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American Bicycle Manufacturing Corporation
Fred Schilplin founded the American Bicycle Manufacturing Corporation in 1984, in St. Cloud, Minnesota. An early adopter of Aluminum only frames, ABM bikes featured large toothpaste welds, often on un-painted or anodized frames. Early ABM bikes featured an adjustable head tube, so that the geometry and wheelbase could be quickly altered with an allen key. ABM famously teamed up with Joe Breeze, selling American Breezers from 1987 → 1991, and in 1993 produced a couple of beryllium framed mtbs for a price of $36,000. The first 1984 ABM bikes were simple 20“ BMX geared cruisers and no proper mtb was produced until 1985. The last, new ABM model were created in 1993.
Fred also founded the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in 1983 which is still run today.
Just when you thought you had seen everything, along comes something like the Montaneus, an aluminum frameset with an adjustable head angle. A patented system allows the head angle to be adjusted from 66.4° to 71.6°, at the same time changing the wheelbase from 43.8” to 42.15“ and any angle between the extremes is also possible. Fe/Mar 1985 Fat Tire Flyer, pages 17-18. fattireflyer
Resources:
Fred Schilplin, IFMA bike show, 1990, showing off an aluminum drillium frame. “20% lighter.”
retrobike
1985 Montaneus brochure.
mombat
1985 Montaneus
Adjustable headset, Suntour XC (1984-85) including XC rear rollercams.
1985 Montaneus
mombat
1986 Montaneus Comp Lite
Adjustable head tube. Shimano XT M700 v2 (1985.)
1986 Montaneus Comp Lite,
Sep/Oct 1986 Mountain Bike Magazine.
cultmtb
1987 Comp Lite
Shimano XT M730 (1986-88), rear U-brakes, aluminum frame, bullmoose bars, fixed headtube. Koski Duratec fork.
1987 Comp Lite
classiccycleus
1988 American Breezer
Chromed aluminum frame. SunTour LeTech and XC Pro derailleurs, XT brakes. “Designed by Joe Breeze” sticker on top tube.
1988 American Breezer
vintagemtbworkshop
1989 American Breezer
The date is suspect, as are the originality of most of the parts. The short cage Dura Ace rear derailleur will not handle most shifts. The decals have been replaced by Series III Breezer stickers which were last seen on Joe Breeze's 1982 model.
1989 American Breezer
mtb-news.de
1990 M-16
Internal cabling, full XT M732 (1989), removable derailleur hanger, front brake cable roller.
1990 M-16
classiccycleus
1991 M16
Deore XT M732 (1989) and many upgrades. Serial number: 0M9190. Onza Porcupine tires.
1991 M16
retrobike
1992 Comp Lite
Probably all new parts.
1992 Comp Lite
retrobike
1993 Comp Lite
15” frame. Top tube derailleur cable routing. All rebuilt.
1993 Slingshot
mtb-news.de
1993 Berileum
Frame produced by Brush-Wellman 1), out of beryllium tubing and aluminum lugs. The frame weighed 2.5 pounds, where the lugs alone weighed 1.5 pounds. Beryllium is one of the most toxic elements and inhaling beryllium dust is often fatal. It is also one of the most expensive, at $469/pound2). It is likely only two complete examples were produced.
The beryllium tubes were made from rolled and welded sheet metal3).
1993 Berileum
stackechange
1)
Brush-Wellman
was the world's largest producer of Beryllium. It has since changed its name to Materion
2)
Wholesale prices from Shanghai Metals Market as of Sep 28, 2023.
3)
Manufacturing info from bikegremlin.