This frame is probably the most beautiful I ever had in my collection. Green and gold, the perfect team.

Coming closer to the frame, one can see how special it is - prominent gussets, unique cable routing and drops, fillet brazed art, coming from a definitive low series production - he built less than 20 frames per year. Yes, it is an Otis Guy, from the very popular man in Marin, one of the first MTB veterans, famous Repack rider, unofficially the fastest, and the "first National Mountain Bike Championships in 1983 and the first World Mountain Bike Championships in 1990" (see https://mmbhof.org/otis-guy/ - Marin Museum of Bicycling and MTB hall of fame).

Why? This short message from a previous owner describes it all.

"So "previous owner ABC" found it at a bike swap and stripped it of all its parts and gave it a really bad paint job.  It sold to the Australian collector "previous owner XYZ", who sold it to my local friend "Previous owner LMN", who sold it to me. Then it went over to you guys! A well traveled frame!"

I cant agree more, Eric, this is a globetrotter. If you are interested in more documentation , check Eric´s page. http://www.thevintagemtb.com/2016/11/1991-otis-guy-138-og.html 

I really have to thank Eric on the restoration. He went for the magic green and was so lucky to get the original decals from Otis Guy. here are some pics Eric took from the find, to clean up, paint and his build, thanks for granting me allowance to share.

"With over to you guys", Eric is talking about Bjoernar and me. Here is what Bjoernar got from Eric and what he made out of it. As a fan of IRD, I think he did the perfect build.

Yes, he also got the second fork, a Koski with roller cams laying in front of the cleaned version. What a great idea to paint it also in the green. Here s the parcel going to Bjoernar and his fascinating IRD version: perfect result of the plan!

After roughly 20 times asking Bjoernar to remember me when selling it, I was surprised in March 20, when he said: Ok, I think now you can have it if you want. Even though I behaved a bit like, I didn`t even think a second about it. But then covid came and it took roughly another 3-4 month to receive it. Guess you can see how I felt when I picked it up :)

I built and raced it immediately when I arrived home. I was exited and a bit disappointed. Why: this amazing build with the IRD Rotary and IRD Switchback brake, early seat post, WTB Classic hubs and Cooks cranks was not (comfortable) rideable for me with the Interloc Racing Design Macaroni stem. Here some shots from the OG138 IRD in Hamburg.

When sharing the first pics of this build, one of the previous owners mentioned, he never expected this frame to end up with Tioga and IRD. One can interpret on his own what he meant.

To me, was one thing absolutely clear: I´ll use the roller cam fork, the Koski. And, after the first riding experience, I had to find a stem. The funny anecdote on it, is, that I bought the fork already with the Merlin 789 and the American Breezer, here a shot from this.

And here are the two forks in a study. Yes, with the Koski I´d give up the fillet brazed and OG decals, but going for a front roller cam brake was one of my initial idea (and brings the better performance)

Next step, the stem. A while ago, I felt already, that the stem won´t fit and, yes I´m honest, I thought the same as the previous owner. This beautiful frame deserves my favorite group set, a Wilderness Trail Bikes group set. (see more details here). For this reason, a friend proof his Karma, what a help in giving me this  WTB Powerband stem back (I sold if previously, thanks, Sven!). Here a benchmark, why this will feel better for my back and def provide the better riding preference

What could be better than a warm summer evening, enough time, all parts for your plan and the SFB garden workshop - yes, due to Covid, I took tools and second repair stand to home to build here :)

Starting with the group, I decided for a Suntour XC Pro. I think it`s a bit more graceful and matches really good with the green/gold.

Interesting comparison: the Regina Syncro and Suntour freewheel. Even though I went for a Micro Drive crank with the small rings, I wanted to run it with a 32 rear cog. Later I found, the regina also has a special freewheel tool and only one of the three I bought fits with the bigger WTB classic caps :). Aaand, I needed it, because the spacer in the back of the Regina does not fit to the high flache WTB Classic hubs.

For the bar I decided for a WTB TI with quite some sweep, this should balance the long stem. Always love the Powerband stem with the two part clamp and the DKG fix rings. What I also like is the routing over the stem, this works better with the cable stop. Here is also a special solution. Who ever built a WTB King knows, this builds higher. Both steerer from the Otis and Koski fork are quite short. The IRD Macaroni did not have this problem, but the WTB Powerband stamp. Actually there was not enough space for a WTB hanger, but this one is magic, it`s fillet out, see the third picture :) 

The double roller cam predestined for WTB Speedmaster and the rear cable routing is shouting for a WTB Toggle Cam. Luckily I had one. A very special highlight to me is the logo`ed rear brake arm version - lovely - lets start with that.
Here also the comparison with the front and a benchmark of the early Cunningham washers and later WTB. 

The picture earlier also showed one little challenge with my black Gripmaster, I had to glue the pad. Here some impressions from the compilation of the front and rear roller cams

A special thing are the booster. A local vintage MTB fan started a few years a ago some reproductions, among these repros of the Brodie booster, one could choose between with and without holes. I liked those and put them on. Have a look

Another candy are the Magura grips, original and NOS (Made in W Germany:)