My Custom Bikes - Early 2000s Bling: Principia MSL Pro

I did not actually build this custom bike myself. I went the luxury route: I had my local bike shop build it up. I started mountain biking in 2003 with the hills around Zurich as my home turf under the expert bike guiding skills of Yves. I was pretty happy riding my silver Rocky Mountain Trailhead on some of the trails I’m still riding today.

However, the pull for shiny new things and the fact that, as a young and single IT consultant, I had some disposable income made me start to dream about my perfect mountain bike.

Too Early for a Full Suspension Bike

As part of the process, I started to read all I could about mountain bike parts. I also tested a couple of bikes with parts on them that I later decided needed to go on my dream build.

I particularly remember one test ride: taking a 2004 Santa Cruz Blur for a spin on my now local legend trail on the Altberg in Zurich. It was the first time I was riding a full suspension bike, and I had a blast bombing down the trail. At the same time, this scared me: I decided that this bike was too fast for me on the downhills and that I’d stick to a hardtail. The fork from the Santa Cruz, however, made it onto my dream build.

An Exclusive Frame

But first, I needed a frame. And obviously, the bike had to be light. The guys at Backyard in Zurich had exactly the part standing around that I needed: a Principia MTB frame. In the early 2000s, Principia was a famous name standing for insanely light road race and triathlon frames. The simple lines and the matte black paint job with the big silver PRINCIPIA name tag down the main tube were simply stunning.

Top of the Shelf Early 2000s Parts

So, I was set for the frame. Now, the rest needed to come together. One of the highlights were the tiny, CNC-machined Hope Mini Mono disk brakes. These were the first disk brakes I had ever ridden. I was so impressed with their braking power that I played a game in which, approaching a red light, I would brake as late as possible and put all my weight on the back wheel to stand still at the last moment.

The saddle had to be a Selle Italia Flite Titanium, and the headset & bottom bracket obviously needed to be from Chris King. As mentioned above, for the front suspension, I chose the fork I had tested on the Santa Cruz: a Fox Terralogic 80mm. The Terralogic name came from the fact that it was the first fork with a floating valve that would only open when the terrain was rough but would be kind of stiff on non-challenging trails or on the street.

An FSA Afterburner crankset (3x) with Crankbrothers Egg Beater pedals and SRAM’s Gripshift with a top-of-the-shelf X0 9x rear derailleur completed the picture. The only Shimano piece allowed on the bike was the XTR front derailleur. Final touches: a Thomson Elite seatpost and Nokon cable hoses—what else on an early 2000s bike!