ThomasRyankdT

Ultra-rare classic John Tomac 98 Special Pro Full-suspension Racing Mountain Bike No one has this bike in San Diego County! It’s a fast, rare John Tomac 98 Special Pro Mountain Bike that in Excellent condition that I have hardly ridden much at all since I’m a roadie (under 250 miles past 20 years). I am the original owner and it cost about $2,500 back then in 2003. I raced against John Tomac back in 1991 Tour Gila stage race when he raced road, so I was holding on to it for sentimental reasons and just need to let it go to a good home. It’s a one-of-a-kind cool looking bike that fits and at the right price! Read the reviews and specs below, and then cruise over a for a test spin anytime, I work from home. About John Tomac: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tomac#Road_racing BR> About Doug Bradbury: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Bradbury > New rear Clark’s hydraulic disc brakes and finger lever (new never ridden) > New chain > New rear cassette > New Hardrock’R 26x2.0 tires TECH SPECS Size: Medium Bike wheel size: 26 (inches) Wheels Front Brakes: Magura Louise Hydraulic Disc Levers and Front Magura Louise Hydraulic Disc Brakes. I also have a Magura bleed kit. Rear Brakes: Clark’s Hydraulic Disc Levers and Rear Hydraulic Disc Brakes (new and never ridden) Hubs for disc brakes: Shimano Deore XT Disc Rims manufacturer: 32-hole Mavic X317 Disc Spoke nipples type: Brass Nipples Spoke wheel: 14/15ga. Double-butted Stainless Steel Frame materials: AN-6 Aluminum Frame type: TIG-welded Handlebar construction : Tomac Aluminum Handlebar extender: Yes (bull horn type) Handlebar stem details: Tomac Aluminum Headset size: 1 1/8 (inches) Threadless Cane Creek C2 Bottom bracket type: TruVativ GIGA Pipe SL Crankset parts and sizes: 22/32/44 Teeth TruVativ Stylo Team Gear shift levers: Shimano Deore XT RapidFire SL Rear gear set: 11 - 34 Teeth, 9-speed Derailleur (Front) : Bottom Bracket Mount Shimano Deore XT Derailleur (Rear): Shimano XTR Fork type (upgraded): Rock Shox Revelation 100mm travel Pedals: Turner Rear shock absorber: Fox Float RL (98 mm travel) Saddle seat: Ti Rails Tomac Leather Seat post extension: Tomac Aluminum Review By Joel Kennedy My first memory of seeing John Tomac was on the back page of a BMX magazine in the mid 1980s. He had affixed an Oakley sticker to his bare chest and baked himself in the sun, which resulted in a fish belly-white logo on a beet red background. A true professional if there ever was one, who of course went on to dominate the XC and downhill circuit for 10 years in a way that will probably never be duplicated. He also won U.S. road racing championships in ‘88 and continued racing that discipline with 7-11 and then Motorola on into the early ’90s. Without a doubt, he’s one of the most accomplished cyclists of our era. His long time partner in design is Doug Bradbury, one of the early pioneers in mountain bike specific components and founder of Manitou. Doug built the first Manitou suspension fork in 1990 and John rode fork number three to a World Championship victory that same year. Eventually, Doug licensed the Manitou name to Answer products and continued working in research and development for them until ‘97. In early ‘98, he and Johnny T partnered up again to form Tomac bikes with the idea of making race ready frame sets that looked as good as they perform. The emphasis is on full suspension, because as John puts it, "I couldn’t believe how much faster and more aggressively I could ride [on full suspension]." He was talking about the original full suspension Raleigh that he rode competitively back in ‘93. My point being, these two guys are as familiar with suspension technology as anyone in the biz. Now that they have created a full line of bikes with their combined experience as input, we mere mountain bike riders should take a look at what they have done. I’ve been riding an XL (20" seat tube) Tomac 98 Special for a few months now and it’s intended purpose is long-haul, aggressive trail riding of the all around variety, as you might guess by its 98mm of rear wheel travel. With that amount of travel the bike maintained many of the desirable characteristics of an XC machine; quicker acceleration and good climbing properties, yet was comfortable and predictable enough to take the edge off of some serious hits. I’m not going to tell you that I’ve found the best of both worlds, only that it’s a combination that made riding this machine a lot of fun. The swingarm is made of squared stays that are welded to machined yokes at the dropouts, brake arch and chainstay bridge. This supposedly increases the lateral stiffness without increasing the overall weight, and definitely adds a detailed look to the finish. I’ll say the rear end is stiff, and the sealed cartridge bearing pivots, especially the large main pivot located slightly above and forward of the bottom bracket, contribute to this. Most of the better pedaling full suspension bikes I’ve ridden also use this main pivot location because