Introducing the new-2-me Primus Mootry Ti Road bike

Several months ago I got onto this jones for a new road bike. I've had my road bike for more than 6 years and had recently gotten fitted with using the Serotta system. The results said I needed the bar higher and could also tolerate a longer reach.

So my beautiful custom lugged frame now had this hideous stem on it. Sure that is not an excuse for a new bike, but just like a college kid can find any excuse for a party I can find an excuse for a new bike. But I was just wanting something new and different, and having cash sitting in one's Paypal account makes it easy to get your wish.

I wanted something with a slightly sloping top tube to help get the bars higher.

I was going back and forth on what kind of frame to look for. Carbon, steel, Ti. I LOVE steel. But the weight weenie in me wanted to try lighter. There are some really light steel frames out there too, but I saw this bike on ebay, and was really drawn to it. So I put a bid on it, fully expecting to get outbid at the end, but you know how that goes.

It took months to get around to building it up, and I had to get my shifters rebuilt and only yesterday got out on a long ride. Introducing my new road bike.


It was built by a small custom outfit out of Colorado named Primus Mootry the owner and builder/designer is named Joe DePaemelaere. This bike was actually his brother's. But he's so into cross on the Primus Mootry Racing Team it was just sitting there. I believe that Joe designed the bike but that another person did the welding. Word is he used to weld for Moots and Dean. If you hang out at places like the Serotta forum or road bike review everyone likes to show off the welds on their bike. I'm not quite sure how much a nice 'looking' weld affects the structural integrity but with cycling there is always something that sets the blue bloods apart. Check out these fillets. It has to make me faster, ya think?





It came with a hodge podge of parts, and an ugly ass fork. Plus the steerer tube on the fork was too short for the kind of bar height I needed anyway. I built it up with most of the components from my old bike and am selling off the parts it came with.
-1999 Chorus 9 speed, but a slightly newer Record crank 170mm
-Cane Creek wheels, fairly old. Static weight isn't great but they spin up nice. I want to build up some American Classics with some IRD cadence rims for some 1450g wheels
-Thomson silver post and stem - with road bikes it's all about style
-Shimano 600 pedals
-A San Marco Saddle that is almost 10 years old. I'm scared to change
-Mizuno fork


-it has the Jtek Engineerng Shiftmate


-some Bontrager Flat Top bars




They look weird but I like the large flat surface for resting my forearms on.

-The bike came with some of those Bontrager vibration damping plugs too.

It has those hooded dropouts that take some getting used to for putting the quick release on


-regular headset. I hate the look of those integrated ones.

I added some color coded accents


-The tubing is 3/2.5 straight wall mostly .9mm some US some import tubes.
-75 seat tube, 72.5 head tube
-53.5 top tube. I put a 100mm stem on it. It probably is a little on the long side and a 52.5-53 is probably more ideal, but this works well.

Well, how does it ride?

One of the legendary qualities of Ti bikes is their smoothness. You read about how buttery the ride is, taking all the edge off the road. High end steel also has that quality. I'd never ridden Ti so I was quite curious to see if it lived up to the hype.



It is amazing the feel of this thing. It really is smooth. Smoother than my lugged steel. It just floats across the road. But at the same time there is a stiffness to it that just says SOLID. It is so quiet. Except for the rattling of the water bottles in those flimsy American Classic cages I can't tell how rough the road is.

One downside though is this build lacks that springiness that high end steel is known for. It gets up and goes but the feeling is more muted than on my steel frame. Tubing sets can be tuned to the rider and a full straight gauge Ti set probably is overkill for someone as small as me.

It's light too. I haven't weighed the whole thing yet, but I can feel the lightness in the ride. 1999 Chorus is not the lightest stuff out there. I could drop a pound in components and wheels w/o trying too hard at all. But there is a solidness in the Chorus and a nice look/soul. I might look into the new SRAM road stuff in a few years when the prices come down. But for now it's fine.

It handles very nice. More racier than my other ride. And I feel like I can lean the bike over better in the corners over the other bike where I seemed to feel more top heavy. This bike is set up with the same reach and drop to the bars but feels more balanced on the descents. It requires a little more attention than the other one, but my rides are not all day centuries and I like the more sporty feel. Not that the other one wasn't a good ride, it was.

I'll definitely be putting some miles on this bike in the months to come. I can't wait to see how it rides when my legs are back underneath me and I hit the hills with some gusto.