RAMP ROOM
CONDOR FRAMES
NOTE: The information below is an old batch of info that was written a number of years ago. This page is waiting to be re-written with all new photos and information that has been learned since this was originally done! Stay tuned!
DISCLAIMER ABOUT YEARS: The years that these bikes were released weren’t really designed to work in the standard format that people might be used to when it comes to organising bike releases. They were made and updated when they were done, it wasn’t really done to any schedule to have the bikes ready for a specific yearly release. The years have been loosely organised by collectors to make it easier for identification.
1991 KASTAN MADE PROTOTYPE CONDOR

There were 5 prototype Condor frames made by Kastan for Hoffman Bikes in 1991. Here’s Mat’s quote from his book about how this came about.
With the sport continuing its downward spiral, withering and shrinking, there were hardly any events or competitions left to attend. The thriving scene of the ’80s was gone. But freestyle was far from dead -it was just underground. From my perspective, I didn’t really have a choice. I needed a bike, I needed contests, I needed a community. In short, I needed to get off my ass and make it happen. The companies that still made freestyle bikes didn’t seem particularly committed to, or even interested in freestyle as a sport. They saw it as a number, and with the bike industry sales in decline, that number did not command much respect.
In the past, I’d been offered a chance to have my own signature bike on Haro. I should have been stoked, but my question everything mind-set was provoking me to do a lot of soul searching. If I was going to put my name on a bike, I didn’t want it to be at the mercy of bean counters. I didn’t want somebody’s lacklustre bike sale stats to control who I wanted to be. My lifestyle revolved around a sport of self-control, mastering the ability to adapt to weird environments. If there’s one thing I knew how to do, it was ride transitions.
I didn’t know dick about building bicycles I just knew how I wanted mine to ride. I ransacked my Rolodex, making calls and asking questions of some of the manufacturers in the industry, researching how stuff got built, and how to translate my ideas as a rider into bent and welded steel. I got a hold of Linn Kastan, one of the greats in BMX history. Linn is the guy who basically invented the BMX racing bike. He was in charge of the first awesome BMX bike company, Redline (who also had the first great BMX team). To his credit he had the creation of the first tubular forks, handlebars with a crossbar, and high performance Flight cranks. It was an honour to have him help show me the ropes.
I started planning the way any kid with a dream does by scribbling my frame designs on paper. I went to Linn’s house where my crude drawings became intense technical discussions. We tuned the geometry in the drawing and discussed the dilemma of weight versus strength. I wanted a bulletproof bike, but it had to fly. There were incidents in the past where I’d broken three brand-new bikes in one day and was sick of that crap. I wanted top quality, which meant using American made 4130 aircraft grade chrome-moly tubing, the best money can buy. I was also stoked that it was going to be built in America, which was a rarity for freestyle bikes. A couple of weeks later Linn’s machine shop had built me five prototype Condor frames, one for Steve Swope, Rick Thorne, Dave Mirra, Davin Hallford, and me. Our mission was to try and break them. The Condor was good. It was quick, it was stiff, it had clean angles, but more than anything, it was built to last. (Rode my prototype frame and fork set for seven months, trying everything in my power to bring it to its knees. The bike held up to flat bottom landings, rooftop drops, handrails, gaps, dirt, street, ditches, extreme weather conditions, name-calling, and giant ramps. I caused my body way more harm than my bike, and the rest of the prototypes held up, too. Midway through the testing phase, I made a couple of minor improvements and declared the design phase done.
The difference you can see with these frames is that the chain stays come out much wider from the bottom bracket compared to the production 92 frames and they have no peg bosses on the frames. The forks also have no peg bosses and the dropouts extended out further to accommodate a peg. I’ve been told that Rick Thorne still has his 91 Condor prototype frame so at least 1 survived. There may have been more differences but I’m unaware of them.
1992 SE MADE CONDOR
This is the first production model Condor that’s released for sale. These frames were available as a complete bike and a frame and fork set. They were available in chrome with pink stickers, or blue with green stickers.
There was 200 frame & fork sets made, 100 chrome and 100 painted blue. Of those 200 frames, 50 were turned into complete bikes. 25 complete bikes in blue and 25 in chrome. You can see the frame+fork, complete bike and full complete bike parts list in the brochure below.


