Swoofty Posted July 20, 2022 Report Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) I've got something pretty special in the workshop right now. I'm still in the process of figuring out the accent colors and awaiting parts to complete it. Full story when I have the first rough draft to show. Edited July 21, 2022 by Swoofty 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Bourde Posted July 21, 2022 Report Share Posted July 21, 2022 Paintjob looks already neat...reminds me the norco rampage of a friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted July 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2022 The story I was told was that when Echo closed recently, all the remaining stock, whatever state it was in, was sold off. This particular frame set had been painted, but had not yet received decals and was sold as is. It came to my attention in a Japanese shop labelled as just a Czar Neuron Pro, but this color was only used on the limited edition version with the BB30 bottom bracket. Since my first trials bike back in 2009 was a Czar, I though it would be fitting that I should get my hands on possibly one of the last Czars. Now with the first build out, I'm struggling with the best accent color to finish it just so. The absence of decals also makes the 'bass boat purple' really dominate. I had hoped that tiny orange accents would work, mostly because I already had a spare wheel with orange nipples, but orange isn't quite right. The Clean cranks have the heavily overused red accents, but I have to say the red is actually growing on me. The rear hub is my trusty Profile Elite from my Ozonys Iron build back in 2015 and it's purple so it will have to do for now even though that makes for a lot of purple. I tried gold and silver bolts all around, but they weren't the right colors either. Might need some stickers to break up all that galaxy purple. Had my first real ride on it today; so much fun. I'm gonna miss Echo. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted July 22, 2022 Report Share Posted July 22, 2022 Some chrome vinyl stickers might look quite cool on that? Do you know from that person if Echo are fully closed down, or if it's just a continuation of their covid lockdown closures? Hopefully it's the latter rather than the former. They had some swings and some misses over their history, but they put a lot of great bikes out at really good prices. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigjames Posted July 22, 2022 Report Share Posted July 22, 2022 Bike looks sick, loving the colour! Afew of us were chatting about this the other day, the last range of bikes were looing awesome, would be a really shame if they are done and finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted July 22, 2022 Report Share Posted July 22, 2022 Are those the "Lenoski Pillars" behind the bike? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted July 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, PeterH said: Are those the "Lenoski Pillars" behind the bike? They are indeed (the locals call them "pawns"). That's my backyard Sadly, I've been trying to do the whole line unsuccessfully for 7 YEARS now!!!! You, sir, have a very good eye. Edited July 23, 2022 by Swoofty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted July 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2022 13 hours ago, Mark W said: Some chrome vinyl stickers might look quite cool on that? Do you know from that person if Echo are fully closed down, or if it's just a continuation of their covid lockdown closures? Hopefully it's the latter rather than the former. They had some swings and some misses over their history, but they put a lot of great bikes out at really good prices. Chrome would be pretty sweet! All I've heard is hearsay unfortunately. I got the frame from someone who spoke a little english and I speak no Japanese. What I got from him is that the Echo factory is closed, hence the unfinished items sale, but they have a warehouse with stock that is supposedly being used to fill open orders. The factory is closed due to loosing all their skilled workers to better paying jobs elsewhere when lockdowns were lifted. It was my understanding that Echo is effectively done. I hope none of this is true, but it's certainly believable. I was worried what might happen after Deng died. This frame is the 8th Echo/Czar that I've owned in my 13 years. A whole lot of my trials progress is due directly to Echo. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Song Posted July 23, 2022 Report Share Posted July 23, 2022 Wow with a paint job so beautiful like that, I would be too scared to ride it! It sucks that Echo may not be around anymore. I had a lot of good memories with echo frames, and currently riding one now too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted July 25, 2022 Report Share Posted July 25, 2022 On 7/23/2022 at 3:07 AM, Swoofty said: I was worried what might happen after Deng died. To be fair, Deng died in 2012 and Echo have been doing alright overall since then - not perfectly, but then they weren't before that point either. Hopefully something works out with them either way, thanks for the extra info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chakers1998 Posted July 25, 2022 Report Share Posted July 25, 2022 I heard that Echo are not dead, but they are only producing bike components for other brands, mostly MTB brands. Obviously far more profitable for them than making trials stuff in tiny numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javimic Posted November 30, 2022 Report Share Posted November 30, 2022 Hi! How is this project going? Do you have more photos? I would like to see it finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted December 14, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2022 OK here's the update. And... I haven't really changed anything :-( I put Holy Rollers on it, which I think look better and I like them better. No progress on decals either, but I did black all the red Clean crank parts. The bike's really grown on me though. It's super stiff with the square tubed rear end and oversized BB. If Echo ever comes back I hope they make a 26" Limited Edition version, that would be perfection. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Knight Posted December 14, 2022 Report Share Posted December 14, 2022 Such a nice colour, looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javimic Posted January 22, 2023 Report Share Posted January 22, 2023 On 12/14/2022 at 12:34 AM, Swoofty said: OK here's the update Masterpiece, bro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted March 1, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2023 I decided to rebuild the wheels on this one so I can go to more appropriate nipples (mmmm... violet <3). In so doing I also decided to service my Profile hub. It hasn't been serviced since new in 2015 (originally on my Ozonys Iron, YIKES!) After a good cleaning, only one of the springs was a bit dodgy, but everything else looked fine. Pretty impressive hub, especially considering these haven't changed in 20 years or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted March 1, 2023 Report Share Posted March 1, 2023 4 hours ago, Swoofty said: All those bits of swarf look a lot like the tips of ratchet teeth to me... I'd have a good nosey at that while the hub is apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted March 2, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2023 Yeah I freaked a little initially when I pulled that out, but the drive ring looks fine. The 'bits' were non metallic; some kind of fiber. No idea what or where that came from. Now it sounds nice and crisp again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted March 5, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2023 OK now the bike's finished. Rebuilt the wheels to Spanks and violet nipples throughout. Since it's destined to be my Germany bike, I decided it didn't need carbon wheels if it's going to sit in a cellar for 11 months out of the year. Spank Race 33s are really nice rims and I found an American Classic 15x100 hub for the front too. Now it's got the Holy Grail of wheelbuilding; 230mm spokes front and rear and left to right so I only need one size replacement spoke for the whole bike. Now I can use those carbon wheels for the next bike. Hmmmmm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted March 23, 2023 Report Share Posted March 23, 2023 On 7/22/2022 at 11:24 PM, PeterH said: Are those the "Lenoski Pillars" behind the bike? How the f**king hell did you spot that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted March 24, 2023 Report Share Posted March 24, 2023 On 3/23/2023 at 1:42 AM, Davetrials said: How the f**king hell did you spot that See there was this thing before the internet, called VHS. And so you only had like 2 trials videos to watch. So you watched them over, and over. And over. And over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.