[Ciclistagonzo]

Since somebody asked for some life on this board I'll give it a shot...


Turkey Day - We stole a quick ride before obligatory family gatherings....

Pic 1. - A new member to the local Ventana family. Kevin (All of 16) on his new Chamuco)
Pic 2. - Kevin's Dad, Steve railed right behind, so fast I cut his head off, but I like the framing of the bike...
Pic 3. Steve Railing a turn...
Pic 4 - Kevin on the same turn on his new Chamuco, Cosmic Orange Front, Z1Sl 130mm up front, and a 2" stroke Float R out back for 5.5" travel. (5.1 X 5.5)
Pic 5 - The Chamuco's Cosmic Orange Twin brother, my Toro, sporting it's new fork.

 

[Ciclistagonzo]

A few more pics...More "life" for this board!"

Just a few more pics....

Pic 1- The last Turkey Day Shot - Folsom Lake to the left and in the WAY distant background is Folsom Dam...

Pic 2 - Ventana's always do look so pretty in the sun....(Especially with a new Fork!)
Pic 3 - My Toro now 0.25% faster thanks to this...

Pic 4 - As pretty as they are in the sun, they look so much better "Dirty"
Pic 5 - Really Dirty!

Hope you all enjoy, weather looks good for this weekend, I'll try to get more action shots to keep the board alive...

OLE!

 

[steiny]

in the WAY distant background is Folsom Dam...

Nice Dam ride. Nice Dam pictures. I'm allowed to say that in here, right?

 

[ronny]

I have never seen a Chamuco with an air shock before. Anyone else?

 

[paddlefoot64]

The headbadge makes it 25% faster, I think. Nice pictures.

 

[PaMtnBkr]

Cosmic Orange El Chammie? How?

Pic 4 - Kevin on the same turn on his new Chamuco, Cosmic Orange Front, Z1Sl 130mm up front, and a 2" stroke Float R out back for 5.5" travel. (5.1 X 5.5)

May be a dumb question but how did Kevin get his normally red ano El Chamuco in cosmic orange? Is it just a paint job over the ano? Did Ventana do it and how much $$ was a cool bling trick like that run? I love the air shock on the rear too! Pretty cool idea. I love my El Chamuco and may have to look at a air shock for it in the distant future to get the weight down over the Romic.

 

[Ciclistagonzo]

One Off Deal....

May be a dumb question but how did Kevin get his normally red ano El Chamuco in cosmic orange? .

I wasn't in on the deal or details but I know it was one of the last Chamuco frames left (unpainted) and they chose Cosmic Orange over the standard red.

I like the way it came out. Looks faster! =^D

The air shock set up is the same as the Romic that normally comes with it, except with the shorter 2" stroke. (Romic is 2.25 correct?) I believe Sherwood attended Veloswap with the last of the Chamuco frames built up that way. (And sold them all)

I'm not positive what the eye to eye is on the Romic but I believe it's 8.0" so all you'd need to do is get Float R or RP3 with the same eye to eye. This keeps the geometry the same, but you lose a whopping 0.5" of travel.

With his setup, once he dials it in (As in actually getting the fork to sag)

He should end up with a 68.5 Head angle and 72.5 Seat Angles. For a burly XC setup.

 

[PaMtnBkr]

Very Unique bike!!

I wasn't in on the deal or details but I know it was one of the last Chamuco frames left (unpainted) and they chose Cosmic Orange over the standard red.

I like the way it came out. Looks faster! =^D

The air shock set up is the same as the Romic that normally comes with it, except with the shorter 2" stroke. (Romic is 2.25 correct?) I believe Sherwood attended Veloswap with the last of the Chamuco frames built up that way. (And sold them all)

I'm not positive what the eye to eye is on the Romic but I believe it's 8.0" so all you'd need to do is get Float R or RP3 with the same eye to eye. This keeps the geometry the same, but you lose a whopping 0.5" of travel.

