Is 1997 Vintage?? (Full Suspension)
 

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So, you know if you gotta ask that question you are old. haha. I haven't really documented this ridiculous build but I've had this frame sitting around for 20 years and always wanted to build it up. It's a 21 inch, 1997, 4130 chromoly steel frame made by Ross with the with a name so bad it hyperconverts to cool- I give you the Zemopi 584. When it came out it was an expensive bike at 900 bucks , which is like 100,000 dollars in dog years today. I'm 6'1 230 so I figured I better double up on the rear suspension since my ass hits the seat pretty hard these days at 57 years old. I'm posting pics now before I put the finishing touches on but she's definitely a sign that I'm still not afraid to go full reetod with a build. I apologize ahead of time. (; I went with Magura Hydraulic rim brakes in the back since the frame wasn't set up for disc brakes. They are surprisingly legit compared to regular V-brakes in my experience. They are a pain in the ass to install though. The baby sized rear shock is a DNM , which is all I could find in that size that actually has oil dampening and a 1000lb spring that works. The handlebars are 780mm and the headset is a Pig DH pro. The Front fork is a Manitou Circus Expert with 130mm of travel. You can see the rest. I should have her buttoned up over the weekend. I plan to take it out to Pisgah on a suicide mission this spring.
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Tires are 2.4 on a Velocity Cliffhanger in the rear and 2.5 on a Spank Spoon in the front.

1997 is indeed vintage and btw very nice bike :thumb:

Thanks Bud, 1997 seems like yesterday though.....

It certainly wasn’t intended for that kind of fork height/travel but if it works and you like it all is well. There has arisen an idea that 90s mountain bikes with longer top tubes can handle longer suspension forks and short stem/wide bar combos pretty well but I have never really experimented with that. I have observed 90s frames being sized like BMX bikes by the top tube length in for sale listings.

I’d say when the kids don’t get it it’s vintage. I’ve been asked of my ‘97 Titanium Kona Hei Hei “Is that a road bike” and recently while riding the same bike overheard a woman I passed on a trail say her male partner “ that guy was riding a BMX”

Well, it widens the wheelbase and slackens the headtube, right? I've done this kind of conversion several times on older steel hardtail frames and despite conventional wisdom I find that it improves the ride, especially downhill. The litmus test for me is whether or not I can still climb the hills and I don't think the angle will be a problem on this bike.130mm isn't crazy. If it were 170mm maybe it would be a problem. As far as stress goes that frame is pretty much invincible, heavy, but super strong. At the end of the day it's a Frankenbike, yes. lol I'll be sure to leave an unbiased trip report and include any injuries incurred. (;

What a crazy setup. Is it supposed to be flex stays or is there some bearing I'm missing? The pedals are cool. I'm thinking it's going to have some weird pedaling behavior with mismatched shock and seat post frequencies. I don't think you are going very far til you put a chain on

For your reference here's your last go at it! By user name I guess this is you
Titan Compe and a Zemopi Signature 584 FS | Mountain Bike Reviews Forum

lol...as you can see. Ive been procrastinating.

No flex stays, Youre missing a bearing. (; You have to tune the shock and the seat post a little bit. mostly it protects the shock and keeps it from bottoming out hard. Ive run this setup before, it actually works great. The elastomer is slow so it really cant throw you. Not to mention, the travel on that shock is only 35mm and it's super stiff. Chain?? We don't need no stinking chain....

I also found photos of a "684" which is a Horst link as well as 474 and 484 model that are single pivot. Ross has history and "Signature" was for their premium bikes. But we don't see a lot come through and they are from the Eighties. This is a weird one. Since it's post-1995 you would think there would be something online. There's hardly any current internet links, like sale listings. You seem to be the only one who has ever posted one on BF in nearly thirty years. They must have sold about twelve of them and no one noticed. They don't look like bad bikes. I feel like there must be a story.

It was definitely a limited release, maybe a test market prototype? From what I can remember the 684 was almost 2 grand? That's a lot of money for the Ross Brand in 95, although I thought it was 97? . The 584 is a two pivot rear which was kind of cutting edge back then. They used to call it a "zero momentum pivot" which is where the name comes from. It also had a wide wheel base compared to other mountain bikes of the day. There is a guy selling a "new old stock" 584 on Ebay for 2k right now. It's been up for a long time. There IS another post somewhere of a guy with a 684 frame he was building up years back on another forum. I'd love to get my hands on that one. If you find any other info let me know. Who knows.. there may have been a patent dispute with regard to the pivot design. This would explain the limited production.

Here the 584 in it's original condition.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/280893924678

HA, looks like an old Mag21 or one of it's predecessors up front.

Can you do a photo of the other side rear triangle that shows all the pivots? I'm just curious

Sure, just gimme till the morning if that's ok. it's dark outside and it's locked up in the Conex out back....I'm not tryna run into a Dogman out at the edge of the woods taking pictures. (;

a what?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e6079093e8.png

I would say it is Vintage. It’s a Ross which is from an old company that at is no longer around and has old style tech which you don’t see anymore.
plus, it looks dang cool!

MTB tech has grown so quickly that damn near anything 26in is "classic" and steel tubed 26ers are vintage. Little odd to me to see modern 1x on an old bike like that but I bet it works great and is all ya need.
Your fork looks like it belongs in the circus...
That probably came with an 80mm fork, or a 100 so 130mm is long, but not that out there imo. I overforked a hardtail from 160 to 180mm and it rode great, so I am a believer in overforking for not super slack/long frames.

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Well, it IS a Manitou "Circus Expert" dirt jumper fork so you have keen intuition. (;

Cool! I thought it was going to be a short link on the bottom. With only the swing arm and the rocker, that's a triangle and the stays have to be flexing a little. Not a lot, the path of the upper link looks pretty flat. It's pretty common now but I had no idea anyone was doing it 28 years ago.

Perhaps this is an accepted definition of vintage, gleaned from the internet. Put another way, not my word, just a quote...

Generally, an item is considered "vintage" if it is at least 20 years old, but less than 100 years old; meaning it falls within a timeframe of roughly 20 to 99 years old, with many experts placing the emphasis on items being at least 20 years old to be considered vintage.

That said, from 1997 to 2025 would strongly suggest that the OP's bike is vintage. If it were 100 years old, or older, it would be considered to be antique.

[QUOTE=coalhills;23448072]Yeah, I guess you're right. I never really took much of a critical look at it. Interesting...Meanwhile I'm fussing with these Magura HS33 hydraulic rear rim brakes this afternoon. They are kinda persnickity. Leave it to the Germans if you want an over designed piece of kit for your retro bike. They do work really well though. For anyone thinking of upgrading an older MTB bike like this, who doesn't feel like breaking out the welder and adding tabs and supports to your rear triangle for disc brakes, the HS33 hydraulic rim brake and a Velocity Cliffhanger rear wheel is a totally legit combo. From my estimation they are on par or slightly better than a 160mm hydraulic disc brake and the Cliffhangers are super durable.... definitely the best 26" rim brake-capable wheels on the market for rugged trail riding.https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3ab15f3585.jpg