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Most "unique" feeling suspension system?

sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
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IH8Rice said:
you mean the suspension locks if you dont sit
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Nah. With the crank and the cassette as part of the rear suspension, there is no pedal bob.

And when you are sitting, the suspension compresses.

When you are off the seat, the suspension works.

But how the hell would I know? Think I would ride one of these freakshows?
 
Tetreault

Tetreault

Monkey
Nov 23, 2005
877
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SoMeWhErE NoWhErE
I never understood why sinister didn't continue with the poison/passion projects, frank should get out there and build some, he'd have people waiting for years
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,087
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sanjuro said:
Nah. With the crank and the cassette as part of the rear suspension, there is no pedal bob.

And when you are sitting, the suspension compresses.

When you are off the seat, the suspension works.

But how the hell would I know? Think I would ride one of these freakshows?
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what? no... The Klein was a bastardized castellano design...Castellano actually patented pivot placement so that there was some stiffening when standing but not 100%, just like a maverick or GT, but less than a Klein. They were XC bikes, not DH bikes. The leverage ratios changed so that you might have 3" of travel when standing, but 5" when seated, for a plush ride that can still go. I guess there are some pretty wild "stinkbug" effects.

jonKranked said:
i'll bring it up when i see him at the races.
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I'm guessing it might have something to do with being developed under sinister and their partnership kind of deteriorated...or maybe he's just busy welding for other people.
 
B

BmxConvert

Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
715
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Longview, Washington
A few year ago we had a guy bring in one of the original rear suspension Cannondales(rigid fork) that had a pivot point similar to but slightly lower than the Klein Mantra URT's. Of course the Cannondale was not a URT and so everytime you compress the suspension by pedaling the bike ghost shifted like crazy. There was some gnarly pedal feedback as well.
I have no idea what the model was or I would try to find a picture.
 
Gary

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
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anyone remember the first Trek single pivots with the long (square section?) swingarm that bottomed and then tried to buck you off every pedal stroke?
Girvin vector forks were pretty unique feeling too (even more so when the pivot bushes wore ;) )
 
Dogboy

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,209
585
Durham, NC
Gary said:
anyone remember the first Trek single pivots with the long (square section?) swingarm that bottomed and then tried to buck you off every pedal stroke?
Girvin vector forks were pretty unique feeling too (even more so when the pivot bushes wore ;) )
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Gary

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
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that's the one!

toe cips on one of those? He's a brave man! You can kinda see him gritting his teeth and clenching in apprehension of the **** storm about to happen. :D
 
Hesh To Steel

Hesh To Steel

Monkey
Dec 12, 2007
661
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Hell's Kitchen
Those Girvin forks always seemed kooky to me. Cool looking, but weird. Especially the ones that used an "elastomer stack" rather than a coil spring. I think they made elastomer stack shocks too.

Anybody remember the AMP research linkage forks? If I remember correctly those actually SWUNG rather than having the fork legs compress into each other, right? I wonder what that felt like.
 
NY_Star

NY_Star

Turbo Monkey
Jun 10, 2007
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A friend has one of the Girvin forks on an old K2 or Pro flex what ever bike. When it compresses it shortens the wheelbase. He said it was fun in corners. It can also have a catapulting effect when you are going over the bars for a little added fun.
 
S

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
I had 2 Amp forks - the first one (F2?) had cromo legs and a rearward travel path. It ate up curbs and small square edged bumps great. I cracked that one at a weld and replaced it with an F3, which had cf legs. It was lighter and didn't rake the front end out as much, but also didn't absorb square edged bumps as well. They both (esp when combined with a 120mm stem) made for a wonky steering bike.
Probably felt no worse than the Girvin Flex Stem.
 
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Toshi

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,356
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Hesh To Steel said:
Those Girvin forks always seemed kooky to me. Cool looking, but weird. Especially the ones that used an "elastomer stack" rather than a coil spring. I think they made elastomer stack shocks too.

Anybody remember the AMP research linkage forks? If I remember correctly those actually SWUNG rather than having the fork legs compress into each other, right? I wonder what that felt like.
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IH8Rice said:
its always funny seeing those elastomers melt on those forks
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Pre-microcellular elastomer "suspension" up front and in that Girvin FlexStem. What a POS.



