[mtnbobber]

Acquired this a short while ago and was told it was a custom frame built by the man himself. Previous owner thought '98 or '99 what says the salsa intelligentsia?

Serial number SR2577 and yes, Scoboni is on the top tube. Also she's a big un... Seat tube 22.5 c-t-c and top tube 24.5 c-t-c. Good thing I am build like a gorilla.

 

[Rumpfy]

Interesting that it has 'Scoboni' on the tt...the serial number would indicate that its around a 97 or so. Most likely not built by Ross unless theres something about this frame I don't know.

 

[holden]

that zip in the background is beat

 

[ssmike]

Odd that the serial number is an "SR..." number. That would usually indicate road. Mountain bike frame numbers were "SM..."

 

[mtnbobber]

Yep and I even turned on the lights to read the serial number. It is SR and I have only seen SM before as well. The guy I bought it from said it was a custom he had made, I wonder if it has anything to do with being non-stock. The seller also said it was made of 753 steel. Any idea what the late 90's ala cartes were made off.

And what about the post above the bottom bracket in the third pic? I haven't seen one of those on a ala carte either, but then again I have mostly seen salsas from the 80's.

Oh and that zip in the background is actually an MB-1 which got rear ended on my car 10 year ago. It was my second MB1 the first burned up in a fire. I eased my pain with a Bontrager Race as its replacement.

 

[ssmike]

And what about the post above the bottom bracket in the third pic? I haven't seen one of those on a ala carte either, but then again I have mostly seen salsas from the 80's.

It is to mount a roller for top pull cable routing and use with a bottom pull derailleur.

Hmmm, that's got me thinking. In the late '90's top pull front derailleurs were commonly available so there should have been the need for that mount. Combine that with the "R" serial number and the use of 753 tubing and I'm thinking that is a some kind of a custom cyclocross creation. There doesn't appear to be a lot of clearance in the chainstay for fat mountain bike tires.

What is the rear spacing between dropouts? 130mm or 135mm? What is the distance from the axle to the cantilever post?

 

[bushpig]

Yep and I even turned on the lights to read the serial number. It is SR and I have only seen SM before as well. The guy I bought it from said it was a custom he had made, I wonder if it has anything to do with being non-stock. The seller also said it was made of 753 steel. Any idea what the late 90's ala cartes were made off.

You can't weld 753. It has to be lugged with silver.

 

[mtnbobber]

I got the frame with a top pull XTR derailleur, but who knows that could be a later addition.

The rear spacing is 135mm and from the axle to the post is 255mm (definitely 26 inch tire). As far as tire clearance, I just threw a 2.10 up in there with room left over.

The 753 is impossible to say with certainty. Got that word of mouth from the seller and maybe it's 853 who knows, he felt it worthy to mention that it was "special" and I have no idea how to check.

 

[bushpig]

The 753 is impossible to say with certainty. Got that word of mouth from the seller and maybe it's 853 who knows, he felt it worthy to mention that it was "special" and I have no idea how to check.

Not much in life is certain, but one thing is - that frame is TIG welded so it cannot be 753. I think 853 was introduced in 1995 and it is used for A La Cartes.

 

[mtnbobber]

853 seems likely then, unless of course those TIG-like connections under that beautiful paint are in fact the worlds smallest and lumpiest hand filed lugs. But then TIG seems more likely.

OK so we know it is large mountain frame with 853 and a weird serial number and Scoboni on the TT. I guess I'll just have to build it up and ride it. :thumbsup:

 

[First Flight]

When in doubt, ask the man who was responsible for it. This was the answer from Ross:

Hi Jeff,

This bike was built for Joe Lavelle in early '99. The "R" on the bottom
bracket is a bit of a mystery....looking at my books, apparently there were
a few mtb frames that got the "R" instead of the "M" in the serial number
right in that same time frame...I'd guess that we had a bunch of BB's
already stamped for road bikes and none unstamped in stock....I probably had
a hand in on the building of this frame since I designed, oversaw and did
some of the work on every custom that came out of Salsa. This bike was built
only a few months before I cried uncle and left Salsa, if my records are
correct, its one of the last 3 custom Salsa's ever produced.

The tubing is definitely not 753, never touched the stuff for any of my own
frames and we barely used any 853 so I doubt that we used it on this frame.
We probably used Reynolds 725.