my claim to fame re: Stratos was that my dead fork was once featured on their website as 'what not to do' re: torquing fork crown bolts.
Specialized crushes Stratos *Unconfirmed*
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I always wondered why the S7 forks had somewhat flimsy brake arches. You could twist the fork if you cranked on the handlebars hard enough in slow, tight trails. But I always loved how you could just buy the piece you needed. Everything just bolted together. The addition of those moto seals was great, otherwise the stock seal nuts and seals made the fork feel like garbage.
edit. Also, why did S7 had so many issues compared the S6 and MX6 all the while being almost the same fork (construction-wise)?
edit. Also, why did S7 had so many issues compared the S6 and MX6 all the while being almost the same fork (construction-wise)?
I've got to say, back in the day I had experience of two Stratos products. The "AR-1" (?) air shock that came with my Mountain Cycle Moho, and an S7 fork. Both were pretty poor products in my eyes. Both never ceased to amaze me in the new and original ways they found of braking. The shock would blow in the conventional sense. Sometimes it would develop a rattle and lose all trace of rebound damping. Sometimes it would lose air etc etc. The fork would leak, twist, stick and sometimes, just for the hell of it, lock out entirely.
I don't mean to hate. The company obviously had some difficult times, and I'm sure this hindered product quality but, as you say, the respect they held in the eyes of the consumer deminished pretty rapidly with these experiences.
S7 fork, just for the hell of it:
I don't mean to hate. The company obviously had some difficult times, and I'm sure this hindered product quality but, as you say, the respect they held in the eyes of the consumer deminished pretty rapidly with these experiences.
S7 fork, just for the hell of it:
The AR-1 was a pain in the ass from the beginning. It came about by demand from OEM requests and bypassed R&D.
In fact, it was the result of conversations to the tune of: 'Light weight and Cheaper! - from Mtn Cycle and Ellsworth etc'; and 'We can remove this and change that and it should work' from Stump and Mike.
Then it was built.
Notice anything missing? Like exhaustive testing? No money or time to do that - our proven coil shocks were too heavy and too expensive for a lot of OEM small mfg'rs.
It was crap from day one. There, I said it. Crap crap crap.
Some of that same talk went into the forks...
Lighter weight was a huge deal. As a machine shop there was no other way to cut mass than to literally cut mass.
Here's a horrifying bit of news - and I'm sure I'll get bitten in the butt for this some day - but there were several other machine shops locally dying for work [almost literally] and the crowns for the S7/S5 were shopped out to one of them.
Now, Lower Crown: on the drawing was a tiny taper - most of you have seen it on Marzocchi forks - a 'notch' as it were to allow a punch or wedge to be used to remove the crown race for the headset. On the side view [elevation] drawing of the lower crown, this wedge was just a line with a size in decimal inch measurement.
The sub-shop that made the crowns misread the drawing and used the lowest point of that notch as the upper dimension of the crown.
In other words, the crown was about 2.5mm thinner overall than it was supposed to be.
Hundreds of crowns.
But...
Stump was already dragged off and doing something else. Hell, I wasn't even doing marketing at that point [I was designing packaging and a manufacturing database from the gound up.]
No one caught it because that notch had never been on any of the other forks.
Out they went. Hundreds of forks. With not enough material to be properly bolted tight to the steerer.
By the time I found out [yep, t'was me first since some local guys who bought it from local shops were the first to explode the damn things] we were phukt. Grey beard and all.
Recall and replacement crowns made in-house deleted all profit from the entire production run.
Oh, the stories go on....
In fact, it was the result of conversations to the tune of: 'Light weight and Cheaper! - from Mtn Cycle and Ellsworth etc'; and 'We can remove this and change that and it should work' from Stump and Mike.
Then it was built.
Notice anything missing? Like exhaustive testing? No money or time to do that - our proven coil shocks were too heavy and too expensive for a lot of OEM small mfg'rs.
It was crap from day one. There, I said it. Crap crap crap.
