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What's going on with Iron Horse?

davet

Monkey
Jun 24, 2004
551
3
they'll probably nudge a pivot point just enough to avoid patent infringement, coin a new suspension design name & be done. and it'll most likely give up little to nothing in comparison to the current design. there's lots of non dw short-link 4-bar designs out there that work great.
From everything I've read about this system, even a minor tweek of the pivot placement/length/link etc. makes a huge difference in the resulting characteristics.
 

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
From everything I've read about this system, even a minor tweek of the pivot placement/length/link etc. makes a huge difference in the resulting characteristics.
i've heard same. though the short link 4-bars share a similar (general) characteristic of using chain tension to overcome pedal bob / squat, so in a nutshell they all pedal pretty well for their long travel & are still active in the bumpies. i've ridden a few variations (vpp's, glory, pdc, karpiel, etc), and they're not that drastically different in their general scope despite the variations. i suppose my point is that there's many ways to build effective rear suspension, and losing the dw design doesn't mean the new iteration will be worse off.
 

leprechaun

Turbo Monkey
Apr 17, 2004
1,009
0
SLC,Ut
Iron Horse swears to us that they STILL HAVE DW LINK for 09, they say they have 09's done allready in terms of spec and are working on 2010 stuff. Why would they lie to us? Because we are a huge dealer for them and don't want us to drop them? Maybe..Why would DW lie? To get IH to step up? I don't know. I just wanted to put out there that IH is admitting nothing in terms of moving away from DW link for the next two years.

DW has not said a word in the last 3 weeks on this, and i swear his post was edited in that "no dw link in 09" thread a few weeks back.

Todd, where have you gone? Can't say yet eh? Give me a call.

Krispy
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
The contract is up end of 2008. IH will produce it's 09 bikes before the end of 2008, therefore they are going to be fully compliant and eek one more model year out of the DW link contract.
 

SkullCrack

Monkey
Sep 3, 2004
705
127
PNW
Some of DW's posts on mtbr:

_dw said:
Iron Horse's dw-link license will terminate after the 2008 model year, and I moved on from consulting on high end development work for IH in June 2007.
_dw said:
The bottom line is that Iron Horse and dw-link incorporated have a contract, it is at dw-link incorporated's sole discretion to continue the contract, and I made the decision not to continue it. I gave Iron Horse almost 2 years notice on this, so they have had many months to plan for the future, and they have done a great job of it. They will be out with plenty of new bikes in 2009 and 2010, don't you worry.


Originally Posted by zzsean
Interesting. does that mean there would be no 2009 Iron Horse Sunday?

_dw said:
Well, there may be a Sunday, but it won't be one that I designed, and it won't be using dw-link. There will however, be at least one dw-link downhill bike on the market.. just not a Sunday.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
for the love of god, I can't stand how the success/popularity of the Sunday frame is synonomous with Sam Hill riding one. How about the fact (yes I said FACT) that Dave produced a bike that is a top performer? That reason isn't valid with people since it makes sense, the reason has to be that Sam was riding one. Funny, a pair of handlebars with holes drilled all through it to save 3g (but will kill you) is probably more credible for people overall in these wacky times we live in.

Todd is a bad mammajamma
Hill riding/dominating on one played a big part in IH being taken seriously in the DH arena and that's really why they started selling the Sundays. You can design an awesome bike but if your company reputation is still crap or you have nobody to market them for you, they won't sell. Look how many people got on board Oranges (which had been around for years as "Animal Orange" afaik) after they got the Global mob on them - the bikes were no better or worse (and they're still the same friggin bikes even 8 years later), they just had attention drawn to them by the fact that they had a number of killer riders on them.
 

dw

Wiffle Ball ninja
Sep 10, 2001
2,943
0
MV
Iron Horse swears to us that they STILL HAVE DW LINK for 09, they say they have 09's done allready in terms of spec and are working on 2010 stuff. Why would they lie to us? Because we are a huge dealer for them and don't want us to drop them? Maybe..Why would DW lie? To get IH to step up? I don't know. I just wanted to put out there that IH is admitting nothing in terms of moving away from DW link for the next two years.