The brochure doesn’t list it but the pegs were VERY early Havok pegs, as in Odyssey Havok Sprocket Pocket style. You can see it gets a mention in the BMX Plus test ride below as a caption on one of the photos. If you look closely at the wall ride photo in the BMX Plus review you can see them, and you can see there’s grip tape on only 2 pegs. The 93 SE Condor had the exact same pegs. The complete bikes were supplied with grip tape for 2 of the pegs. I’m not sure what the logic was for offering enough grip tape for 2 pegs, but I’ve had confirmation from 2 people who purchased complete bikes back when they were released that they both got grip tape with their pegs. I had a set of pegs from a 93 SE Condor complete and it also has marks from where grip tape has been on 2 of the pegs.
FRAME SPECS
CONSTRUCTION
Head tube: Machined 4130 Chromoly.
Bottom Bracket: Machined 4130 Chromoly.
Top Tube: Ovalised, true temper chromoly .035 wall tubing.
Down Tube: Ovalised, true temper chromoly .049 wall tubing.
Seat Stays: True temper chromoly .035 wall tubing.
Chain stays: True temper chromoly .049 wall tubing.
Dropouts: 3/16″ Thick, 4130 chromoly.
Seat Tube: 4130 Chromoly .058 wall tubing, 1 ” diameter.
Serial # on frame: NO
*The forks on this model have a 2 piece welded steerer tube.
GEOMETRY
Head Tube: 70°
Seat Tube: 65°
Top Tube Length: 20 3/4″
Chain stay Length: 14 1/2″
Bottom Bracket Height: 11 1/4″
Wheelbase: 36 1/2″ to 38 1/2″
Frame Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.49KG)
Fork Weight: 2.2 lbs (0.99KG)
Here’s another quote from Mat Hoffman’s book “The Ride of my Life” about the 92 Condor frames.
Precision materials and craftsmanship came with a steep price tag, and I found out I couldn’t afford to have Linn Kastan’s shop do production. Mike Devitt of SE Racing saved the day. Mike was another old school BMX guy, and he’d been through the ups and downs of the industry with another legendary company, SE. Their machine shop could make a limited run of custom frame and fork sets. The condition was, I had to pay for half the batch up front, the other half on delivery “Make me two hundred of these,” I told Devitt and sent off the schematic for the Condor with a down payment check for $18,000.
A couple months later, the UPS guy rolled up with a truckload of boxes and a big fat C.O.D. invoice. The first batch of Hoffman Condor frame and fork sets had arrived. It was a glorious day. Some were already earmarked as giveaways, I gave a few to deserving riders, but the bulk of the shipment was going to dealers. We stacked the bikes right next to the Ninja Ramp, polished them and slapped on the decals, then reboxed our booty and prepped our orders. In the time we’d waited for the payload of frames to arrive from the machine shop, Steve and I had worked the phones and faked our voices to sound older and more confident. We convinced a few shop owners around the country to carry our product line, which was a feat in itself considering the bleak bike market. Because of the manufacturing costs and high-quality materials, by the time the Condor frame and fork sets were hanging on bike shop walls, they cost around $350. At the time, a budget-minded shopper could pick up a generic, entry-level complete bicycle for around $200. But there were ample numbers of hard core riders out there willing to shell out the clams, and by some miracle, we sold out of our first run of Condors in one month.
You can easily ID these frame and forks by the peg bosses, the frames have quite skimpy peg bosses and the forks have no peg bosses at all, just a hole through the bottom of the fork leg!


92 Condor fork. You can see the forks look kind of bow legged inwards when you look at them face on. This is how they were constructed. It starts near the top of the dropouts.


Original pink/green 92 Condor sticker sheets (identical to the 93 stickers). The green sticker sheet is missing the flame stickers from the seatstays, but they’re the same as the ones in the pink kit, except they’re green.


BMX Plus Test Ride from the November 1992 Issue.