when the pivot is within the radius of the chainring, the effects of the pedaling forces are minimized. Tomac calls the rear suspension design a four-bar linkage, but I’ve seen this same design called a "non-Horst link strut design," which seems a little more accurate to me. The 98 Special has the rear pivots on top of the rear dropouts (non-Horst) and runs the shock in line with the seat stays, incorporating it as an actual frame member (a strut). Instead of a rocker arm there is only a short, "T-bar swing link" connecting the top end of the seat stay to a pivot point on the seat tube approximately 6" above the main pivot. It’s there to strengthen the swingarm laterally as well as affect it’s path as it moves through the suspension’s travel. Pedal induced feedback is limited with this design, and when you want an inactive suspension, just flick the blue lockout lever on the Fox Float L rear shock. The first thing I’d like to say about the performance of this bicycle is that it liked to be ridden in the big ring. There is exceptional power transfer from the pedals to the rear wheel as demonstrated during the rail road grade sections of my commute. I had less trouble than usual staying on top of big gears and would often shift into the highest gear, stand up and hammer, which is something I don’t normally do. On the flip side, I also enjoyed crawling up hills in the granny gear and managed to keep the front wheel down and guiding me where I actually wanted it to go, instead of skipping all across the trail like a drunk staggering down the street. I’ll attribute the hammering to a stiff rear end and long top tube, but also to a good geometry choice. Same with the low speed riding. A comfortable riding position, smooth pedaling and a not too slack head angle allowed me to do convincing imitations of a climber. I raced this bike a little and felt pretty good doing it, but the best times were had on the long technical rides that I’ve done this year. You know the ones where you repeatedly assess the section ahead of you and doubt that you can make it, yet dig deep and somehow end up surprising yourself. Solid equipment does make that sensation a greater possibility. It’s made me think the 4" and 4" format is something that riders should look at more closely, especially those of you who are technically proficient hardtail riders. You get a machine that can take the sting out of tough situations without sacrificing the ability to climb. It’s also a lot more responsive than a bike with just a little more travel in the rear. The long and low profile of the 98 Special combined with 4" of travel is great for jumping roots and rock gaps when you’re ripping down a hill. The same goes for doing slower steep sections with step down scenarios; I had plenty of room to move with lots of body English. In the end, I look back on the past few months of riding and remember frolicking like a deer on this bike. It wasn’t light (30lbs.), but it was very quick and as I’ve mentioned before there’s alot to be said for having a substantial machine beneath you, especially one that likes to be pedaled at high speed. A lot of the Tomac literature talks about going fast, racing and a passion for the highest performance. The evidence I’ve discovered suggests they’ve done a pretty good job of backing up those claims.

It’s a very fast, rare Eddy Merckx 525 Super Bike that has placed top 5 in several road races. I have not ridden it much at all in 2018and 2019 (new business) and this year (new bike), so I was holding on to it for sentimental reasons and just need to let it go to a good home. It’s a cool looking bike that fits and at the right price! > Lightweight at 17 lbs with pedals and cages! > Size Medium > Shimano Ultegra Di2 electronic shifting > 50mm deep Reynolds wheels with Cyclops rear hub power meter > Includes lightweight carbon aero bars (optional free and already installed) > Never crashed, light wear from my foot rubbing the crank and chain stay > Includes 2 saddles: Fizik Arione carbon braided saddle (installed) and the original Prologo Scratch Pro T-irox saddle > Optional Speed play peddles for free > Garmin mount included > Optional custom-tailored wool Molteni jersey and shorts similar to what Eddy Merckx raced in (custom padding can be replaced). Worn only a few times.