Just came from the chromer. Unfortunately, the new chrome shows some imperfections, but it still looks great. Now, I am open to suggestions for era correct parts (89/90). And if anyone has the "S&M Bike" and "S&M Forks" style decals, I sure could use them!

Doug

sweet jesus take me home!!!

Ooooohhh. That's the stuff wet dreams are made of.

Doug that is one nice frame set.......
Bling is right.....

nice! what happened to the decals that were on it?

When I got it, all it had was a head tube shield sticker on it. Oldskull's is the one with the stickers still on it. There is a guy that just came back to racing at my local track that raced for S&M for 12 years (was A Pro when he quit) and he said he thinks there were only 25 of these made. She's a rare one. Probably going to take a while to build this one.

Doug

Thats beautiful!!!!

cool. I thought it was yours with the decals... sweet machine for sure. those forks look like Elf forks but I know better... nice piece of history

The original frame builder did the repairs on it and sent it to the chromer (I had the 990 mounts removed). When I asked him about the way the forks legs are forward of center on the steer tube, he said they were probably mis-aligned in the jig. He said he could fix them by replacing the steer tube and realigning the dropouts, but I told him to leave them as-is. Even though they aren't perfect, they are original. Adds character.

Doug

reeally nice. are you sure those aren't elf forks on that thing?

Those are Elf forks indeed. I remember seeing those things BITD on many an Elf. For the life of me though, I can't remember any technical reason for them being that way, but they were made that way on purpose.

Those are definitely not Elf forks. John Severin was the welder who originally built the frameset while working for Bassett. He is also the one who just sent it back to me. He remembers making the frames for S&M, including the forks. They may look similar, but they are S&M (Bassett made) forks.

Doug

if i'm not mistaken, didn't moeller purchase the elf facility to make s&m?

i'm just sayin'. i have a set of those forks out in the shed.

whatever you have, they're as rad as can be.

wouldnt the sure way to tell elf and s&m forks apart be whether or not they have double thick dropouts on the fork? s&m had double thick where as the elf didnt.

btw, nice bike!
id be jumping onto the s&m oldschool bandwagon too if i could ever find a frameset in any condition, but it seems like everyone and their grandma is grabbing them up at any price ever since the s&m anniversery party...

The first batch of cruisers was made for S&M by Bassett. I have heard that there was a connection with elf somehow, but I know these cruisers weren't part of that. Are there any more of these cruisers around yet? I know of 2. Mine is 017, and Oldskulls is 020. If anyone else has one, speak up. I'm curious to know how many are out there.

Doug

That is a kick a$% F&F right there. Cant wait to see it done. If you need anything pics of mine just let me know.

Hey all you S&M guys....... See if you can dig up some info on the F&F. I have been looking but came up with nothing.

Old-skull

Sweet frame.

elf forks.

I'm going with elf forks also, my widowmaker had regular legs. never seen an s&m product with rolled forward fork legs.

dbl. post

[ September 14, 2007, 07:34 PM: Message edited by: seann ]

My fork legs are rolled forward. Not as much as his but they are. Plus guys, Wagonguy TALKED to the OG welder.

S&M forks

Old-skull

I think the Elf forks were welded forward on the steerer tube because they didn't have much rake to them.

They are S&M guys. not ELF's. I will post a photo of my elf forks if need be.
I can see why you would think that, but they are S&M's !!!!

i have a pre pitch cruiser fork, and its double drop outs. i thought all of the old ones did. at any rate, that frame and fork is TOO SWEET! cant wait to see it built.

I am not sure what fork you have but I will say that my 1990 Elf Forks are pitched that way (See below). But that does not mean that s&m did not use the same jig to make their forks. That is an awesome ride none the less.

Hmmm..... Now you got me thinking. Too coincidental that both mine and Old Skulls both have the same forks on our frames. The only 2 to surface from that first batch. I wonder if Elf outsourced some forks with Bassett also? Or were they some kind of generic build that both S&M and ELF bought for their early frames? I asked John specifically about the legs being forward like that, and he said it must have been accidental, and offered to fix them for me. I could've been wrong about these forks. (wouldn't be the first time) Still love the frameset.

Doug

first off they are without a doubt ELF forks, as for the welder is he mexican by chance did he work for B&Ewho did the frames, or dare i say cooks bros. as thats who did all of S&M's fork in that era

No, his name is John "WFO" Severin. He worked for Bassett, who made this run of cruiser frames.

Doug

yeah, whatever you say, but those are ELF forks i don't care what some dude who thinks its cool to tell people he welded S&M frames back in the day. Those are for sure ELF forks so i find it hard to believe anybody who says they welded them for S&M, hell call Chris and ask him, the truth shall set you free!!!!!

You're a little late to this game dude. Old Skull, who has the only other one of these frames to surface, already contacted Chris, and all this was already verified. Bassett did indeed make these frame sets, per Chris Moeller.

Doug

Hey, I found a Revcore on ebay. The fork contruction looks much like this fork in question.

Revcore Aution

Now, many know that S&M, Revcore, Homeless and BADD were made on the same jigs by the same fabricators.


Not as extreme, but similar.

the Revcore forks look to be straight in that auction.

i had an ELF 20 and it had the foreward mounted forks. i also had a Revcore 24 and it had straight forks.

I recently found out that these forks are indeed NOT S&M forks. Chris Moeller said they didn't offer a cruiser fork until a few years after this frame was built. I apologize to everyone here that said they were Elf forks, as it appears that they are indeed Elf. Once again I am humbled by the collective knowledge on this site.


Doug

I am in the same boat as Wagonguy. Dead wrong about the forks.

Old-skull