Have you ever heard about FUCHS mountain bikes? Me not, till September 2019. A long story short. I always wanted an aluminium race hardtail like GT Zaskar or Rocky Mountain Vertex. I was searching for a nice frame, but after a long time, I decided to change my mind and went for something less usual and different. Why? Because I found so many Zaskar or Vertex builds around the world and I didn`t want to build yet another same-as-others hardtail. And then I got a nice opportunity in Germany. Please, welcome FUCHS Super Sport.
Made by Mr Heinz Fuchs, a former designer of Porsche Germany is a hand-made aluminium hardtail frame from the mid of `90s with massive tubes and truly race geometry. The frame came with missing graphics but was in nice overall condition. That allows me to make my own custom design and build. I wrote an article about frame tuning. Instead of speaking a lot about this and that, why I did this and not that, I decided to share with you a complete list of NOS (New Old Stock)/NEW components, and a broad view of customization and modifications I`ve made in this project. This will give you a nice overview of what has been done and what level of customization has been used. So, here we go.
New-Old-Stock (NOS) and new components
Let`s start with the Rock Shox Judy fork`s bushing kit and stanchions, second-generation damper cartridge with dummy shaft and a full set of black titanium bolts, TEKTRO RBP 372 brake levers and TEKTRO RBP 871 cantilever brakes, Shimano Deore XT brake pads, Shimano XTR housing including brake and gear shift cables, Gripshift SRT-800 X-Ray Race Edition shifters with "Shark Tooth" covers and grips, a set of black titanium bolts for Kore LiteStem, Shimano Deore XT BB-UN72 bottom bracket, a full set of chainring bolts and a set of Vuelta SE MTB chainrings, Shimano XTR CS-M900 cassette with a Shimano CN-HG90 chain, PACE RC50XC front hub, tune Mag 170 MTB rear hub with tune AC17 titanium quick release, DT Swiss Revolution spokes, and aluminium nipples, ControlTech seat binder with a titanium bolt, Ritchey Z-MAX PRO Evolution MTB tires and Maxxis Ultralight tubes, titanium water bottle cage bolts and finally, Lizard Skins Carbon Leather frame protection
Custom-made and/or -modified components
Again, first, speak about Judy`s crown, steerer and preload adjuster knobs black anodization, lower legs and brake arch painting with a set of decals, damper adjustment titanium bolt drilling, experimental coil springs for the forks with aluminium end-caps, Gripshift Race Issue decals, RooX handlebar aluminium extenders (so I extended the h/bar up to 620mm width) and RooX decals, Kore stem tuning and painting with a new set of decals, Middleburn RS7 cranks polishing, granny chainring chromium plating with Vuelta SE chainrings polishing and black anodization, PACE NoRelease titanium bolts with aluminium washers, Mavic rim decals, Selle Italia Flite orange vinyl cover and self-made yellow logos, ControlTech seat binder anodization, set of frame mounts for 2nd bottle cage and last, but not least, a brand new set of FUCHS Super Sport decals
The best part of this project was bike design, then making FUCHS Super Sport decals and a lot of customization. I had true freedom about design, what, and how to do it because the frame came to me without any graphics. It was like a Spartan view. I kept it that way but added my own view. Then, the orange colour was a very clear choice to use from the beginning (because orange is the new black). It was a very bright idea that didn`t block me to select a frame or any other component. That`s why I did Judy forks painting before the frame and decals even come. And now, what was the most difficult and complicated part of the project? Surprisingly, customization of the saddle. First to find a proper Flite, then to buy orange vinyl (the leather cover was a no-go option), and finally to find someone who can make it right. Everything took ages (and yet I have been faced with COVID-19 restrictions).
Conclusion
All is well that ends well. I`d like to say that was fun and I`m excited. No, I`m not. It was slow to build with high attention to customization and modifications, however, I was not excited with the build and I lost enthusiasm for retro bikes. I made a lot of trips when hunting for parts and/or made a lot of customization. I spent hours searching on the Internet and making calls with other fans in the retro community. Nothing has been meaningful. One interesting number in the end-project shipping and handling costs was around 14% of all investments, which seems to be quite remarkable, doesn`t it? Anyway, this is yet another remarkable retro bike, but definitely my last one. I ended up with a retro chapter in a custom bikes building project and I`m looking forward to getting new opportunities in the modern bike industry.