Some of that same talk went into the forks...
Lighter weight was a huge deal. As a machine shop there was no other way to cut mass than to literally cut mass.
Here's a horrifying bit of news - and I'm sure I'll get bitten in the butt for this some day - but there were several other machine shops locally dying for work [almost literally] and the crowns for the S7/S5 were shopped out to one of them.
Now, Lower Crown: on the drawing was a tiny taper - most of you have seen it on Marzocchi forks - a 'notch' as it were to allow a punch or wedge to be used to remove the crown race for the headset. On the side view [elevation] drawing of the lower crown, this wedge was just a line with a size in decimal inch measurement.
The sub-shop that made the crowns misread the drawing and used the lowest point of that notch as the upper dimension of the crown.
In other words, the crown was about 2.5mm thinner overall than it was supposed to be.
Hundreds of crowns.
But...
Stump was already dragged off and doing something else. Hell, I wasn't even doing marketing at that point [I was designing packaging and a manufacturing database from the gound up.]
No one caught it because that notch had never been on any of the other forks.
Out they went. Hundreds of forks. With not enough material to be properly bolted tight to the steerer.
By the time I found out [yep, t'was me first since some local guys who bought it from local shops were the first to explode the damn things] we were phukt. Grey beard and all.
Recall and replacement crowns made in-house deleted all profit from the entire production run.
Oh, the stories go on....
it was probably on mtbr; i've never posted on PB.
in end airborne (where i got the demo bike) hooked me up, or maybe it was stratos. whoever used the bike before me had gotten a bit happy w/ the hex bolt torque on the crowns, and a small drop landing broke the fork right in half at the lower crown. it was pretty scary.
edit - i had pretty good experience w/ my helix pro rear shock.
Thats Luke riding, dude rips. Yeah that fork rocks, had 2 of em and only dislike was weight.
wanna buy mine??..its a collectors item now
I started in late '98 and was shown the door in mid 2001.
To be brief:
When some things were working, they worked very well. When they sucked, they did that, too, in spades.
Well, I do recall talking to literally 1500 different folks about fixing, finding, fine-tuning, etc their forks, shocks and bikes.
However, so many Monkeys use 'aliases' - heh, i'm a fine one to talk - that I seldom ever get who's and what's straight.
I'd be happy just to get one leg of the SS6 and use it as a 'fetish' in my bike ceremonies.
Anyone willing to share?
Brandon was sucked in after I split - I think he was there for about 6 months? I seem to recall interacting with him before he started working there full time, but I don't really remember. I do recall spending two weeks teaching someone the basics to replace me... heh. Except how to deal with Catharine...
Dave married Setenay, who wasn't so much 'loaded' as 'brilliant' - aside from being very beautiful, she was also one of the first [if not THE first] females to graduate Oxford U with honors... [her dad does have a good sized chunk of change, but it's held in trust in Turkey and he's got another daughter to watch out for!]
However, Dave's got things rolling pretty well as a VEEP at a Internet advertising service and is making very good use of that MBA.
Basically, the company fell apart from the top down. The potential was squandered and I just get fed up with the 'net-stories' sometimes that I pop and start spewing the truth. I loved the SS6, had Strata Pro on four bikes, developed the Tandem FR4 program, etc because I really believed in the potential of the product. But, finally, more crap than crepes made it impossible.
Shaums - last time I met up with the dude he was with Duncan on that mishmash frame from Santa Monica...hmmm. What was that...
Chumba Wumba?
Yeah, that was it.
I seem to recall that Leann ended up working for about a year for no wages... another bizarre story. Didn't she marry Richard Storino, Pres of Campagnolo USA? I dimly remember being at her wedding.
Dave married Setenay, who wasn't so much 'loaded' as 'brilliant' - aside from being very beautiful, she was also one of the first [if not THE first] females to graduate Oxford U with honors... [her dad does have a good sized chunk of change, but it's held in trust in Turkey and he's got another daughter to watch out for!]
