1982 TS Isaac
This bike is not for sale. The bikes and parts we currently have for sale can be found on the MOMBAT for sale page.
Tim Isaac built his first bicycle
frame in 1974 and continued producing frames under
his own name until he joined Trek
bicycle in 1979. One special project was 8 TS
Isaac frames destined for the 1980 USA Olympic team.
Although the USA team boycotted the 1980 Olympic
Games, the bikes were ridden by the USA road team in
events around the world. In the early 1980s, mountain
bikes were becoming more popular and Trek began
investigating the category. Since Tim was the
lead design engineer, and a frame builder, he built
a couple of prototype mountain bikes to test out
some designs. One bike went to Harry Spehar, the
west coast Trek sales manager, while another went to Brad
Thorne of Dia Compe USA (which later became Cane
Creek Cycling Components). These bikes
were built to test out materials and designs for the
upcoming 1983 Trek 850. This bike uses similar
construction to the stock Trek and many of the same
parts. Being a custom bike, there are a couple
of custom touches. Since Brad is tall, the
bike has extra long 19" chainstays to help keep the
front end on the ground while pedaling in the low
gears. The left chain stay also has provisions
to carry a pair of extra spokes. There are
also a pair of Velcro straps to carry fishing gear.
The name Thorne is under the clear coat on the top
tube and there is a BT stamped into the seat stay
bridge. The production Trek 850 is very
similar to this bike and we now know where Trek went
after this bike. Tim later started match
bicycles which built Isaac-designed Schwinn Paramount frames and
Rivendell frames along side their own match branded
frames.
Click on thumbnails below for larger images:
Home | Bikes | History | Parts | Contact | Store | For Sale | First Flight Bikes | Mountain Goat Cycles
MOMBAT sponsors and supporters:
