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Spooky rises from the dead, introduces Frank The Welder built Mulholland road bike

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Photos c. Spooky Cycles

When it comes to the East coast bike scene, few brands elicit as much emotion as Spooky Cycles. Started in 1992, Spooky frames were known for their legendary build and ride qualities which left many riders lusting after their frames. Riders like Brandon Elliot who so desperately wanted a Skeletor for years during his time as a shop owner, that he began scouring the used bike market in 2014 to try to find one. Coming up empty, that led him to a search for the original guys behind the brand which led him to “a DH course in New England, a dojo in New York, and then to a law firm in Colorado Springs. It was a wild goose chase.”

Finally, Brandon made contact with Adam Mitchell who gave him the unabridged history of the brand from ’92 to the present. With the last Skeletor and Havocstaff frames rolling out sometime around 2012, the Spooky mark was currently in limbo. Wanting to bring Spooky back to its roots, Brandon decided he wanted to bring the brand back to life with the blessing of Kevin Hopkins and Adam Mitchell who were two of the original founders. That meant more Spooky bikes built by Frank the Welder, which starts with the new Mulholland which was announced on Friday the 13th…

Spooky-4_1024x1024 Spooky-2_1024x1024

We’ll have more details on the new bike in the future, but Spooky is staring with an aluminum road frame which will all be made by FTW along with all of their future aluminum bikes. Brandon mentioned they plan to do a few steel one-off builds which will be welded by Chris Hardy who was a builder for Spooky in the early 2000’s. For their production frames though, the first batch will be 25 road bikes which are almost completed. Offered in four sizes, the Dedacciai aluminum bikes will have clearance for about 28mm tires, and will be finished to order for your preferred shifting system. Shipped with an Enve 2.0 tapered fork and a Chris King Inset8 headset, the frameset will retail for $2,100.

Future plans include a cross bike which is still being finalized, but it will likely have a 142×12 rear end and clearance for 40mm tires. Along with the cross bikes, Brandon hopes to support a Spooky cross team so keep an eye out at the races this fall. Apparently Frank has a few other ideas up his sleeve, while Brandon and graphic designer Grayson Smith are working to restore the brand to its former glory.

Spooky is back.

wearespooky.com

 

 

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Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago

Ouch!!! $2100 for an aluminum frameset that’s not custom? I can’t imagine this being better than a Cannondale CAAD12 where you can get complete bikes for less than this, a bike that outperforms MANY carbon bikes. If it were custom, I can imagine paying for that if I needed special geometry, just like buying a custom steel bike but this is stock geometry and as it appears(could be wrong) it doesn’t appear that there’s any kind of vibration dampening of any sorts on this frame

J
J
7 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

This is pretty standard pricing in the world of handmade frames with a stock geo. There are tons of frame builders who just do stock geometry, I’d say it’s much more then norm these days than custom geos. LOW// bicycles does a similar offer for $2450. Speedvagen for $3750 (plus a seatpost). Cielo for $2575. VYNL does frames without the blingy $170 headset for $1700.

I can’t speak for the handling or the feel of Spooky as I haven’t ridden anything from them, but really pricing seems to be in the middle of the range of what a handmade frame goes for. Yeah, it’s not as cheap as a CAAD12 but this is not being sold to the people on the market for a CAAD12. That’s like apples and oranges.

JBikes
JBikes
7 years ago
Reply to  J

Most all bikes are handmade. This one warrants a premium as its USA made.
I can’t speak for anything beyond that.

dirtybird
dirtybird
7 years ago
Reply to  JBikes

not just made in the USA ladies and gentlemen – made in the USA by a LEGEND. ftw for the win. as always.

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago
Reply to  dirtybird

Sure, made by a legend, I appreciate that. However, there’s nothing special here. It’s a very standard frame that doesn’t showcase what Frank can do. Without being custom, I guarantee a CAAD 10 and 12 is better. You can’t say. the same about a stock steel bike vs. a Speedvagen

Colin M
7 years ago
Reply to  dirtybird

I think I paid less than $2100 for my Sinister R9. FTW made and much much more complicated than a road frame. My how things have changed in only 10 years.

tater tots
tater tots
7 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

I think you are forgetting its made in the USA, by probably the best aluminum bike builder there is… King Headset and Enve fork. As for vibration dampening i would guess you are missing the point completely? These look to be pure crit machines not, all road, or any road, or all day comfort bikes…

CXisFun
CXisFun
7 years ago
Reply to  tater tots

28c tires provide plenty of vibration dampening, ATMO.

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago
Reply to  tater tots

CAAD 12s are great crit bikes, they ride great too

Cheese
Cheese
7 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

Well if you guarantee it then it must be true, Vegan. Where can I find you to race my Portland welded Spooky against your Taipei welded Cannondale?

indecision
indecision
7 years ago

Is Micky still involved?

Erich
7 years ago
Reply to  indecision

Mickey is not involved in this re-reboot as far as I know. He’s the “DH course in New England” alluded to in the article, though he is elsewhere these days. Someone clearly gave Brandon access to the Mickey-era Spooky IP, as the “Vampire” logo was created by my friend Barbara for that generation of bikes. (http://www.barbaragdraws.com)

previadiaries
7 years ago

To compare on textbook merits alone is to miss the point.

I had a Supertouch from the second iteration (I think?) of Spooky. Scalpel of a bike, til I cracked it.

Mike
Mike
7 years ago

I have wanted one of these for like 10 years. Never found one big enough (60cm). Want in ano black so hard.

JH Aberschmidt
JH Aberschmidt
7 years ago

nice weld cutting on that dropout. stuff out of taiwan is better than that. and $2100 for a round tube aluminum frame? ha!

the biz
the biz
7 years ago
Reply to  JH Aberschmidt

it comes with an ENVE fork and chris king headset which is somewhere around $500 worth of stuff.

mac
mac
7 years ago
Reply to  JH Aberschmidt

Agreed. It’s awful by his standards and poor by taiwan production shop standards. Those wouldn’t have been my choice for press release photos.

June Bug
June Bug
7 years ago

This article left a lot of history out. Went out in the early 2000’s, back again for a couple years in the last 2000’s and early 2010’s. This is Spooky’s second comeback it seems. Mickey Denoncourt took the 2nd crack at it.

bars and tone (@barsandtonedeaf)

Meh, the main selling point of the originals was a good bike at a cheap price. No Frills race bikes. The new higher prices sadly miss the point.

chase
chase
7 years ago

I just went into the garage and looked at the entire range of 4-Turners I have dating from 2002 to 2016. The welds are 10X as nicely sculpted. Somebody needs to find out where those guys at Zen went and start a production shop pronto. FTW today is not the FTW of the old days.
Have you seen the other John parker frames from SOC16? Yikes.

Bonertron3000
Bonertron3000
7 years ago
Reply to  chase

Call Tony @ TonicFab.com, he was a welder for them and is making some of the finest Aluminum frames around. When I had the chance to chat with him a few years ago he was super cool about answering my questions and humble to boot.

chase
chase
7 years ago

BTW- The latest one my Turner Burner v3.1 was a full suspension frame with shock and headset for under $2K. Rigid road for $2,100. WTF?

Sean
Sean
7 years ago

Tough room tonight….

Ves
Ves
7 years ago
Reply to  Sean

Good one, hahahahaha

potbellyjoe
potbellyjoe
7 years ago

In 2000-2002 I rode in Mass 3-4 times weekly and often with a guy with a red Spooky framed hardtail. For people who have never seen the craftsmanship of a Spooky frame, the prices may seem absurd, for those of use who have seen one, well, I have been looking for the right used one for almost 10 years now.

Dirty Sanchez
Dirty Sanchez
7 years ago

Definitely tough room tonight! Most people these days have a hard time seeing 3 triangles with all round tubes welded together as boutique or special. After looking at these pictures I think I agree.

Loki
Loki
7 years ago

I have owned both the Cannondale Caad9 and Caad 10, ridden the Caad 12 (as well as the Specialized smart weld and a few other high end alu) and own a mid 2000’s Spooky Skeletor. They are all good bikes, at the top of the design chain but there’s something really sweet about the Skeletor. Whatever the motivation for owning one I cannot think of how one could improve it; it’s a pinnacle in alu manufacture, not the only pinnacle but it has reached as high as it can go.
(almost got all misty eyed there …)

T
T
7 years ago

I have owned a CAAD 9 and 10 and I currently own a Spooky Skeletor with SRAM Force 1 and ENVE fork, stem bar and seatpost. The Spooky is an amazing bike. The handling is top notch and the ride does not beat me up (that may also be a function of the ENVE components). I get complements all the time on my Spooky.

That Deaf Guy
7 years ago

I’m laughing here, Frank used to weld up Turner bikes as well, one of yours could be from him and he makes the Vynl ones too, there are a LOT of custom frames out there that are made and/or designed by Frank for other firms. Did you also know that some of the Cannondale team opted for re-badged Spooky frames to race on back in the day?!

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