1993 SE MADE CONDOR
Second production model Condor that’s released for sale. These frames were available as a complete bike and a frame and fork set. They were available in chrome with pink or green stickers, or black with green stickers.
The 93 SE Condor was available from early 93. They are very similar to the 92 frames, still built by SE, but there was a few changes made. The frame dropouts were made thicker, the head tube angle got steepened, the peg mounts got beefed up on the frame and actual peg mounts were added to the forks. These frames have no serial numbers and the stickers remained the same as the 92 Condors.
There was 200 frame & fork sets made, 100 chrome and 100 painted black. Of those 200 frames, 50 were turned into complete bikes. 25 complete bikes in black and 25 in chrome. The parts list for the 93 Condor complete bikes was almost identical to the 92 Condors mentioned above but they came with SE made Patriot bars instead of Scud bars.
93 Frame and fork with original pink stickers (very faded).
The frame and fork below has the original green stickers.
Changes over previous model.
– Frame dropouts upgraded to 1/4″
– Head tube angle made steeper from 70° to 74°.
– Peg mounts on the frame got made much thicker and forks got peg bosses instead of just holes.
Standard frame info.
Head tube size: 1″
Frame dropout thickness: 1/4″ (6.35mm)
Fork dropout thickness: 3/16″ (4.76mm)
Frame + fork axle slot size: 3/8″ (10mm)
Serial # on frame: NO
*The forks on this model have a 2 piece welded steerer tube.
The picture below is the closest complete original SE condor i’ve ever seen. It was missing the tyres when it was found but they’ve been replaced with NOS originals in the picture. Otherwise I’m pretty sure this bike is completeley stock with it’s original parts. It’s a good reference piece.
93 SE Condor forks. Same bow leg design as the 92 Condor forks, the peg bosses got beefed up compared to the 92 forks as you can see below.
Original pink/green 93 Condor sticker sheets (identical to the 92 stickers). The green sticker sheet is missing the flame stickers from the seatstays, but they’re the same as the ones in the pink kit, except they’re green.
1994 RAMP ROOM CONDOR
The first production Condor to come out of the Ramp Room, this bike came out a few months into 1994. These frames were available in chrome, black, blue, green and possibly more colours.
Changes over previous model.
– Single cable guide on the down tube (instead of 2 on the SE’s).
– Frames now have a C4#### serial number on the inside of the rear dropout.
– Rear peg mounts were removed from the frame.
Standard frame info.
Head tube size: 1″
Frame dropout thickness: 1/4″ (6.35mm)
Fork dropout thickness: 3/16″ (4.76mm)
Frame + fork axle slot size: 3/8″ (10mm)
Peg bosses on frame: NO.
Peg bosses on fork: YES.
Serial # on frame: YES – C4####.
Sticker colours: Purple/silver, green/silver, red/yellow.
The forks on this frame have peg bosses that are the same as the 93 SE Condor forks. The forks no longer have a bow leg bend in the legs, they’re now straight. I’ve seen a picture of a factory painted 94 condor with RR Big Daddy forks matched to it, so i’m not sure how many frames were sold like this but it did happen to at least one.
Here’s the original 94 Condor frame and fork sticker sheets in all 3 available colours.
Ramp Room Made
There was quite a few changes to this frame, they’re detailed below.
Changes over previous model.
– New wraparound style head tube gusset.
– New dropout style, they’re now a solid design with no triangle cut out of them, they were also made larger to provide more hub protection during grinds.
– A new wishbone style tube got added on the chain stay where it meets the bottom bracket.
– Seat stays are attached to the seat tube in a slightly different manner than the 94 frames.
– The forks remained the same as the 94’s aside from the peg bosses. They got a big upgrade and there’s now a much larger base for the peg to sit on compared to previous versions. (some of the eariler frames got sold with 94 condor forks, not sure on numbers but there was at least one frame sold that had the 94 forks matched to it in the same colour.)
Standard frame info.
Available Dates: These were available from early Jan 1995 until the end of 1995
Head tube size: 1″
Frame dropout thickness: 1/4″ (6.35mm)
Fork dropout thickness: 3/16″ (4.76mm)
Frame + fork axle slot size: 3/8? (10mm)
Peg bosses on frame: NO.
Peg bosses on fork: YES.
Serial # on frame: NO.
Sticker colours: Purple/silver, green/silver, red/yellow.
The stickers on these frames were the same stickers used on the 94 Condor frames. All 3 colours below.
Ramp Room Made
Some very minor changes to this frame, updated dropout on the forks and a new sticker design.
Changes over previous model.
– The seat stay now connects to the seat and top tube differently, it goes further up into the side of the top tube.
– The stickers got updated to a newer flame style. These stickers are more complex in design than the previous year.
– The frame housing around the seat clamp bolt is now much thicker.
– The horizontal length of the dropouts on the forks got shortened.
Standard frame info.
Head tube size: 1″
Frame dropout thickness: 1/4″ (6.35mm).
Fork dropout thickness: 3/16″ (4.76mm).
Frame + fork axle slot size: 3/8″ (10mm).
Peg bosses on frame: NO.
Peg bosses on fork: YES.
Serial # on frame: NO.
Sticker colours: Purple, green/yellow, red/orange.
The dropouts on the 96 condor forks got changed to be like the super fork dropouts. Not as long and thicker.
All 3 original colour sticker packs.