jrennie

So our team switched from Salsa podio's last season to Spooky Skeletors for 2010 and I received mine yesterday. With all the Mickey man crushing on this site I thought I'd share it.


(Sorry all I have is crappy phone pics so far)
Initial impressions:
The welds look very beefy and the shaping on the tubes is a nice. It strikes me as a no frills race bike first and foremost. One of the wheelsets I like to run is my Stinger 9's which have a really wide rim. Seat stay clearance is pretty darn tight so much so that with these wheels(my carbones have more room) if the wheel gets knocked out of true or broke a spoke it would most likely hit. The frame was considerably heavier than I expected at 1250g, about 25% heavier than claimed weight of 1000g but I'm guessing the 1000g is for the smallest size and I ride a 56.




Build:
It was pretty straight forward with the exception of some metal shards that required the BB to be chased and some excess welding slag int eh head tube that needed to be filed down before the fork and headset would align.

Frame: Skeletor 56
Fork: Edge 2.0
Shifters: Sram Force
FD: Rival
RD: Rival
Brakes: Red
Cranks: Sram SRM w/BB bottom bracket
Chain: 1090R
Post: 3t doric
Saddle: SLR XP
Bars: WCS logic II
Stem: WCS 4 axis
Cages: no name ebay 20g
Pedals: Zero ss
Wheels: Stinger 9 w/ RXL pro tubular or Carbone w/ PR3



I'll update with a proper pic and ride impressions today to tomorrow.

fordfasterr

holy crap.

The welds on that frame look like some of the low-end bd stuff.. whats up with that?

I hope you got the frame for free at least !

Nate552

Looks very businesslike.

Fat Boy

'Good' welds are not ones that have been filed down and smoothed over. Good welds are ones that are the strongest. That means you can see the weld pattern and they penetrate the tube properly. Smoothing welds breaks the grain structure as weakens a weld even though companies like Cannondale (which I own) has made it fashionable. By it's very nature an AL weld is much larger than a steel or Ti weld. This relates back to material properties, not any shortcoming of the builder.

I know what I'm looking at, and it looks good to me.

El Diablo Rojo

This has altered the perception of what a proper al weld will look like.

Hot look'n rig BTW!!!!

spinwax

I live the Spookys. The coolest alum bike out there. Yours is SICK and race ready looking. Love the Edge fork. Great choice.

Some people race on CAAD 9s. CAAD 9s actually race on Spooky Skeletors.

CrimsonKarter21

I usually don't like the looks of compact frames, but this bike looks really good. I'd really like one of these bikes, but Mickey isn't giving me one, and I don't get bikes unless they're given to me.

queerpunk

heh. i wish i didn't get a bike unless it was given to me.

that said, my Spooky was given to me, and i just put the last bits on it a few nights ago... pardon the half-arsed indoor photography.

bdcheung

@queerpunk that's a tiny looking bike. 48c?

SalsaPodio

I'm pretty excited to hear how the thing rides from the viewpoint of someone who has ridden a Podio. When I bought my race bike it was between the Podio and the Skeletor. I went with the Podio and couldn't be happier with it, but it will be interesting to hear how the ride compares.

queerpunk

52cm. yeah. i'm a shortie.

KendallF

I hate to say it, but I'm very seriously underwhelmed. Those graphics, the apparent prep issues, and the weight..

I raced a couple of seasons ago on a very similar appearing and weighing Leader frame with an even uglier paint job. That frame cost me $100. That's about what I'd spend on one of these.

I feel bad now that I've typed this. But it's cathartic.

CrimsonKarter21

It's a

not a

jrennie

Well, I agree with both comments. It is a tool and the spooky is setup for all go with very little show. At the same time there is very little difference from this and a generic Al frame.

With that being said, I know Mickey either gets his tube(or assembled frames) from sapa who also makes Moots stuff as well as low end stuff. It's not the material but what you do with it. I was very skeptical about the Salsa podio and it turned out to be a great frame.

I won't know for sure till my knee is well enough to train/race on.

queerpunk

they're not painted, they're anodized. i've seen leaders up close, and a lot of other aluminum bikes. my skeletor has good welds - very even. better than my Felt, better than my CoMotion, for what it's worth. Rides better than either, too. i understand being skeptical of e-fuss, but it's hard to make some of these calls with a bunch of mediocre-at-best pictures on the internet.

umd

Nice. I asked Shimahara last weekend why he wasn't on his Salsa anymore and he mumbled something about it but I didn't really understand and didn't ask for clarification.