Pictures of old and obscure suspension bikes
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I remember one year at Interbike James Parker (the guy who designed the Yamaha GTS motorcycle front suspension and RATZ racing motorcycle) had shown a similar suspension system where the entire seat tube and crankset moved up and down via a parallelogram linkage. It was nowhere near as clean a design as the Suspend This bike.
Here's another odd one- check out the massive carbon downtube on this LOOK bike. It also has Fournales air suspension....
Here's another odd one- check out the massive carbon downtube on this LOOK bike. It also has Fournales air suspension....
The Rock Lobster then.
And the Rock Lobster/Ahrens front triangle Storm H2 rear end now.
Just built this back up tonight for a friend who will get his feet wet racing Dh this coming weekend. Just needs a front adapter for the Boxxer and she's ready.
And the Rock Lobster/Ahrens front triangle Storm H2 rear end now.
Just built this back up tonight for a friend who will get his feet wet racing Dh this coming weekend. Just needs a front adapter for the Boxxer and she's ready.
A friend of mine owns one of the ten Yuri's in existance. Built up with modern parts though. He still has the swingarm lying around somewhere. Its yellow, as in the article, and in fact I actually borrowed the bike pictured for a few weeks once.
Damien, the maker/designer now is a cabinet maker and 4wd enthusiest now days, producing his own rock crawling parts to the best of my knowledge. Will try to organise pictures of my friends Yuri.
Damien, the maker/designer now is a cabinet maker and 4wd enthusiest now days, producing his own rock crawling parts to the best of my knowledge. Will try to organise pictures of my friends Yuri.
a friend of mine has one of the leaf spring bikes down here in NZ, it's orange. It's got the mounts for shock and for a leaf spring
That's a new one! When and where was this produced? Any more info on this bike?I remember one year at Interbike James Parker (the guy who designed the Yamaha GTS motorcycle front suspension and RATZ racing motorcycle) had shown a similar suspension system where the entire seat tube and crankset moved up and down via a parallelogram linkage. It was nowhere near as clean a design as the Suspend This bike.
Here's another odd one- check out the massive carbon downtube on this LOOK bike. It also has Fournales air suspension....
It's an interesting one for sure and I'd bet it was pretty darn light too. I've only ever seen three or four photos of it and found very little info on it other than Jean-Pierre Fournales had patented the frame design to some degree. I don't know when it was made, but the fork was originally designed by Fournales in '95 using aluminum legs and then redesigned to be produced in carbon by LOOK around '97. So I'm guessing the frame came out around '97 or '98. It is interesting how the swingarm/link sytem bear resemblance to the Cannondale Fulcrum linkage system. I'd be curious to know who came first......
And speaking of linkage forks-this was one of the more unusual ones I've seen. It does bear some resemblance in mechanics to the parallelogram motocross fork that Valentino Ribi designed and was later used by Roger DeCoster who convinced Honda to buy the design. Honda then made two different super trick machined versions of it for their works bikes and then shelved it.
And more fork weirdness: There's also the Telelever fork by BMW (which is a modified version of the SaxTrack motorcycle fork that Nigel Hill of Saxon produced) and the USE anti dive fork, which I think is still being produced.
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http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166703&highlight=carbon
this guy snatched up all the forks he could.
he might have some info on it.
If anyone needs a disc brake adaptor for that fork, I have one sitting on my desk as a paperweight. Brand new. $97.35 shipped.
Those forks were damned light. We don't have any left, but lots of little parts for them.
Has there already been any pics of the Crosstrac Sonoma on here? I was so in love with that bike, a whole 4" of travel! And a matching 4" fork!
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luelling
Guest
I remember the anti-dive fork. Did anyone actually get a ride on it?
so cool. i wonder where it's gathering dust now? looks like it could be a newer pic.
My old boss had that BMW bike..the mono frame wasn't reinforced where the shock mount hole was drilled - he pushed the shock about a half inch through the frame on what he called a 2 foot drop. They wanted something ridiculous like 3G's for a new frame. Basically a city path bike.And more fork weirdness: There's also the Telelever fork by BMW (which is a modified version of the SaxTrack motorcycle fork that Nigel Saxon produced) and the USE anti dive fork, which I think is still being produced.
And here is the man behind the machine...
Skook Pong
Would you ride a bike this man created?
I wish I could have.
magic motorcycle was alex & skooks wasn't it? whatever happened to those guys? hope their talents were suitibly applied. didn't they have some crazy moto designs as well?
the hollow cnc cranks were pretty cool:
the hollow cnc cranks were pretty cool:
Those were pretty neat cranks except that the crankarms tended to split in half. I still have one of the Magic bottom brackets out in the garage.
Speaking of Nicolai....
