| Mike Augspurger: That first Merlin was made using Fat City's shop. Ron Andrews, kingcage.com, and I were able to use their set up and a full sized drawing laid out on the floor to make the first official Merlin. Gary Helfrich had been experimenting on his own and made one bike out of CP (commercially pure) titanium and another out of good tubing. These first two frames proved that he had figured out the welding, gave us a chance to actually ride a titanium frame, and convinced me to join up. We offered Chris Chance a share. People already associated Fat City with titanium. It was a natural thing to start making titanium Fat Chances but Chris didn't want to take it on. If he had been ready to work with us, there never would have been a Merlin at all. |
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| catalogs & manuals: 1988 catalog 1989 catalog 1991 catalog 1991 catalog spec 1993 catalog 1994 1 catalog 1994 2 catalog 1994 catalog flyer germany 1995 catalog flyer newsboy 1 1995 catalog flyer newsboy 2 1997 catalog 1999 catalog 1999 pricelist germany 2002 catalog flyer newsboy 2006 catalog 2007 catalog 2009 catalog |
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| description (presumption) | |
| 1985 first ever titanium made frame made by gary helfrich wasn't as he wanted. so it ended up in the hydraulic press at fat city cycles. |
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1985 - the earlymobile (gary helfrich, 05.11.2014 : First titanium bike sold (by me). Price was $105, or just enough to buy some more materials. The picture is fairly recent, so some parts are new, but the bike has been ridden by the original owner for the last 29 years.) this is the 2nd titanium made frame made by gary helfrich. - headtube externally butted, for 1" forks. - 4cm flat bottom bracket - "breezer" dropouts - atom drum brakes |
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1986 one of first titanium made frame at fat city cycles. - headtube externally butted, for 1" forks. - titanium fork? - ? bottom bracket - dropouts horizontal rear |
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1986 - merlin touring (integral titanium rack, added later to the frame). - headtube externally butted, for 1" forks. - 4cm bottom bracket - dropouts horizontal rear - drum brakes |
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1987 merlin road titanium xy, bike tech, 12/1987 - headtube externally butted, for 1" forks. - 4cm bottom bracket - dropouts horizontal rear - road brakes |
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1987 merlin marin titanium xy first 200 frames should have been marins. but some early frames would have merlin not marin stickers. marin was going to market all the frames, but they didn't buy as many as the promised, so merlin sold a few with merlin stickers (mostly to friends). merlin made a few frames, then started to make batches of 30. 30 medium first, then 30 large, and 30 small. - dropouts horizontal rear |
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1987 early titanium made with fat city cycles decals - headtube externally butted not as extensive. - dropouts horizontal rear - dropouts horizontal rear - chainstay u-brake |
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1987 mountain bike action, 12/1987 |
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mountain bike action, 05/1988, david turners marin team titanium |
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merlin marin titanium 4? |
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1987 mountain (catalog 1987?) |
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1987 merlin mountain 50 - last one known with horizontal dropouts |
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1987 merlin mountain 65 - first one known with vertical dropouts front (new standard) |
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1987 marin merlin mountain 86 - last one made with individual cable routing |
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1987 marin merlin mountain 87 - first one with solid one-piece/3cable routing (new standard) |
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1987 merlin titanium 100 - "chain control device". |
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1987 merlin mountain 154 - first one known with continuous flat headtube (new standard) - first one known with continuous flat bottom bracket (new standard), pressfit. |
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1987 merlin mountain 186, custom build - experimental bigger 1.5" downtube. |
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1988 merlin mountain 296 - seatstays u-brake |
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1988 merlin ti foon (prototype newsboy) - round down- & toptubes, seatstays. - separate internally downtube cable routing |
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1989 merlin mountain (catalog 1989) |
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1989 merlin monostay 288 - modified mountain frame to a monostay frame. later made for mongoose titanium frames with cantilever studs. |
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1989 merlin mongoose - titanium front, steel rear both parts made at merlin |
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1990 merlin salsa - only few made with canti or rollercam studs |
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1990 merlin elevator (prototype) - standard diamond front, elevated chainstays. - bigger down-, top- & seattube. - custom dropouts - machined seatpost area |
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1990 merlin elevator prototype - elevated chainstays. - downtube/chainstays. linear (new standard). - bigger down-, top- & seattube. - canti-brakes. - titanium girder fork > combo with stem & bar - custom dropouts |
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1990 merlin ashley, custom build - geo for smaller people (prototype). - bigger downtube - headtube externally butted - chainstays bended/welded (prototype, new standard 1992). - seatstays ovalized - canti brake seatstays (new standard). |
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1991 merlin mountain (catalog 1991) |
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1991 merlin elevator 4198 - elevated chainstays. - downtube/chainstays. linear (new standard). - bigger down-, top- & seattube. - elevator/suspension dropouts (new standard) - u-brakes. |
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1991 merlin elevator 4276 - elevated chainstays - downtube/chainstays linear. - bigger down-, top- & seattube. - canti-brakes (new standard). |
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1992 merlin mountain 4362 - still flat chainstays - canti brakes |
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1992 merlin mountain 6980 - bended chainstays (s-bend, new standard, 1992) - custom u-brakes |
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1992 merlin suspension prototype 1 - downtube/chainstays. linear. - no pivot. - fork, stem & bar combo |
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1992 merlin suspension prototype 2 - downtube/chainstays. linear. - pivot next to dropouts. - standard fork |
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1993 merlin suspension - standard diamond front, elevated chainstays. - no pivot. - flat flexible chainstays, round seatstays - standard fork. |
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1993 merlin tandem custom |
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1994 merlin suspension prototype - downtube/chainstays. linear. additional flat tube. - no pivot. - frame, fork, stem & bar combo. |
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1995 merlin xlm 001 - internally butted tubes (new standard xlm). - headtube for 1" forks. |
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1995 merlin newsboy - round down- & toptubes, seatstays. - headtube for 1 1/8" forks (new standard). - internally downtube cable routing - titanium machined seatpost binder (new standard). - u-brake chainstays |
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1995 merlin newsboy - custom truss fork & bar. |
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1995 merlin newsboy n0006 - custom dropouts. |
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1997 merlin xlm 0884 - headtube for 1 1/8" forks (new standard, 1995). |
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1997 merlin newsboy 13519 - alloy seatpost clamp (new standard, 1997). |