With his setup, once he dials it in (As in actually getting the fork to sag)

He should end up with a 68.5 Head angle and 72.5 Seat Angles. For a burly XC setup.

Thanks for the info. He's got himself a really unique bike. I really like the red anodized finish on mine but as a habanero pepper maniac I really like that cosmic orange! It reminds me of the habanero pappers I grew this past summer. When they were fully ripened the color was very similar to the cosmic orange!

 

[sherwood]

So what transpired to get a powdercoated Chamuco you ask?

We had decided to close out that model a while back and as we had no medium front triangles we decided to build three more mediums to even out the size spread. As three frames are not enough to meet ano minimums, we allowed our customers to choose their "custom" non-ano powdercoated color on those. Of the three we built, Cambria got one of them in our closeout sale to them...it is...electric red metallic powder coat. And yes it went with an airshock.

For those of you wondering, you can not powdercoat over anodizing as the current required for powder application is impeded by the anodized oxidation of the surface which means that the powder will not attatch to the surface, and it won't stick when baked.This is one of the primary reasons we have abandoned anodized finishes altogether.

Aaron is mostly correct, the 2 1/4" stroke Romic does have an 8" i2i, but the 2" float has a 7 7/8" i2i. This actually makes Chamuco a very capable trail bike as it reduces travel to 5.32", lowers the BB, makes it almost Pantera light and it can run a 130mm fork. If you want one, Cambria has them all, and I know they are selling them pretty cheap.

 

[PaMtnBkr]

Next question answered!

Thanks Sherwood,
I was going to ask if powder coating over ano was possible? Can you give a short history of the El Chamuco? I'm curious as to why you quit making them and the Pantera? It seems as if single pivot bikes have made a comeback since the advent of platform rear shocks. For me, a single pivot makes more sense in the wet, muddy east coast conditions we typically ride here in Pa. I have owned multi pivot bikes in the past and always hated the work associated w/maintaining a multi pivot bike. I think the El Chamuco is the perfect east coast bike w/its single pivot and ano finish. I compliment it by running continuous housings for my shifters and it really makes a difference! Now if I could only get an El Chamuco w/a Teflon finish to shed mud even better!

 

[sherwood]

Thanks Sherwood,
I'm curious as to why you quit making them and the Pantera?

Although both were absolutely great riding bikes, neither one sold well. My guess is that most Ventana customers gravitated toward the upper end of the Ventana line more often than simply "settling" on a perceived lesser model. But, what most people failed to recognize was the fact that all of those "lesser" frames were designed and built right here in our factory using the same set of tools and attention to detail as all of our other frames. We didn't cheese out and have them produced in large quantities in low cost sweat shops here or abroad so value on those models was exceptional.

And quite frankly, in the quantities that we ended up selling anually for both of those models, they really should have sold for about the same as our top end frames. The key to Pantera and Chamuco success was volume and large batch size production so we could keep costs down and realize some manufacturing cost savings due to the economy of scale. Unfortunately sales simply didn't bear this out. But they are still awesome bikes. Cambria still has some, and when they're gone, they're gone for good.

 

[LoneStar]

I agree with your assessment on the upper end frames hurting the sales of the Pantera and Chamuco. I have a Pantera, love it and it certainly doesn't hold me back by any measure, yet the Salty and X5 look so tasty I just can't help but periodically wonder if should buy one. Luckily I have regained my senses before I have pulled the trigger.

Of course, next I'll see D-Rock's refurbished Salty and the lust will begin again...

 

[TIGMAN]

Another Reba ?

Geeze Aaron, you bought another Reba who would have ever thought ! I'm on the Rock Shox bandwagon myself lately ! Here's a couple of photo's taken near my brothers pad in Washington ! Some awesome biking there have to get back there real soon ! TIG.

 

[icegeek]

Nice Rainier pics. Come next summer I'll be itching for some 410 riding. Among other places.

