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Submitted by
Rafael Casiano
a Weekend Warrior
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date Reviewed: July 6, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Belmont Plateau | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | Blackwater Bike Shop | | Strengths: | Frame geometry: Slightly shorter seat tube for those have slightly shorter legs. Ti plated, double-butted steel frame. Super light! | | Weaknesses: | It's steel: so, if not taken care of, it will rust. | | Similar Products Used: | I've ridden Giant, GT, Mongoose, however, they do not compare to this bike. | | Bike Setup: | All XT components. Thomson headset. DT-Swiss rims mounted on CK hubs. Cook Bros. cranks. | | Bottom Line: | Well, what can I say? The bike is great on descents and equally impressive on climbs. It's quick on single track and switchbacks. Overall, for a vintage bike, it can stll compete in XC circuit and most certainly for a thirty-something year old weekend warrior like myself. Too bad they don't make these any more. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andy Bell
a Cross Country Rider
from England
Date Reviewed: January 22, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Any fast and technical | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$1200.00 | | Purchased At: | Cycleworld, Sunderland, UK | | Strengths: | The frame!!! if treated well (waxoil the tubes every couple of years & store dry) Infact this is the only original part of the bike thats left!! ..Great ride, Responsive, lite, forgiving, performance! Flick the top tube and hear the tuning fork like ring from those ultralite Tange tubes!!! beautiful. | | Weaknesses: | Tendency to rust from inside out (unnoticable). This can be major as the tubing is so thin. Look out for rust spots and treat immediately. Try not to dent the top or down tube as this could compromise the frame. | | Similar Products Used: | GT, Cannondale, Ridgeback etc | | Bike Setup: | 2003/4 XT Drivetrain, Hope-(Headset,hubs,disc,ti-skewers), SID Race04, Time ATAC, MAVIC, DT Revolution, X-Lite Ti XLRPro, Easton Carbon, Syncros | | Bottom Line: | Best bike (frame) I've ever owned!! Im keeping it and riding it for as long as I can. I've recently upgraded a load of components with top notch speck, thats how confident in this bike/frame I am.
Rem if you damage this frame its steel (top notch -double butted Tange superlite) so chances are you can get it fixed by a rep. frame builder!
If you are a fast trail/cross cuntry demon like me then you will love this bike. But then you prob. wont be lucky enough to get hold of one now!?
Park Pre - This is a legend frame! Top marks. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Squishy Lamano
a Cross Country Rider
from the Valley of the Sun
Date Reviewed: February 25, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | The one by the dam and the abandoned mineshafts. | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$1500.00 | | Purchased At: | A very good LBS in SoCal. Best service ever! | | Strengths: | It's made out of titanium-plated steel - very lusty.
The steel is butted.
The year it came out, it had the best suspension fork you could get. There was nothing better at the time.
The RF shifters were good that year.
| | Weaknesses: | Not for those that want the stiffest frame.
It came with Onza clipless. You know, the ones that won't let go of your feet?
The tubes obviously came without some kind of rust-preventive treatment. After over a year, the inside of the tubes were rusting like crazy. That's how it died.
After the sixth month, the rear Pulstar freehub broke during a night-ride out in the middle of nowhere. It was the longest walk ever! | | Similar Products Used: | Various hardtails. Some steel and some aluminum (I usually leave the aluminum at home).
| | Bike Setup: | It came with a smooth 8-spd XT drivetrain, Manitou 3 elastomer fork (the best at the time, hehe), Critical Racing CNC'd cantilever brakes (very powerful).
| | Bottom Line: |
I would probably get another one if they still made them. That's because the selection of steel bikes is shrinking. I did find a butted-cromoly frame recently, but I had to upgrade everything else on it (wheels, drivetrain, etc.).
Several years have passed, and by today's standards, the fork would have to be upgraded. The elastomer springs in the fork became too stiff during cold weather and had to be replaced once a year after they lost their elasticity.
The long-armed cantilevers were very powerful.
The rear Pulstar hub that took a sh!t on me was quickly replaced with a whole new rear wheel. Service was excellent!
Overall, it was very good, but not as good as the bike that replaced it. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Cody Sherr
a Weekend Warrior
from Seattle, WA
Date Reviewed: August 26, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Winsor (Santa Fe, NM) | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
Solid frame, very tough, very stable, and runs really nice. | | Weaknesses: |
none | | Bottom Line: | Buy this bike, it's great. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John Foss
a weekend warrior
from Mankato Mn
Date Reviewed: September 3, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I picked this bike up for $900. The front shock is a Judy SL which I put on and the hubs it came with (pulstar) are smoother than a babies . . . Good all around bike and I should know because I've been through 4 bikes withing the last 2 years. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bart Lee
a cross-country rider
from Texas
Date Reviewed: March 22, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I have had this bike for nearly four years and it has been a joy. The rear triangle snapped one day but Park-Pre came through on the replacement relatively fast (two weeks). I have ridden it very hard and have no real complaints once I got rid of the original hubs years ago. I ride too much to have to hassle with a FS bike so long live the hardtail! | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Roger ihatehuns Cooper
a cross-country rider
from Marlborough .U.K.