For some reason I've always liked these bikes- they're just unlike anything else. It seems he was always willing to push the envelope a little. That rod end looks like it's been bent on the white bike though...
For some reason I've always liked these bikes- they're just unlike anything else. It seems he was always willing to push the envelope a little. That rod end looks like it's been bent on the white bike though...
Speaking of Nicolai....
For some reason I've always liked these bikes- they're just unlike anything else. It seems he was always willing to push the envelope a little. That rod end looks like it's been bent on the white bike though...
And now for something completely different...
Phillipe Perakis' ATZ bike circa Mammoth 1994. Single air shock telelever style front end (complete with scissors link for steering) and URT rear end- it pivoted right in front of the BB. I think it had about 6" travel front/rear.
The fork really doesn't scare me- the A arm could be a bit beefier though! The really scary part is the skinny down tube with all the loads being fed right into the middle of it. That thing had to have been a serious flexy flier.... With a really big downtube it could have worked.
I remember one of my Onza co workers saying at the time that Herbold kept going up to it and pointing and saying "Dude, I think there's a crack right there" with Phillippe saying "No, no, go away!"
Phillipe Perakis' ATZ bike circa Mammoth 1994. Single air shock telelever style front end (complete with scissors link for steering) and URT rear end- it pivoted right in front of the BB. I think it had about 6" travel front/rear.
The fork really doesn't scare me- the A arm could be a bit beefier though! The really scary part is the skinny down tube with all the loads being fed right into the middle of it. That thing had to have been a serious flexy flier.... With a really big downtube it could have worked.
I remember one of my Onza co workers saying at the time that Herbold kept going up to it and pointing and saying "Dude, I think there's a crack right there" with Phillippe saying "No, no, go away!"
And even stranger still..... What do you get when you mix some steel tubing, an old KX80 fork, a Trek TC3 swingarm and a Progressive Suspension pull shock from a Schwinn/Buell- downhill racing Barracuda style!
What's even more strange is that one of the owners of Barracuda Dave Southwell showed me another bike that had the pivot high up at the seat tube junction (think Slingshot) and had the same pull shock attached to welded in clevises in the downtube- a very scary URT design.
What's even more strange is that one of the owners of Barracuda Dave Southwell showed me another bike that had the pivot high up at the seat tube junction (think Slingshot) and had the same pull shock attached to welded in clevises in the downtube- a very scary URT design.
Just a couple more: The original Descender that Brian Skinner made- he left Onza before I started working there. I remember seeing this Kawasaki bike at Interbike- for some reason I'm thinking the first year the show was at Vegas but I could be wrong.
Also, does anyone remember the Monolith- specifically with the Rebound fork? I could only find this tiny pic of it with a Halson fork. I believe the designer of it went to work for Specialized.
And what about the URT bike that Roo Trimble and Mike Augsberger of One Off Titanium made (around '93 I think?) It was the one that had the Gizbag (no kidding- that was what they called it) that was a nylon bag with some some inner tubes sewn in it to use as the spring/damper.
And what about the URT bike that Roo Trimble and Mike Augsberger of One Off Titanium made (around '93 I think?) It was the one that had the Gizbag (no kidding- that was what they called it) that was a nylon bag with some some inner tubes sewn in it to use as the spring/damper.
Spencer Owyang on the Monolith tip?Also, does anyone remember the Monolith- specifically with the Rebound fork? I could only find this tiny pic of it with a Halson fork. I believe the designer of it went to work for Specialized.
And what about the URT bike that Roo Trimble and Mike Augsberger of One Off Titanium made (around '93 I think?) It was the one that had the Gizbag (no kidding- that was what they called it) that was a nylon bag with some some inner tubes sewn in it to use as the spring/damper.
I actually tripped over the One-off bike on Tuesday digging in Augsbergers loft for a 1" Mag21 crown.
Stop asking if I remember things! For a 26 year old kid I remember TOO MUCH already.
Heck I've ridden a few of the bikes in this thread, like the "Leopard Print" Project X, and Tatto Lou's Kawasaki.
I demand someone produce pictures of the San Andreas Tandem that Kevin at Risse had made.
Spencer Owyang- can't believe I forgot that guy's name.
A San Andreas Tandem? That I've got to see...
I used to have a One Off rigid Ti fork- it was really slick. I knew a guy that had one of his road bikes (with Magic cranks that split
)that Leni had done an anodized "paint" scheme on. 26? Now I do feel old.... don't worry, you'll forget all kinds of things as you get older. And I think I have a 1" Mag21 crown in the garage- no wait- make that two 1" Mag21 crowns- one of which is the SL model. Let me know if you need one...
Dude, you're my new hero. I totally remember that thing, with the airbag in the middle as the shock? F'n weird.
