Pictures of old and obscure suspension bikes

[xy9ine]

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:

[Honus]

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.

[dw]

good stuff guys. Those chainrings look like something my buddy Karl Nicolai would cook up in his garage.

[Honus]

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...

[revmonkey]

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...

[Honus]

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!"

[Honus]

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.

[Honus]

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.

[Honus]

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.

[SuspectDevice]

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.

Spencer Owyang on the Monolith tip?

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.

[Honus]

Spencer Owyang on the Monolith tip?

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...

[James]

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.

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...

[RhinofromWA]

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:

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.

[Honus]

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...

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.

[AtTheGates]

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.