However, Dave's got things rolling pretty well as a VEEP at a Internet advertising service and is making very good use of that MBA.
Basically, the company fell apart from the top down. The potential was squandered and I just get fed up with the 'net-stories' sometimes that I pop and start spewing the truth. I loved the SS6, had Strata Pro on four bikes, developed the Tandem FR4 program, etc because I really believed in the potential of the product. But, finally, more crap than crepes made it impossible.
Shaums - last time I met up with the dude he was with Duncan on that mishmash frame from Santa Monica...hmmm. What was that...
Chumba Wumba?
Yeah, that was it.
I seem to recall that Leann ended up working for about a year for no wages... another bizarre story. Didn't she marry Richard Storino, Pres of Campagnolo USA? I dimly remember being at her wedding.
Brandon would have been there before you. He was the team mechanic, then ended up doing a bunch of other random jobs. He stuck around for another season or so after the team year. He probably left right before you came on board. He then spent a few months working at ATC, the guys that bought the ZZYXX name. He is outside the industry and doing well for himself.
Dave is at Commission Junction I think.
At least everyone is doing good for themselves now, and their time at Stratos taught them things they all seem to be putting to good use..
Dave is at Commission Junction I think.
At least everyone is doing good for themselves now, and their time at Stratos taught them things they all seem to be putting to good use..
Ohhhhhh-Right!
I remember Brandon now. I was confusing him with a similar named UCSB student that signed on just as I left.
Yes, I met him when I was just building up some databases as a freelance hack back then...
I knew Dave was at CJ, but I was hesitant to mention it since there's some backlash on forums with Internet ads and such. ValueClick bought them awhile back and I wasn't sure what way the wind was blowing on that.
Dave at CJ
Aside from Mike, I think you're right - every one else is doing pretty well....
And then what?
Ah heck...I'm always up for a good trip down memory lane.
I love old threads...especially when I was part of it one way or another way back when...
I love old threads...especially when I was part of it one way or another way back when...
I refuse to read the thread, where the big S the evul ones? ^^
The old S8 will always be one of my favorite forks, heavy as all get up, but worked great!
Stratos is still out of business, and their stuff still sucks.
I had one of the rear coil shocks explode in Downieville. The shaft blew out from the body, the spring went flying into the woods, good times! Luckily it was in a good spot for total failure and I didn't die. I had to jam a stick in the rocker link to hold the rear tire off of the seat tube and nursed it down the hill.
I was @ Mtn Cycle in the Stratos days. Everyone that had one of those poo sticks blew it out and had to send it back for rebuild weekly! And don't even mention those ZZYYZZXX or whatever forks! What a joke!
Total garbage. Good to have crap like that removed from the market. Cheers Specialized, you saved many people from much frustration!
I had one of the rear coil shocks explode in Downieville. The shaft blew out from the body, the spring went flying into the woods, good times! Luckily it was in a good spot for total failure and I didn't die. I had to jam a stick in the rocker link to hold the rear tire off of the seat tube and nursed it down the hill.
I was @ Mtn Cycle in the Stratos days. Everyone that had one of those poo sticks blew it out and had to send it back for rebuild weekly! And don't even mention those ZZYYZZXX or whatever forks! What a joke!
Total garbage. Good to have crap like that removed from the market. Cheers Specialized, you saved many people from much frustration!
No comment on the shock, but the zzyzsucks was made by bullet bros and then later by frankenbreak, under the nom de fail "AT-6".
Still just horrible news.
I have not felt this devasted since I found out they were gonna quit making Buicks.
I have not felt this devasted since I found out they were gonna quit making Buicks.
Actually what is really sad is that they are still making Buicks.
Look on the bright side. At least it didn't hit the rider behind you travelling at 100+mph.
Too soon?
Oh.
Well, maybe they can put stratos coil shocks on them.
Granny probaly will not even notice the shocks are blown,
and everybody wins...........except for the people driving behind her.
Hahaha.