 

[TIGMAN]

Nice Rainier pics. Come next summer I'll be itching for some 410 riding. Among other places.[/QUOTE

Hi icegeek !

I'm hoping to get back out there next summer as well ! So many places to ride so little free time ! TIG.

 

[PaMtnBkr]

Sorry to see them go

Although both were absolutely great riding bikes, neither one sold well. My guess is that most Ventana customers gravitated toward the upper end of the Ventana line more often than simply "settling" on a perceived lesser model. But, what most people failed to recognize was the fact that all of those "lesser" frames were designed and built right here in our factory using the same set of tools and attention to detail as all of our other frames. We didn't cheese out and have them produced in large quantities in low cost sweat shops here or abroad so value on those models was exceptional.

And quite frankly, in the quantities that we ended up selling anually for both of those models, they really should have sold for about the same as our top end frames. The key to Pantera and Chamuco success was volume and large batch size production so we could keep costs down and realize some manufacturing cost savings due to the economy of scale. Unfortunately sales simply didn't bear this out. But they are still awesome bikes. Cambria still has some, and when they're gone, they're gone for good.

What a shame that the Pantera and El Chamuco didn't hit the sales #'s that you hoped for. Great bikes and the attention to detail is quite remarkable. I'll trasure mine for a long time! Thank you for making such a great bike!!

 

[Ciclistagonzo]

But I have a good excuse!?

No not really, I'm just a REBA junkie...

The Race on my Salty was such a huge improvement over the Black.

And lately I've been biten by the SS thing a bit, (Riding at least once a week on it) and as I have gotten better at it. I'm really starting to push the bike harder and the Psylo Sl was just not up to the task. (flexy and undersprung) Financial circumstances smiled at me and I figured what the heck! The REBA Sl was 270 at pricepoint, that's a whole lotta bang for buck there.

And if the REBA was a huge improvement for the Salty, it's an even better change for the Toro.

Sherwood made a suggestion to me when I first got the Toro that a Fox 80/100X (inertia Valve) would be perfect for an SS. And thanks to the Motion Control/Flood Gate I have that now at 1/3 the $$$!!! For smooth conditions or for hammering up climbs, I lock out the fork and have the Flood Gate set at 3 turns. (This seems to be the minimum Flood Gate Setting I need for my weight) Toro just flys set up this way, no wasted power and yet when I missed my line and nailed that 6" Baby head the Flood gate opened seamlessly and sucked up the rock.

So far three rides with the REBA on Toro and I'm loving it.

-A

 

[TIGMAN]

Rock Shox !

No not really, I'm just a REBA junkie...

The Race on my Salty was such a huge improvement over the Black.

And lately I've been biten by the SS thing a bit, (Riding at least once a week on it) and as I have gotten better at it. I'm really starting to push the bike harder and the Psylo Sl was just not up to the task. (flexy and undersprung) Financial circumstances smiled at me and I figured what the heck! The REBA Sl was 270 at pricepoint, that's a whole lotta bang for buck there.

And if the REBA was a huge improvement for the Salty, it's an even better change for the Toro.

Sherwood made a suggestion to me when I first got the Toro that a Fox 80/100X (inertia Valve) would be perfect for an SS. And thanks to the Motion Control/Flood Gate I have that now at 1/3 the $$$!!! For smooth conditions or for hammering up climbs, I lock out the fork and have the Flood Gate set at 3 turns. (This seems to be the minimum Flood Gate Setting I need for my weight) Toro just flys set up this way, no wasted power and yet when I missed my line and nailed that 6" Baby head the Flood gate opened seamlessly and sucked up the rock.

So far three rides with the REBA on Toro and I'm loving it.

-A

If Fo ever talks me into getting a singlespeed 29er, I may have to get one of those 29er Reba's to put on her ! I am interested in the heavy duty fork that Rock Shox hasn't released yet that may be just the ticket for the Bruja down the road even though my 36 is still being kind to me so far ! TIG.