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Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: September 23rd, 2010, 7:37 pm
by mixalive
I am Terry Samford. I own a 14" 1994 A2M Barracuda serial # AM4030182 that I bought new for my wife to ride. Though she has only ridden with it once or twice in 16 years, I still take the bike out for a ride now and then. Purchased from Cenna's Cycles in San Antonio on 10/11/94, my A2M is Tange double butted cro-mo. The paint is silver and white with anodized blue handle bars and accents. It has the Tree logo on the seat post. The serial number is on the bottom bracket. It came with the LX Deore shifting system and 175mm crank. It was outfitted with an Answer Manitou4 elastomer front suspension from Nashbar. It currently has Panaracer Smoke and Dart tires. (the original white wall tires dry rotted years ago) I have a Certificate of Ownership signed by Jonathan Wege. With a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate it a 9 in condition. (It is a mountain bike!) What I like about the bike, is the frame seems longer from seat post to head pipe as compaired to the GT's I was riding at the time, which made it much more stable for downhill runs. (I seemed to endo the GT's frequently.) Although the frame is steel, it is very light. And I love the aircraft style oval tubing.

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: September 24th, 2010, 8:43 pm
by mixalive
Since I got all motivated to show off my A2M yesterday on this forum, I decided to clean it up and ride it today. :D

The good: the good old nimble Barracuda. 8-)
The bad: the shift mechanism on the bar wouldn't let me go to 3, 2, or 1 and the Manitou bottomed out and stayed there. :roll:

I guess I need to do some maintenance.

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: September 24th, 2010, 11:25 pm
by neo_pop_71
Hey Terry,

Mighty nice looking ride! I have the A2L(imited) in the gold and white, I wish mine looked as nice as yours!!! Forget about trying to clean and bring life back into your Manitou 4, the elastomers inside have gone to mush! The same happened to my Manitou 2 and my Manitou Comp. Here is a link to a single, clean spring replacement to the elastomer poop inside your Manitou:

http://wings-suspension.com/manitou.html

He is also on Ebay, if that's better for you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Coil-Springs-Answer ... 541wt_1139

I did a set of "hard" (grey/grey) springs in my Mani 2 fork, the hard are super stiff and that's just what I wanted. I didn't want a pogo stick! I wanted it to climb like a rigid but still have something for the big hits and that's just what I got. I'm very pleased and I'm waiting to hear back from him on a set for my Manitou Comp.

I hope this helps, good luck and keep us posted!

-DON-

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: September 24th, 2010, 11:59 pm
by mixalive
Thanks for the info, Don... You the man... Let me know if you find any 14" Barracudas for sale. I need one for myself.

T...

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: September 25th, 2010, 12:52 am
by neo_pop_71
Terry,

Can you stretch to a 16" frame? Check out this one:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/bi ... 37267.html

It should feel right at home next to your miss's A2M!

or this one (doesn't look much different than yours):

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/bik/1950899736.html

Happy hunting!

-DON-

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: September 25th, 2010, 11:00 am
by Mark
If you want to stay as close to OEM as possible, you have to check these guys out. Many swear by them. The hardest part about the task ahead, is cleaning out your fork. I'm sure MTBR or RetroBike has more info on this..

[url][http://www.suspensionforkparts.net//url]

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: January 8th, 2011, 6:41 pm
by mixalive
Just an update on my A2M. As you know, I was attempting to scam my wife at Christmas to gain ownership, and yes, it worked. The A2M is officially mine. :mrgreen: Hanging upside down for the last 15 years made it totally unrideable. I rebuilt the Manitou4 with the Wings dual linear springs and got an extra 10mm of travel. I did the maintenance on the bar shifters to make them work properly, thanks to that cool Rapid Fire Maintenance video on U-Tube. Also installed a new set of XT Deore SPD pedals purchased with Christmas money. Ho Ho Ho... I went for a 3 hour ride today through the Barton Creek Greenbelt, and the bike is working awesome.
Special thanks to Neo-Pop for keeping me motivated.

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: January 8th, 2011, 7:57 pm
by cudarider1
Great to hear it. As fun as it is to build (or rebuild) these things riding them is what it's all about.

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: January 22nd, 2011, 1:34 am
by neo_pop_71
Hey Mix,

Hit up the MARKETPLACE forum, there's a 14" Comp on Fleebay with 4 days to go and no bids :shock: , a $1.00 opening bid and no reserve! :o Time to wine and dine the misses, tell her the 'Cuda is for her... "The Love Bike" ;)

Peace,

-DON-

Re: Samford's 94 A2M

Posted: November 30th, 2012, 3:16 pm
by mixalive
I know I snaked it off of her last Christmas, but my wife has joined WeightWatchers. And I told her I would try to help her by putting that cushie seat back on the A2M and let her ride it again. I mean, the first time she rides it, will be the fourth time she has ever been on the bike..