Date Reviewed: March 8, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
This bike is superb, I bought it 2 years ago and I still cannot believe the quality of the frame. I on;y wish that there was a supplier to the U.K. for these wonders of U.S. technology......Thanks.
I hate the hubs and have subsequently replaced them.
The bike is now getting a bit rusty, so it's off to have a respray.5*+ | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Niklas Jonsson
a cross-country rider
from Katrineholm, Sweden
Date Reviewed: October 17, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
It´s not much to say. The best bike I ever been riding. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Thomas Syvertsen
a racer
from Skövde,Sweden.
Date Reviewed: September 13, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I used to ride that forgiving steelframe of the Parkpre Pro 825,but now I ride a
Parkpre Proelite the titanium beast.I must say that other then weigth the bikes
are pretty much the same , the Pro 825 is hell of bike and it´s cheap to so buy
one or two. I love em both !Ride don´t surf.
Thomas Syvert Syvertsen. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jesus Tijerina
a cross-country rider
from Monterrey N.l. Mex.
Date Reviewed: August 18, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
Parkpre Pro 825 | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dan
a racer
from NY
Date Reviewed: August 17, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I rode and raced a 825 for more than two years. By the time I was done I had replaced most of the parts but I love (and miss) that frame. The biggest complaint - Park Pre the company - They have terrible service to the east coast. If they had better service I would probably still be racing a pPark Pre. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Joakim Jacobsson
a weekend warrior
from Gothenburg (Sweden)
Date Reviewed: August 1, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I have had my PP Pro Image for 8 months and I have NOT been nice to it. I have riding it several hours every day and the bike still works perfectly. But the great thing is that if You are thinking of convert your PP Pro Image 825 to a trail bike: STOP THINKING, JUST DO IT. The bike´s angles makes it´s perfect to trail with. The frame is sad enough is not a light one, it´s quiet heavy (but that makes it bulletproof). But don´t worry about the weight and not being able to stop the bike when needed, the XT V-brakes stops just about anything. I´m riding with brakeboosters and now my brakes can stop a jumbo jet. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Grover
a cross-country rider
from Maple Ridge (Canada)
Date Reviewed: December 13, 1996 | | Bottom Line: |
I have had mine for about 1 year, and other than most of the components, I love the bike.
The frame is great, light, and strong; however, the hubs suck, the araya rims do not like to stay ture, and the machine tech QR's (at least the rear one broke).
One good note is that Parkpree has admitted that the hubs suck, and will replace them with Shimano XT hubs if you bitch and complain enough.
Now that I have managed to sort all of that out, and am having a Mavic wheel built for the rear, I love the bike. | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brandon Wong
a cross-country rider
from San Luis Obispo, CA
Date Reviewed: April 15, 1996 | | Bottom Line: |
Sizes Available 15,17,19,21
Weight 25.5 Lbs.
Frame TIG Welded Tange' double butted Superlight tube set
Fork Manitou 4
Component Set Shimano XT, with Pulstar hubs
I ordered a stock bike from the factory, it arrived with only
two minor changes. One was I had Dia-Comp VC 900 rather than Critical
Racing brakes and the second was a threaded Manitou 4. No big deal to me.
I handles great, very stable on the decents and fairly well
balanced when it comes to climbing steep terrain. You do have to slide
forward a tad in order to keep the front wheel down on steep climbs.
But the steering is slow on tight single track with the 72 degree
head angle and 72 degree seat tube.
Traction is maintained with an onZa Porcupine up front
and a Maxxix Viper in back. Dia-Comp Grey Matter pads take care of
stopping hard and fast. Shifting is accomplished by XT Rapidfire Plus.
onZa bar ends aid in the climbing, power applied with the use
of Speedplay Frogs, and I am using a Bullet Brothers Chain Tensioner to
reduce the chainslap, rather than use the chainstay mounted ones
that interfere the operation of the drivetrain.
The Manitou 4 works great stock, for the past six month I personally
did not find a need for any upgrades in the way of the Enguland damping unit
or Speed Springs.
The added plus on this frame is the effective frame size is
two inches shorter that the actual geometry size. This is for better
stand over hight and according to PARKPRE, for performance.
The only complaint I have it that you should check your rear
Pulstar hub often for play. Every once in a while my headset will
also loosen up, off of this easily taken care of with tools.
I love the fact that the sucker is light!
| | Overall Rating: |
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