|   What happened to non-telescoping front suspension? | tjl
Jan 7, 2003 11:02 PM | | Years ago, there were some suspension forks that were not the telescoping type normally seen. For example, there were the Girvin forks found on ProFlex bikes, and the AMP forks, both of which had some unusual type of linkage (different from each other as well as from the telescoping designs of Rock Shox, Answer, and Marzocchi). There were also suspension stems, including the parallelogram Softride that kept the handlebar at the same angle through the suspension movement (unlike the single pivot designs which allowed the handlebar to rotate as the suspension compressed).
What happened to these designs? |
| re: What happened to non-telescoping front suspension? | DIRTJUNKIE
Jan 8, 2003 12:03 AM | | They all disapeared because of weight issues. Also they are not as plush of a ride as a teloscoping design. The fork designs have all been copyed from the motorcycling industry. Those type of springer designs were used on some Harly Davidsons but were never really thought of as a good design. More for looks on those bikes. In a mountain bike aplication weight is an issue and those designs were very heavy. |
| ride quality and pivot slop killed them off. | jw25
Jan 8, 2003 6:41 AM | | I rode an Amp F-3 for a couple years, and while it was lighter than anything - probably lighter than a bunch of stock rigid forks out there - the travel was extremely limited. It's hard to measure, since the wheel travel path isn't just up and down, but more J-shaped, but I got just under 2 inches, real-world. The damper, while several generations better than the first AMP designs, were still prone to air ingestion, with the dreaded "AMP-physema, and felt way overdamped even with 5 weight oil. Servicing the damper was easy, luckily, since you needed to change the oil every month with hard riding. Also, the multitude of pivots needed made it very prone to slop as they wore, and needed to be kept clean, or you'd get a horrible squawking noise while riding.
The other linkage forks, from Girvin/Proflex, were heavier, but had a better shock (once they started using Noleen coil-overs), and hopefully better pivots, but both added weight. The axle path was still funky, and the early designs only worked with specific headtube lengths.
Check out Look for a new, carbon legged linkage fork, though. They haven't died off yet, and I'd bet money there were a few new designs shown off at Interbike. |
| The Whyte bike sure hasn't taken off, its all about weight & | DIRTJUNKIE
Jan 8, 2003 9:48 AM | | keeping it simple. |
| It looked... | Khemikal Ali
Jan 10, 2003 10:23 PM | | ...like Lawill was working on his designs again...prototypes at Interbike???
The parellelogram w/Fox Float damper design...
Looks unnecessarily cumbersome and slop/maintenance prone relative to the plethora of proven telescopic forks.
Sean |
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