What ever happened to Draco???

BikeSATORI said:

Just curious...
anyone know what happened to Draco Industries? are they still around, any info on their new stuff if they are still going... any photos?

I remember drooling over their frames quite a few seasons back, before 4130 was so widely (re)accepted in the mtb world, and when people thought it was logical to run a dual crown fork on a ht, and that running 24" w/ 3.0 gazza was a better idea than a 26" with 2.5, etc., etc... I also remember taking note that they were one of the first steel "mtb" frame builders around that were going to the super short chainstays with a plate yoke....
But regardless of that nonsense above, I remember seeing one fairly recently built up as a 24" street rig and it looked pretty nice.
any info is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Saw my first one today at N* , it was a squishy one in all white

This might help.
http://draco.pinkbike.com/
He's made some great frames.

quoted straight from him on pinkbike

"Thats right. After... 8 years... in the industry, I am stepping away from it. I was made an offer I could not refuse, by a company that came and found me. It's not bike related. I have worked at the same shop for 6 years now, and helped it climb to where it is.. Lately, it has seen more traffic than its infrastructure could handle, and no one there seems interested in helping the shop grow further... I was disappointed.

...then one of my good customers suggested I stop out to his place of business.

So I did.

and I was offered a job.

and I took it.


Long story short?

I am now a development engineer for a high-end aftermarket high-end sports car company. I leave for two weeks of training, in london, in 6 days.

giddy up.

not saying who, because here, it doesnt matter.
I will say that this company is super advanced, and I will have not only an office for designing things, but a shop to prototype them in, and many cars to test them out on..... and everyone at work RIDES. so cool.

more info later. just wanted to say good bye bike shop! "


from what ive heard he has been really busy in the last few years, he made a run on 24" park aves and after that he has only been making a few frames for friends and himself as far as i know, too bad because he made awsome stuff and could have been very successful if he chose to really go with it

some of the beautiful works he's done over the years

That fully is kinda cool looking, loving the HT frames too.

I remember people on Pinkbike posting pics of their Draco's with Monsters on the front hucking off their mom's house.

Good times! Good times

This guy who has produced some very innovative bikes. First place I ever saw a "yoke" used on a bike.


-L

love the skinny frame and hookworms

that black frame has a very similar paint job to the newer macneils. gloss and flat combined, pretty rad.

hey all - got some info on these cats since i know them all personally.

FWIW i was the one at n* with the white vigilante. it rides real nice. My only complaints are extra low bb (not sure the exact height, but i am running 165 cranks and still smash pedals regularly) and a long wheelbase (sucks in turns, great at speed). Shot from after I got it back from powdercoating:
http://www.derpbrap.com/bike/platty07race1/DSC00935.JPG

I also got to spend time on the Park Ave frame - one of the best 24's I've ever ridden. Tight, stiff, and light (for the frameset - wanna say it was a touch over 5lbs). Fun little bike, the only other 24" bike I've ridden that I like more is the new Superco 24".


But yes, this job change is a very good move for John. His talent wasn't being used to its full potential at the bike shop. I am very glad he is moving on to bigger and better things. As far as continuing to make bikes, I'm not sure. I know there are still a few tubesets for the Park Ave's that just need welding. and i think there's tubing for another dh bike or 2, but that's about it. I'm not sure what Greg and Andy are planning to do (especially since Andy has all the equipment for fabrication). Time will tell. Knowing John, he won't be pulling himself out of the bike industry entirely, but time will tell what he is up to.

I remember p-ming draco about one of those frames


never answered my e-mails though...

Well, in a nutshell, here's what happened:
Andrew and I are working towards various degrees. Andrew is at the University of Buffalo, and I am still in Rochester at RIT studying mechanical engineering technology and industrial design. We all remain very close (John is actually my neighbor now) and are always considering new designs and prototyping things.

We're not producing frames any more because Andrew and I preferred focusing our efforts on school, and John on his job. None of us were ever in a position to drop everything and run the business full time, so doing it successfully proved exceedingly difficult to the point that it was not possible. Typically, after a full day of work and classes, I would head out to the warehouse with john to work on the bikes. After a few years of intermittent sleep, it caught up to us and we just decided to call it.

We have several Park Ave frames (the 24" street bike) hanging up. We might be able to work something out if somebody is really interested.

We still make prototypes and personal bikes now and again. This summer I built myself a new DH bike based on several frame designs I'd been working with over the years. I'm riding a specialized P2 right now, and have been working out a frame to replace it with.



As we like to say:
Draco cannot be stopped, so we pressed pause.

BikeSATORI said:

yeah, that park ave. is pretty sweet.

I kind of like the "idea" of the EBB for tension and to keep the cs static... but honestly I'd never actually want to ride one for street, those creaky little contraptions, it would get seized after one sesh. probably...

Click to expand...

Those black frames are the V3 - they actually have American BBs, not eccentrics. There are 3 park ave frames with the eccentric - the black one (Andrew's) the blue one (John's) and an unfinished one that we never painted with different seat stays (mine). We have never had a single problem with the eccentric - it works great. The reason we didn't do production frames with them is because a good eccentric setup would add another $100+ to the price of the frame. The goal was an inexpensive steel street bike, and that didn't allow us to meet the criteria.

how much are you guys asking for some leftover park avenues?

Probably like $250 or so.
Send me a PM if you want to talk about it more.

Mega grave dig because I'm stuck at the airport and bored as fvck.



Jon's old Vigilante reincarnated. Been on it a bit more than a year now and love the crap out of it.