frantik

I picked up a 1993 DBR Axis TT a month or two back.. Being a big fan of Diamondbacks, and this being the best frame they ever sold, the titanium Axis was been somewhat of a "grail" bike for me. I plan on building it up as a weight weenie build.

Originally came with an aftermarket carbon fork which was the wrong size for the frame



I was lucky enough to find a super light steel fork to replace the carbon one.. the steel fork actually ended up being lighter than the carbon fork by close to 100 grams!


Trek System 3 butted cr-mo fork

I had a lot of other parts on hand, and ordered others. I'm going to be doing a drop bar conversion on this bike, and am just waiting for some Campy Ergo brake levers/shifters to arrive to finish up the build. Here's a pic with some Cane Creek brakes on as a mock up. 20.9 lbs / 9.5kg as pictured



1993 DBR Axis TT frame
Trek System 3 double butted crmo fork (made by Tange)
Campagnolo Veloce Ergo shifters/brake levers (pictured are Cane Creek SCS-5 brake levers)
Shimano Deore XT M735 FD
Shimano 600 Tricolor 7400 RD
Shimano Dura Ace 8 sp cassette 13-23
Shimano Deore LX M563 front hub laced to Mavic 230 SPB rim
Shimano Deore M510 rear hub laced to Sunrim CR18
Shimano Deore XT M732 cantilever brakes
Sugino Impel crankset with Token 44t alloy outter ring and 34t steel inner ring
Shimano Deore XT M735 pedals
System EX stem
Origin8 Gary dirt drop bar
Kore seat post
WTB SST saddle with Ti rails
Ritchey Scuzzy Logic Comp headset
Unknown BB
Compass Tires 26x1.75"

I was planning on doing a blue ano theme but the red saddle is kind of throwing everything off. The dark green fork isn't helping either. Eventually I think I'll need to paint or power coat the fork black. Not sure if I should go with more blue ano or give on up that.

Waiting for the shifters/brake levers to arrive and then I'll finish up the first stage of this build. I've been looking for a proper wheelset to put on.. the front wheel is pretty light but the rear is super bulky. I think this frame deserves some low spoke count, high end light wheels

Here's a pic of how the bike looked originally: (thanks to marinito at Retrobike who's thread i found that pic in)

I'll post an update once I get the Campy brakes/shifters.. looking forward to taking this this for a spin

jimc101

Why was the fork the wrong size for the frame? as it looks fine, the carbon fork will probably have been longer (ATC), but this combined with a shorter than spec'd stem can give an old bike to a more reasonable / modern handling characteristics.

frantik

The frame was designed for a rigid fork. The aftermarket carbon fork that came with the frame was designed to replace a suspension fork with 100mm of travel. When I put some wheels on with the carbon fork, the handling was horrible as the wheel just wanted to flop over to side. The longer fork would make the seat and head tube angles more slack which is the opposite of what I want. On top of all that, the steel fork actually weighs less than the carbon one.

Italuminium

Very nice frame! no doodads at all, wonderful. I like the idea of a drop bar build, but my OCD can't handle stems like that...

frantik

yeah threadless drop bar conversions don't have a lot of attractive options for stems, especially if the steerer tube is cut short. I think i saw someone was making a threadless "LD" stem but it was like $200

ish

There was a choice between XTR and LX back then? The LX version seems like an odd offering.

frantik

Yeah I was looking at that.. the LX one includes an XT RD. Checking out Bikepedia it doesn't look like Diamondback offered any bikes with all XT that year.. the highest end steel frames came with the same LX mix as the Axis TT LX. In 1994, Diadmondback offered an XT and and an LX version of the Axis, but no XTR. The 94 version with all XT cost more than the 93 version with all XTR by a few hundred dollars.. not sure why that is. In 94 you could get a steel Axis with all XT as well (there was no steel Axis model in 93)

realestvin7

Not bad. Should be a nice ride.

frantik

Just grabbed the perfect wheelset for this bike.. I would have missed it too except a strange set of circumstances woke me up early and I saw the seller had responded to the email I had just sent 4 hours previouasly, right before going to bed. 16 mile round trip, seller said when he arrived he had just been on the phone with someone begging him to hold them for him.

Using a Diamondback to pick up parts for another Diamondback



Ringle Superbubba hub with Mavic 230 SPB rim


AC APX 8 hub with Mavic X517 rim


Ringle Ti Stix



Seller's pic.. he also threw in the Specialized S-Works Rockster 26x1.90 tires


Before I wasn't sure about if I should go with a blue ano theme, but now that's definitely the direction i'll be going

gaucho777 

Nice score--both the frame and the wheels. If you're set on the blue ano theme, depending on your budget, you might even look into having some parts custom anodized. I recently had some work done by Electro-Plating Specialties in San Leandro: "www.eps-plating.com" I did a test case with just some pedals--not necessary cost-effective--and was very pleased with their work. Decided next time I'd save up a bunch of parts to spread out the costs. Turn-around was really fast. They could have done same day, but I wasn't able to come back, so I picked up the parts the next day. You have to do all the prep work (i.e. stripping & polishing as needed). Just something to think about.

