 14, 2008)

I cannot find any marking on my frame ??

I am pretty sure it is a 96, but the shop mentioned it was a limited edition 97

Sorry to HiJack the thread with my bonty bike.......... I will take one TI repop frame ASAP !! no joke !


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## Vlad (Feb 7, 2004)

I've always wanted a Bontrager. Still do, actually, with rigid 3-pice fork. Good stuff.


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## cjarnesen (Apr 29, 2009)

*Own one of the last Santa Cruz Bontragers*

Awesome to find this thread. I just started riding again and brought my old race-lite out of the garage. I have one of the last Santa Cruz, Keith race lites. I bought it as a 98 model, but it was all mid '97 parts and frame. It has every gusset and touch that Keith wanted, and finally did as Trek was buying him out.

Being a light weight back then I found an Aluminum 1" steer Rock Shox SID to replace the Judy XC. Also threw on a King Headset at the time.

In classic old school (before their time) I ride the Time ATAC pedals.

I upgraded to the ceramic Bontrager Race lite wheelsets with King hubs. 24 spoke front, 28 rear. Offset dish design on the rear.

The rest is classic XT parts.

I love the old school steel feel and the short wheelbase, high BB twitchy ride.

It even has the second water bottle mount on the bottom of the DT, because it wouldn't fit inside the frame.

The only bummer in all this is, its an Xtra Small, 14.5" I've grown since those years. It still fits but only with a longer stem and pushed back seat. Would love to find a size small frame if anyone has one.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Bike is always for sale for the right price and to the right owner.

-CJ


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## rockafella (Nov 17, 2009)

CT, do you still need a frame? I'm about to take my Race down to the frame for repaint/rebuild


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