Those Monoliths were cool, but I was all about the Halson, especially the second version, the silver one. Didn't they patent the idea of mounting elastomers on a skewer, then sued Answer and Rock Shox?
Good (old) times...
Ahh the CODA Magic cranks
Yep Alex = dad, and Skooks = Son
Magic Motorcycle was their hop up shop back in the day. modifying Honda XR's I beleive.
Skooks had a Cagiva 125cc 2 stroke that he built a single sided front fork (two stanctions to elimiate flex for steering joined to a large CNC'd upper and crowns. Aluminum mag wheels with a quick release hub (no axle to remove) like the C'Dale lefty. He made a single sided swing arm that also used the rear sprocket as a disk rotor.
Rear wheel quick release also....had like a big nut you would spin off like them race cars. He also mad Aluminum Disk wheels for the bike that had bead locks on them like the Offroad trucks use. Those were the days.
All the Cagica stuff was done back in like 1987 or so. When was the Lefty released? I wish I had pics of that bike....last time I spoke with Skooks he said he still had it.
Yes they did patent it and yes they did sue Answer- I was an expert witness in the lawsuit as I knew the all about the Halson fork from the beginning and I knew the owners of the company Steve and Doug pretty well. They had over $100k in patents on the fork ....... I don't know about them suing RockShox- I believe they came to an agreement before it went to court.
When the judy's fist came out they had metal skewers that ran through the elasatomers. I think it was the second year that they came out with Judy Jacks, the little plastic connectors that eliminated the need for the skewer and the plasitc spacers that came in the '05s. I don't know, but I would imagine that was their way of correcting any patent violations.
I remember the Halstons, a local shop guy had one, I always thought they were really cool looking. kinda partial to the black ones as opposed to the later silver and anodized version.
I think the Halson guys had about six different patents covering the design and function of their fork. If I remember correctly, the skewer (and this is what much of the debate in court was about) described in their patent more or less covered any system that allowed the bumpers to be removed as a group from the top of the fork.
I never did find out the outcome of the Answer case- they asked me if I would serve as an expert witness in a case againt RockShox and I declined- I was kind of tired of it all, plus I still had friends that worked at RockShox. The funny thing about patents is that they're only as good as your ability to defend them.
And now back to the bikes: here's the IRD suspension bike- check out that Marinovative rear brake. I used to have an IRD elastomer fork on my old carbon Epic. It was a pretty cool fork at the time. They did make another fork later on but it was a really odd linkage fork.
I never did find out the outcome of the Answer case- they asked me if I would serve as an expert witness in a case againt RockShox and I declined- I was kind of tired of it all, plus I still had friends that worked at RockShox. The funny thing about patents is that they're only as good as your ability to defend them.
And now back to the bikes: here's the IRD suspension bike- check out that Marinovative rear brake. I used to have an IRD elastomer fork on my old carbon Epic. It was a pretty cool fork at the time. They did make another fork later on but it was a really odd linkage fork.
What was the bike that MBA(?) did an article on about 8-10 years ago? It was a burly DH bike that I think had 24" rims on it and a smaller MX fork.
It might have even had something to do with Doug Bradbury and Answer.
IIRC the big gripe was that it weighed in the neihborhood of 60 pounds. I think they said it was super plush too?
It might have even had something to do with Doug Bradbury and Answer.
IIRC the big gripe was that it weighed in the neihborhood of 60 pounds. I think they said it was super plush too?
Are you thinking of the Exd (european extreme dh). I think it was based on the manitou suspension frame at the time. It was modified to around custom machined rims that fit moto tires. from what I remeber the rims alone were costing 10g's each (prototype).
Anyone looking to pick up a Manitou FS95 in good condition? I've got nothing to do with this sale, but someone posted this ebay ad up over on farkin.net and I thought some of the old-school heads on this board might be interested and that this thread would be the place to find them.
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luelling
Guest
What a rip. I've got a friend in my home town that has that bike, and it sucked. The rear end flexed like crazy when you put the power down. This was a pre-answer bike and the suspension wasn't that great. $2800? good luck on that one
extreme gnar huck
Lots of old reminders on here for sure. I never understood the point of those giant "Bender Style" bikes with steel frames and super monsters. Like back in 00/01 when hardtail street bikes dual crowns with 3in tires were popular.
Here's me rockin my 97 GT Zaskar in summer 98 complete with an XTR rear derail, and Judy "DH" fork.
Here's me rockin my 97 GT Zaskar in summer 98 complete with an XTR rear derail, and Judy "DH" fork.
It wasn't a san andreas, it was a boulder starship. It was broken a few years ago at a drunken party when some stoner clowns tried to jump it on a huge wooden ramp.
I had one of these as my first suspension bike, the rear elastomer was worn out in 4 months.
