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Lightest Full-suspension Endurance Mountain Bike

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
LIGHTEST FULL-SUSPENSION ENDURANCE MOUNTAIN BIKE
MBAction | 22 Apr 04 | Staff

The La Ruta mountain bike frame design was born from the concept of creating an endurance/xterra racing bike to perform in the most extreme environments. The two most important design requirements where to have no maintenance and complete suspension reliability.

Constructed from Titanium, the La Ruta frame has no bearings or pivot points to loosen or become contaminated. Twin Torsion Technology flexes two rear plates, providing 80-100mm of plush rear travel. The use of plates offers superior lateral stability and maintenance over current suspension designs with bearings and swing links.

The recent advance of SPV and 5th Element shock technologies offers hard tail like efficiencies in a simplistic clean design. We are offering both the Manitou SPV and the Progressive 5th Element shocks as options.

Suggested Retail Target: $2300 (frame only)



CAUSE AND EFFECT DESIGN
Design Objective: Must be durable
Accomplishments & Results: Titanium frame material and 2 years of testing

Design Objective: Must be light
Accomplishments & Results: Simplistic design and proprietary butting techniques

Design Objective: Ridged frame construction Accomplishments & Results: Oversized frame tubes; especially the down tube

Design Objective: Extra tire clearance
Accomplishments & Results: Over 1/2" with most 2.1 tires

Design Objectives: Eliminate bearings
Accomplishments & Results: Twin Torsion Technology - horizontal and vertical placement of torsion plates

Other:
*Designed for 100mm fork
*Disc Brake Tabs or cantilever studs available upon request.
*Manufactured In the USA

ABOUT DESIGN GROUP
Daryl Funk is 285 Design Groups president and is the driving technical force. Experienced business owner, formerly and current, Daryl's understanding of trends, designs and manufacturing may be described as eclectic.

John Gerritsen is vice president of Marketing and carries 20 years of bicycle industry experience. Driven by enthusiasm, John will coordinate both technical and marketing concerns.

The 285 Design Group plans on manufacturing a limited number of La Ruta frames in the following months and distributing them to interested dealers. Currently website design is under construction and more information may soon be found at www.285.US

Contact them now at:
Daryl Funk - 303-810-5530; dwf7800@aol.com
John Gerritsen - 303-919-8833; j.Gerritsen@att.net
Fax - 303-816-2894
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Originally posted by Echo
I can't believe they would go to all that trouble to brag about how light it is, but not say how much it weighs :monkey:
I was just going to post the exact same thing.

Flexing Ti "pivots"... Anyone ever see an Ibis Bow Ti? Mmm...

edit: That Cause and Effect deal is stupid. Must be rigid, so they use oversized tubing.. Must have good tire clearance so what do they do? They give it extra tire clearance!

Gee, someone give these guys an award, they're friggin' geniuses.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Originally posted by N8
Sorry, that has zero to do with anything. Fully built up weights are useless - for all I know, the frame weighs 8lbs. and they built it up with parts that'll break when you sit on it.
 

Echo

crooked smile
Jul 10, 2002
11,819
15
Slacking at work
Originally posted by binary visions
Sorry, that has zero to do with anything. Fully built up weights are useless - for all I know, the frame weighs 8lbs. and they built it up with parts that'll break when you sit on it.
Exactly. Besides, they posted the price for frame only, implying you need to build it yourself. So why the hell would the give a full bike weight? Lots of $2300 frames can be built into 20lb bikes.