frantik

thanks for the tip.. do you recall how much the pedals were? it would be cool to have custom ano deore XT cantis.. and it would also be nice to have everything be the same color blue 90s blue ano is more like turquoise while modern blue ano is more "blue"

gaucho777 

I paid ~$70 for one batch. I did only a pair of pedal cages (admittedly, an expensive test case), but I believe a whole bike's worth of parts could be done for that same price. I was reluctant to do more that one part at the time in case there were any problems, but I was pleased with the results. I know there are other places closer to SJ (pull up google maps and search for elecro-plating), but Electro-Plating Specialties in San Leandro got good reviews and was closer to me. Here's another option: www.santaclaraplating.com/service/anodizing. Note they can do color matching.

frantik

Cool, 70 for a bunch of stuff would be reasonable. I'll keep it in mind for this one

wrk101

I would check out the various anodized bear trap VP pedals on Ebay. They come in several colors, I bought a green set for my Cimarron. Like these: VP MTB BMX DH Fr Downhill Bear Trap Pedals Ano Blue New | eBay


These are the green ones I bought:

VP DH Bear Trap Mountain Bike Downhill Pedals Green Anodized | eBay

frantik

I have some of those VP pedals in in purple and they are nice, though i'm not sure if they are lighter than the XT pedals i have on there now. that wheelset with the blue ano is lighter than all my other wheelsets in addition to being a sweet color.

if it was ~$70 to anodize some existing parts that would be preferable to buying a bunch of stuff piece by piece and having them all be mismatched colors. A lot of the ano blue is these days is "cobalt blue" or similar.. on this chart those pedals are closest to "fast blue" but the color of the hubs and the color i prefer is more accurately called "turquoise"

frantik

Just got these in the mail today Gonna do the ol' Shimergo trick to mate it with an 8 speed cassette. The brifters are ~60g lighter than the Cane Creek SCS-5 brake levers and Deore thumb shifters I typically use to set up my drop bars. If I like these, I probably will add another set to my Jamis

Chrome Molly

You may need to hubbub the RD, but it will work out fine. Nice score on the wheels. Blue ano crank?

frantik

blue ano crank would be sweet, gonna settle for blue ano crank bolts for now though

frantik

painted the fork black.. felt kinda guilty stripping off the immaculate stock paint but it was totally the wrong color. I used "Painters Touch" brand Gloss Black primer+paint (in one can) but it's more like a really dark grey/brown than actual black. Depending on how well it holds up i might get it powder coated in the future, but this will work for now



blue ano crankbolts look sick.. they match the hubs too I ordered turquoise Onza Chill Pills and I hope to anodize the seatpost, stem and other bits in the future



(sorry for the cell phone pics )

neo_pop_71

frantik,

Hola compadre, man that Ti Axis is a sick come up indeed, I'm stoked for 'ya brother! As I've enjoyed your love of high end DBR bikes, I started looking for a Ti model to add to the stable, that is an uber rare bike as yours is only the second one that I've seen in 4 or 5 months of searching. The bike gods must have smiled on us at the same time, I too scored some gems. The wheelset I picked up has a Ringle Super-Dupper Bubba up front and a Super-Dupper Eight in the rear, both are black and laced to gold anodized Mavic SUP hoops. Like your seller, my seller included Michelin WildGripper skins with the deal. Just for laughs I'll bet'cha an inner tube on who got the better deal on the wheels, interested? Anyway, I've decided to rebuild my 1996 Psycle Werks WildHare and give it some proper aftermarket lovin' with those gems I scored. Here's a partial shot of the gems, a progress photo of the build, and the Super-Dupper Eight.



When I scored those parts, I bought 2 used Kooka cranks and a new one in the box. I see your Sugino crank also has a 94 BCD, same as the Kookas, possibly you'd like to add some period correct Kooka cranks to your grail... your ano bolts and rings will swap straight over. Send me a PM on that wheel bet and if you think that Kookas will work with your build.

Peace'fo'real,

-D-

frantik

That's some nice goodies ya got there I sent ya a pm

frantik

NOS Ano goodness!

frantik

the other week I found out Chris King recently did a run of limited edition turquoise parts.. it was almost like it was meant to be! just got this in the mail today



I can finish the build now... though I kinda want to go with the jagwire titanium colored cables.. haven't decided yet. Also not sure about the bar tape color.. I'd like turquoise but my favorite bar tape brand is Salsa and they don't offer a turquoise color.. I don't know if anyone does actually.

frantik

pulled the old headset using a piece of pvc pipe and removed the crown race with the screw driver. Gonna go to the hardware store to make a headset press to install the new headset.. assuming i can't find anything suitable on hand

frantik

installed the headset the other day





and got the final piece of the puzzle in the mail today.. now I can finally build her up!