$80 extra NOTE: first 2 photos shown are from a review article when the bike first came out and they are photos of a new bike that is not mine--it should be easy to see the difference! PURCHASE through eBay at: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115408805050 REVIEWS: "The 525 represents the number of his wins, and if you want to know about bike envy, you should try riding this fella – in our experience, even bike shop employees may swoon just a little. It’s not a bike you can miss. Even by today’s standards, its down tube and BB86 bottom bracket shell are monsters. Throw in deep, asymmetric chain stays, zigzag seat stays and fork blades that kick forward at the dropouts and you have one distinctive machine. Unusually in our age of ultra-light bikes, Merckx espouses‘ speed, stiffness, stability and safety’ first, which is reflected in a weight that isn’t that light and in the 525’s geometry. The head tube is as short as you’d expect on a road bike, but compared with the Specialized Tarmac and Trek Madone, for example, frame angles are a degree or so shallower and the wheelbase longer, which certainly aids stability. The asymmetric frame is designed to cope with the uneven forces put through a bike’s collection of tubes, and Merckx’s own tests suggest its head tube and bottom bracket stiffness are equal or superior to anything else on the market; our less scientific testing – riding lots – did nothing to suggest otherwise. The 525’s super-stiff and responsive ride never lets you forget this is a pro-level racing bike, and something you can feel when you put the hammer down. All that beefiness comes to the fore in a whoosh – instant acceleration! The big-is-beautiful head tube and all-alloy cockpit mean the front end is rock solid too. The result? Great descending with the sense that you’re always in control. And though race- rather than endurance-orientated, its comfort is better than we expected. It’s not plush, but fine even for long days." - Simon Withers BikeRader "So if there are not threads of magic beanstalk woven into the carbon what is? Merckx uses two technologies called OSR and CL+ when building its carbon bikes. These days it seems the gap between race quality performance and a comfortable ride is being closed, and the rider can expect both without giving up much. Optimized Structure Reinforcement (OSR) and Carbon Laminate (CL+) are designed to offer riders just that – strategic layering of carbon that results in stiffness, power transfer, lightweight, and comfort. At first glance there are some unique features at the soul of the EMX-525. The arced top tube, the zigzag step down seat stays quickly falling into sync with asymmetric chain stays, the dramatically oversized down tube, and of course the Aero Fork II which claims to increase aero dynamics and stiffness. We won’t pretend the futuristic, angular tube shapes have much to do with the bike’s beautiful ride quality, but when they don’t take away from it, who are we to complain? The Merckx looks unlike anything else in the peloton, and to our eye, it is a stunner. Adding to this futuristic look is a dedicated electronic frame. Merckx has bet the future will be electronic, at least for the very high-end racer. When you first throw your leg over the top tube the arcing shape might seem a little unusual, initially it feels like you might be on a bike one size too big with the stand over clearance being less than we are used to. While the head tube is racer short, the stays and overall wheel base trend to the longer side of the race crowd. For Merckx, the brand and the man, this is all about stability. The bike relies on a super stiff front end and beautifully balanced rear to let you push your limits in the corners with aggressive lines, not a twitchy front end. These dimensions certainly pay off when the road is less than perfect too, allowing you to push hard on the pedals with enormous confidence the bike will go just where it is told. This is no surprise when the bike is inspired by and named for a Belgian with a penchant for cobbles. The bike’s crisp acceleration is due to high-end carbon, beautifully laid up, not a short rear end, which means the acceleration comes with stability. It is acceleration that feels snappy at any speed, quick jumps while climbing, big progressive efforts to make a gap, or bunch dashes to the line. In addition to the responsive nature of the EMX-525, we were also pleasantly surprised that after four hour rides on varying terrain and road conditions we didn’t feel like our fillings had been jarred loose or lower back and neck were overly tight. It’s a ride quality that has a lot of similarities with a Pinarello Dogma. I think too, the dampening qualities created by a lot carbon between you and the road with none of the muted feel typically associated with bikes like that." - Ben Edwards Peloton Magazine SPECS Product Specifications Product Name EMX525 Brand Merckx Rear Wheel Weight 1670 Wheelbase (cm) 100.5 Top Tube (cm) 57 Standover Height (cm) 80 Seat Tube (cm) 49 Chainstays (cm) 41 Bottom Bracket Height (cm) 28 Wheelset Reynolds Weight 17 lbs with pedals and cages Trail 5.8 Stem 3T ARX, 100mmlong at 6 degree angle Shifters Shimano Ultegra Di2 Seatpost EMX525UD Black Seat Angle 72 Saddle Fizik Arione carbon braided saddle Rear Tyre Continental Grand Prix 5000, 25mm Bottom Bracket Shimano Ultegra 86.5 Rear Derailleur Shimano Ultegra Di2 Headset Type FSA Head Angle 72 Handlebar Deda Zero 100, 420mm Front Tyre Continental Grand Prix 4000, 25mm Front Derailleur Shimano Ultegra Di2 Frame Material CarbonCL+ 600 OSR Fork Offset 5 Fork Full Carbon Aerofork II Cranks Shimano Ultegra, 52/36, 172.5mm Chain Shimano Ultegra Cassette Shimano Ultegra 11-28T Brakes Shimano Ultegra