DW has not said a word in the last 3 weeks on this, and i swear his post was edited in that "no dw link in 09" thread a few weeks back.

Todd, where have you gone? Can't say yet eh? Give me a call.

Krispy


As I've explained before, the Iron Horse license ends as of the 2009 year. Perhaps Iron Horse is building bikes now for 2009 and planning to sell them off in 2008, I do not know, that is their right to do.

There is no conspiracy, although I'm sure it would be a lot more interesting if there were...
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
As I've explained before, the Iron Horse license ends as of the 2009 year. Perhaps Iron Horse is building bikes now for 2009 and planning to sell them off in 2008, I do not know, that is their right to do.

There is no conspiracy, although I'm sure it would be a lot more interesting if there were...
Do you mean end of '08 year? :monkeydance:

And it's always a conspiracy. (cue X-Files music)
 

Eren

Turbo Monkey
Mar 18, 2006
2,874
0
mill creek, WA (now in Surrey UK)
As I've explained before, the Iron Horse license ends as of the 2009 year. Perhaps Iron Horse is building bikes now for 2009 and planning to sell them off in 2008, I do not know, that is their right to do.

There is no conspiracy, although I'm sure it would be a lot more interesting if there were...
so they can sell their 09 bikes in 2008? but once jan 1 09 hits they can no longer sell them? im confused


Do you mean end of '08 year? :monkeydance:

And it's always a conspiracy. (cue X-Files music)
he said end as of 09
 

P.T.W

Monkey
May 6, 2007
599
0
christchurch nz
Hill riding/dominating on one played a big part in IH being taken seriously in the DH arena and that's really why they started selling the Sundays. You can design an awesome bike but if your company reputation is still crap or you have nobody to market them for you, they won't sell. Look how many people got on board Oranges (which had been around for years as "Animal Orange" afaik) after they got the Global mob on them - the bikes were no better or worse (and they're still the same friggin bikes even 8 years later), they just had attention drawn to them by the fact that they had a number of killer riders on them.
I think Sam Hill has done for Iron Horse pretty much what Shaun Palmer did for intense
 

Racerx7734

Monkey
Mar 4, 2002
616
0
Hostile Sausage
That would rule!!!!!

He'll be sporting one of these and everyone will know................. This bike is the best ever!!!

Thats my next DH rig.........with the XG9000 super fork and the 3 pronged monkey shock with Quad compression adjustments and wireless 802.11X Rebound connection.

Seriously though......I am curious to see what all the "Sam Hillians" will ride when he moves.
 

P.T.W

Monkey
May 6, 2007
599
0
christchurch nz
you mean specialized?
Nope!:disgust1:
Shaun took what was the best racebike of its time(the m1) an made people aware of how good it was.
Before he got on intense they had no big name teams or riders on their bikes,an we all know what happend in the years that followed
Heck an im pretty sure that the specialized that he rode was built to mimic the m1s geometry(with a horst link of corse)

oh an im awaiting getting shot down for thinking again:rimshot:.....sorry stickman
 

Raingauge

Monkey
Apr 3, 2008
692
0
Canadia
As I've explained before, the Iron Horse license ends as of the 2009 year. Perhaps Iron Horse is building bikes now for 2009 and planning to sell them off in 2008, I do not know, that is their right to do.

There is no conspiracy, although I'm sure it would be a lot more interesting if there were...
What does all this mean for people who own Sunday's now? Is IH going to be able to support them with replacement parts in the future? I was hoping to pick up a Sunday this year but this has thrown a wrench into my plans. I guess I'll be stuck on my Demo for another season.

Funny thing is the shop keeps telling me IH will have the DW-link till 2010.

Post some spy photos of the new ones ASAP.