Refurbished and rebuilt XTC!

[MikeTheNoodle]

Thought I'd post a few pics of my latest project.  Shes a beautiful fillet brazed 2004 XTC I bought off ebay.  After discovering lots of scratches I decided to strip the frame and have it repainted in illusion metallic cherry.  The 9 speed drive train was replaced.  The new parts added were:

8 speed SRAM cassette (for huge reliability)
8 speed Ultegra bar end shifters (second hand)
Tektro drop levers for v-brakes
XTR parallel push v-brakes (second hand, bearings taken to bits and cleaned out)
Tubus Fly rack (replaced old aluminium Blackburn)
Brooks B17 narrow saddle
New cables
Bar tape (old blue stuff replaced with cork)
Pedals (old double sided shimano replaced with MKS slyvan touring pedals and cages)
Decals (old style Thorn -  thanks Thorn! and Reynolds 725)

Her maiden voyage was the Dunwich Dynamo this year, where she received quite a few compliments!

[leftpoole]

Hello,
I’m just letting you know from Hospital on my Mobile, that you’re doing a great job.
Well done!
John

[John Saxby]

Love the red'n'silver, Mike.  Well done!

[MikeTheNoodle]

Thanks guys.  It rides like a dream too.  Much lighter and more nimble than my other 531 touring bike.  The only thing I noticed is that its a little bit skittish with that large forward rake on the forks (almost impossible to ride no-hands).  Probably just something to get used to though...

[PH]

Very nice, about the same time yours was made I was sort of saving up for an XTC when the Rohloffs came along... Do you know who the builder was?
Restoration looks great and some good choices, though a bit disappointing they've painted over the headtube badge. (OK, I have a thing about badges...)
Those parallel push V brakes work great, though as you probably know you need to keep on top of the maintenance, I sold mine and went back to good quality standard ones. 

[MikeTheNoodle]

I suspect from the age that its a Kevin Sayles built one - although cant be certain.  Yes, I was a bit disappointed about the head tube badge.  I've got half a mind to try and sand the paint off there (not sure how much of a bad idea that might be?)

The brakes are the XTR 960 model - which are supposed to be less squeaky than the earlier models.. That said, I'll be too scared to put this bike through any airport baggage handling - so it will just be used for shortish UK tours anyway...

[energyman]

If it's a Kevin S frame there should be a 10 mm heart with a letter S in the middle on the seat tube.
(This was on my Woodrup Chimera)

[leftpoole]

Not on a Thorn. A simple K under the bottom bracket along with size number
John

[MikeTheNoodle]

Ah thanks John. I couldn't find the heart.  Will have a look for a K :>

[energyman]

You learn something every day. 
Thanks LP
& G W S

[macspud]

So, if I'm correct, your XTC is the XTC 2001 model, Fillet brazed and filed, Reynolds 725 tubeset. 
There was the XTC SWB (Short Wheel base) Reynolds 725 tubeset, but with filed cast lugs
There was also the XTC 853 Fillet brazed and filed, but that had Reynolds 853 tubeset.

The frame numbers of the XTC 2001 range from 70 - 77, XTC SWB from 80 - 89 http://web.archive.org/web/20010712021014/http://www.sjscycles.com/26solobrochure/solobrochurewebp16.htm and XTC 853 from 90 - 99 http://web.archive.org/web/20060321060909/http://www.sjscycles.com/thornwebsite/thornpdf/ThornxTc853BroHiRes.pdf

[MikeTheNoodle]

Thanks for the info.  Yes it seems to be the 2001 fillet brazed 725 model.  I always wanted a fillet brazed bike, but at the time it was built it was way out of my price range. 15 years later it becomes more of an option :>

[leftpoole]

Looking at the original photographs. I can see that it has a lug at the joint between seatpost and top tube. This is not a Kevin Sayles framed Thorn but an LA.
Very well built and worth looking after.
I have 2 LA built Audax 853 and 1 Kevin Sayles Audax 853. The only difference is that lug at the join.
I hope that you are enjoying the very nice cycle that you have.
John