Hello there, at one of the local bike shops there is an old MTB frame. I took a fingernail and scrubbed some of the appliance paint off what appears to be the only partial frame decal left intact. It read WSI International of Centurion and Diamondback fame. The frame was dual twotone coloured originally, with blue ends and a sort of beige-ish colour for the rest. I think I found out what it was originally (see crappy internet photo). Any clue as to what Diamondback this frame belongs to? An "Ascent" maybe?

I'd say Ascent

I have an Ascent and an Apex in that scheme.

Were there any components on it, or any frame material decals?

Agreed, maybe Ascent EX...would have splatter if pic was better.

Fine rigids ~ '89

Ah ok, corroboration is appreciated. The bike is at one of the local coops, not a bike shop. Nope, all I could find was a partial shred of the WSI distribution label on the bottom of the frame so no decals. It has a tioga oversized headset on it but it doesn't seem complete and a bit of a mish mash in parts there. I presume then this is a cro-mo frame and fork. The chainstays are shorter than the bike I currently ride and this means no milkcrate on the back - shucks. Maybe, some wald baskets back there and a front rack though. I'll pick it up and bring it home. If I can find something in the future more suitable I'll give it back. I have a hard time finding suitably sized frames.

I don't believe that WSI spec'd the oversized Tioga headset until 1990 and the smoke paint was gone by 1991, so it should be a 1990 model. I've seen both the 1990 Apex and Ascent in the bue smoke fade to white paint scheme. The former was spec'd with Shimano Deore DX, while the latter used Shimano 400LX.

Thanks T-Mar, this D-Back had it's parts stripped off it by the time I'd seen the frame. They've disappeared into the ether by now. At first I'd thought the serial had been filed and the house paint was so thick it made reading it barely legible, but it is there in fact. What type of metal are we looking at for this frame? I think it isn't a light one judging by weight. Short chainstays though and yet can take a wide tire by the looks of things. Might be fun to put some Winnipeg Pothole Tamers on it for more of a glide ride. It doesn't have under down tube braze-ons so this isn't the EX model, assuming all EX's had that feature. This frame has the curved forks, not the straight. This is probably the frame here >> https://bikerebuilds.com/bikes/diamo...y-sfbiketrader

The linked bicycle is a 1990 Diamondback Apex. The straight bladed forks were used in 1989, However, I'm curious about "it doesn't have under down tube braze-ons". They didn't change the gear cable routing to the top tube until 1992, when Shimano brought out top pull front derailleurs. We need some photos. Also, what is the serial number?

Right! The google search was for an Ascent and even though the paint is the same I didn't notice the Apex decal. The frame is home now and I'll see about some snaps when it cools down outside. Whew - hot out there. Brought the frame home strapped to the Kuwahara. It would have been nice if this frame had double eyelets front and rear on the dropouts. Should be almost a standard feature IMO. What I mean by under down tube braze-ons was for a water bottle and not cable routing.

Yeah, there tend to be fewer eyelets on higher-end frames. Fender mounts didn't scream "XC race bike" to the intended buyers back then.
But hey- at least it has mid-fork mounts that many other bikes lack.

Here are some photos. You can tell that the paint is soft and I hit up the shell manually with a wire brush to expose the serial a bit. From what I can tell the frame is intact. Haven't checked all the threading but the derailleur hanger threads on a derailleur firmly. I think the brake bosses look straight and aligned.

A 3rd set of bottle bosses on under side of the down tube was very rare on ATBs, as the bottle just got encased in mud from font wheel spray. Top mounting afforded more protection, especially around the nozzle. Some of the 1st generation ATB frames placed two sets of bosses on the top of the down tube, on the larger frame sizes. Bottle mounts under the down tube were primarily the realm of grand touring bicycles.

I can't read the serial number from the photo. It looks like the photo may even be upside down. Still, I'm pretty sure that this is a 1990 model, as the 1989 models used straight fork blades and most of the 1988 models used chainstay mounted U-Brakes. the 1991 models went to splatter paint jobs. I think that I have some specs for 1990 in a buyer's guide. I'll see if I can find them .

Hello T-Mar, thank you for looking and for your diligence as always. Using a lousy camera and a bit of paint stripper, I was able to take some snaps of the serial; J00230608 it appears. I also took the fork out and there is some date info on it too (see photos) indicating 1990. The steerer tube indicates 25.4 x 30 (thread count?). The appliance paint came off right away and it was almost a shame to have the stripper begin to sticky up the original underneath.

The lead character in the serial number is actually a "U". The format belongs to United Engineering Corporation, a Taiwanese company and known contract manufacturer of Diamondback. Your frame was manufactured in February 1990, which corroborates it being a 1990 model.

I was unable to find the 1990 Buyer's Guide. I must have been thinking of another year. However, I was able to find an advertisement for the 1990 Apex , Ascent and Ascent EX. The Ascent is shown in your colour scheme and both the Apex and Ascent appear to match your frame design. I wouldn't be surprised if both models used the same frame. The Ascent EX frame shown is a slightly different design. It has a straight brake bridge, no rack eyelets on the upper seat stays and appears to have horizontal, or at least different, rear dropouts.

Edit: I believe the 25.4 x 30.0 dimension should refer to the noiminal quill diameter of the stem to be used with the fork and the inner diameter of the crown race to used with the fork. Basically, they're the compatibility dimensions. The thread should be 1-1/8" x 26TPI.

Apparently the steel is TrueTemper "AVR", or something. I've been meaning to call and get a quote on frame powdercoating and did so today. I have this DB and the Maruishi. $150 per. Hmmmm. I think I'll try and get a deal on a colour I like in a rattle can and paint them both the same colour. FWIW, I had saved an oversized Deore DX headset which should probably work on this frame. I'd put a bullmoose bar on it too but scant few came in a 25.4 quill. Thanks for your help on this one T-Mar!

Assuming these are original parts on this EX model, this is what it came stocked with according to this ad and just posted here by [MENTION=359721]Clang[/MENTION] in this thread. It appears to be Mountain LX, and the plain Ascent should offer one calibre down from that on it.

That's a 1989 model, as it has the straight fork blades.. The presence of thumbshifters also indicates pre-1990.. Yours is from 1990.
Mountain LX was discontinued at the end of 1989.
The 1990 Ascent EX was spec'd with Shimano Deore LX.
The 1990 Asscent was spec'd with Shimano 400LX.