hey stodgy!!! overdue pic

[Philbert]

i think i might need a pay day soon so i thought i'd butter you up with this.

you wanted to see it after mk07! enjoy

u.s made signed hoffman taj still in original livery

[Lazarou]

Oooooooooohh! A Condor signed by Mat and a Taj signed by Taj! How cool would that be!

[harris]

great save,is that 1"..

[Stodgy]

Nice 

[Philbert]

from what i can remember of the timeline, one of the last frames to be made in oklahoma with 1" headtube and 14mm dropouts just before they were shipped to taiwan for 1 1/8" then the eventual name swap and revision to the 'deebo'

[Stodgy]

You'd be correct...however I believe there was a 1" headtube version from the far east too...I'll go check in minute...

[Philbert]

also. it think one of the main things that defined u.s. and taiwan frames was the rear stays. the u.s. were left open whereas the taiwan frames had the ends pressed to the dropout and welded closed

[showtime]

the tube join at the rear wishbone was a slightly different shape on the Taiwanese Taj frames too
that looks like a Taiwan frame to me judging buy the angle the wishbone meets the seat tube, it was more vertical on the far east bikes
14mm dropouts too & its hard to see for sure but is the front gusset stamped?
no stamps on the USA frames

look at the different angle at the seat tube on my USA frame







i'm happy to be proven wrong but thats how i understand it was 

[darkersomeday]

i couldnt own one without having a t1 barcode too

maybe a flash too

did anyone from here bag the orange one last week btw?

both great frame these

totally awsome jumper?

[TwoBobRob]

The Taiwan/USA debate can be settled every time by the gusset stamp   

[Stodgy]

The Taiwan/USA debate can be settled every time by the gusset stamp   

Yep.

[Philbert]

i stand corrected then! i have a 1" taiwan piece of s**t signed by the man.

it does have a stamped gusset! i always questioned the 14mm dropouts myself,

my biggest thing was a mate of mine definately had a taiwan frame and it was way different to mine but fair enough! hoffman bikes were never really my thing

[showtime]

the far east frames aint shite, if anything they might be even better made as they benefitted from tighter quality control than the Oklahoma ramp room bikes 

still a great frameset 

[Stodgy]

the far east frames aint shite, if anything they might be even better made as they benefitted from tighter quality control than the Oklahoma ramp room bikes 

still a great frameset 

Without a doubt...I had a 92 (SE made), 93 (Ramp Room) and a 96 (Taiwan) Condor - and the far east looked the best made (neat consistent welds) with the best chrome.

The 92 however seems to have the best tubing (formed oval rather than pressed) and lovely hand welding. It looks and feels the most 'high-end'

The 93 (first batch ramp room) was rough...Gack wasn't much of a welder by the looks of things and the tubing was pressed to oval with a car jack and two bits of wood. I also had an early US Taj, which was the same.

One thing for sure, it that they are all bullet proof!

[egg]

got to agree there's nothing wrong with the taiwanese made hoffmans,i've owned every version of the condor at some point and the most recent is the best by far.

[Stodgy]

Could agree more Egg - my 07 Loyaty was beautifully made:








Shame I never rode the bugger! But Bill would recommend it!

[TwoBobRob]

i stand corrected then! i have a 1" taiwan piece of s**t signed by the man.

it does have a stamped gusset! i always questioned the 14mm dropouts myself,

my biggest thing was a mate of mine definately had a taiwan frame and it was way different to mine but fair enough! hoffman bikes were never really my thing

Nah mate, on the contrary.....  The taiwanese stuff was definately straighter than the yank stuff.  A lot of US condors had a twist in the rear triangle  (I know mine did) and the taiwan factories sorted that one right out