That's me at age 11.5, btw.
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,369
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Lions said:
Bull****, unless you get fulfillment from excess.

You did it for the same reason that kids think it makes sense to ride with their Osiris high-tops untied and a flannel shirt with TLD pants. To look cool.
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Osiris? Meh, what do you know about cool? Supra FTW! Well unless you want durable shoes that take more than 1 season and have normal sizing. ;)
 
Freddy Salgado

Freddy Salgado

Chimp
Apr 22, 2008
92
3
Rotorua, NZ
A better fabricated version of Girvin with latest shock tech for xc application could be intresting. Thinking outside of box, replace Girvins rigid fork blades with telescopic sliders for small to medium hits. Have traditional top shock & linkage set up for G outs with that rearward swing thrown in the mix & you might have something unique feeling?



Hesh To Steel said:
Those Girvin forks always seemed kooky to me. Cool looking, but weird. Especially the ones that used an "elastomer stack" rather than a coil spring. I think they made elastomer stack shocks too.

Anybody remember the AMP research linkage forks? If I remember correctly those actually SWUNG rather than having the fork legs compress into each other, right? I wonder what that felt like.
Click to expand...
 

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buildyourown

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
I would argue that a reincarnation of the AMP could rule on an XC bike. You could make it super light and the ability to tune the axle path to get out of the way of hits maintains momentum. I had a Girvin. Still do actually. It was awesome as long as you didn't go down a hill steeper than about a 5% grade.
A really rigid Girvin with a coil shock ala BMW could rule.
 
Lelandjt

Lelandjt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2008
2,519
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Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
Hesh To Steel said:
Any of you guys ridden any DH bikes with pull shocks? Any interesting characteristics there? I think Sunn had a pull-shock based DH frame, right?
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I just got my Genius LT with a pull shock and put some time on it. I can't tell any difference. The combo of the pull shock and spherical eyelets should make it pretty smooth over small stuff but it's so cold right now that nit-picking the shock properties is impossible. The oil is like mud, the air spring gets soft after 15 minutes outside, and I'm riding on snow which kind of damps impacts anyway. From an engineering perspective the layout does seem efficient though.
 
no skid marks

no skid marks

Monkey
Jan 15, 2006
2,511
29
ACT Australia
Lelandjt said:
When I was 13 I would have killed someone for one of those! My friend and I would go to the shop almost daily to fondle it. I'd fantasize about what it must be like to ride with full suspension.

F*** the good old days! I'm lovin life as a 31 year old with a 3 bike, full suspension quiver.
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Got a Balfa BB7?
 
norbar

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,369
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Warsaw :/
Just get any dnm shock on a higher leverage bike. The feeling of going from very little damping to a hardtail on a 240mm rig is something I wont forget soon. I ended riding with a computer radiator on it.
 
Gary

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
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NY_Star said:
A friend has one of the Girvin forks on an old K2 or Pro flex what ever bike. When it compresses it shortens the wheelbase. He said it was fun in corners. It can also have a catapulting effect when you are going over the bars for a little added fun.
Click to expand...
Nah, wheelbase lengthens as they compress! wheelbase shortens on a normal telescopic fork.. proflex's were all ropey as ****.. a friend still has an original rear sus only proflex in their garage with a flex stem WTF were they thinking?
 
P

Pslide

Turbo Monkey
Jan 14, 2002
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Feet on the ground, head in the clouds.
Gary said:
Nah, wheelbase lengthens as they compress! wheelbase shortens on a normal telescopic fork.. proflex's were all ropey as ****.. a friend still has an original rear sus only proflex in their garage with a flex stem WTF were they thinking?
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I had a few generations of Proflex's with the Girvin Crosslink, both elastomer and coil. The Crosslink's axle path was like a J, meaning it had some rearward movement at the beginning of the travel. This is how they got a pretty bad reputation, as others have mentioned. I always had fun on mine, don't know what all the whining was about. It only had 3.5" of travel, so you could easily overcome any bad traits with some good body language...
 
E

eatmyshorts

Monkey
Jun 18, 2010
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South OZ
I don’t know if it has been posted already, and I can’t find it anything on it online..

Anyone remember the valve cap that had an inbuilt canister to allow the pressure to bleed out of the tyres when you hit a bump? We are talking 90's style suspension here.. probably used in conjunction with a suspension stem..
 
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