So this exists...

sspomer
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sspomer
Edited Date/Time 8/17/2014 3:06am
This piece of "ingenuity" hit the inbox this weekend thanks to bturman. We couldn't find much info on it, but it's worth examining.




I know without experimentation and concepts, the status quo can't be pushed or challenged, but some of these rigs are SO crazy, you have to wonder why so much time and effort is put into them.

Have you found any one-off concept bikes or products that made you laugh or got you stoked?
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prestondh
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prestondh 5/27/2014 9:37am
5/27/2014 9:37am
NO! Experimenting with new designs can NEVER go too far. Think about Thomas Edison and creating the light bulb, if he had constraints with "going too far" on his ideas, than we may still not have light. While some ideas, bike or otherwise, may never have any practical or realistic applications, they can always be the springboard for someone else to create the next, great, world changing product/application.
TEAMROBOT
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TEAMROBOT 5/27/2014 10:30am
5/27/2014 10:30am
Is experimenting good? Wrong question. The question you have to ask is "who's making these things?" There are real weaknesses in the modern mountain bike: just last week Spomer you were talking about flat tires. That's a huge area that could be improved, and people are working all the time to end flat tires while maintaining performance. Good on them.
When great bike riders and engineers who love the sport come together to tinker with ways to improve a perceived lack of performance in current bicycle design, great things happen, i.e. the Iron Horse Sunday, the modern trail bike, any of Frank Stacy's tires, etc.

The monstrosity you've included above is not one of these ideas. It was probably designed alone at a computer by some engineer who sucks at bikes, rides alone, and thinks in terms of theories and equations. In the wacky laboratory that he calls his brain he decided that he would throw out all convention and design something new from the ground up just to be different. In that respect, he succeeded: it's different.

What he didn't factor into all his equations and theories is the theory that maybe he's going slow because he sucks, not because his bicycle needs to be forkless and have 17 more cables coming out of it.
kidwoo
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kidwoo 5/27/2014 11:03am
5/27/2014 11:03am
Hey more pivots than a Knolly!

That really IS a pretty significant accomplishment. Nice work!
tkoberle
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tkoberle 5/27/2014 11:21am
5/27/2014 11:21am
I must admit that for some reason I would like to try this thing out.
Balakeka
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Balakeka 5/27/2014 1:12pm
5/27/2014 1:12pm
One shock to both wheels? Good for big drops of course
Big Bird
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Big Bird 5/27/2014 1:25pm
5/27/2014 1:25pm
All of that thinking and he/she forgot to leave room for a seat post. That's the point in my designs where I would have said, "Oops no room for a seat post, back to the drawing board." Not "Hey I'll just spend thousands of dollars making a carbon prototype of a thing that I know will not be functional on the trail."

By the way. Is this a carbon version of that blue and yellow thing from Eurobike that had us all retching a few months ago? No, wait, that one had a weirder fork and an actual seat post.
groghunter
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groghunter 5/27/2014 3:02pm
5/27/2014 3:02pm Edited Date/Time 5/27/2014 3:17pm
I'd love to know what the deal is with the front hub, and why there's so many housings running to it...

Edit: I just realized: It's the freaking steering.
Scott_Townes
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Scott_Townes 5/27/2014 3:09pm
5/27/2014 3:09pm
It looks like a victim of the Boko Haram...

Nothing wacky is a bad thing but good lord they fucked up on this one.
bblackyeti1
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bblackyeti1 5/27/2014 6:31pm
5/27/2014 6:31pm
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Is experimenting good? Wrong question. The question you have to ask is "who's making these things?" There are real weaknesses in the modern mountain bike: just...
Is experimenting good? Wrong question. The question you have to ask is "who's making these things?" There are real weaknesses in the modern mountain bike: just last week Spomer you were talking about flat tires. That's a huge area that could be improved, and people are working all the time to end flat tires while maintaining performance. Good on them.
When great bike riders and engineers who love the sport come together to tinker with ways to improve a perceived lack of performance in current bicycle design, great things happen, i.e. the Iron Horse Sunday, the modern trail bike, any of Frank Stacy's tires, etc.

The monstrosity you've included above is not one of these ideas. It was probably designed alone at a computer by some engineer who sucks at bikes, rides alone, and thinks in terms of theories and equations. In the wacky laboratory that he calls his brain he decided that he would throw out all convention and design something new from the ground up just to be different. In that respect, he succeeded: it's different.

What he didn't factor into all his equations and theories is the theory that maybe he's going slow because he sucks, not because his bicycle needs to be forkless and have 17 more cables coming out of it.
True that!
Big Bird
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Big Bird 5/27/2014 6:34pm
5/27/2014 6:34pm
Yeah Grog, it's called hub center steering. it's been used a few times on motorcycles to good effect, but with much bigger cables. Most of these applications use the heavy duty cables that make an outboard motor go back and forth, but for some reason it looks like they've used six bike bits instead of two boat or motorcycle bits. And there's still no seat. It could be the first full suspension trials bike since that crazy Japanese kid a decade or so ago. Or perhaps it's a new slope style design?
T-Dawg
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T-Dawg 5/27/2014 6:55pm
5/27/2014 6:55pm
Somebody get me one of those things, I'm gonna go launch some drops and ride skatepark with it
chasejj
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chasejj 5/28/2014 1:01pm
5/28/2014 1:01pm
Dave Weagle's next big thing with a motor has some similarities.

Without more detailed photos of the linkage arrangement it is hard to tell. But a guess is this thing isolates pedaling and CG position to almost nullify its affect on suspension. In other words no need for lock out or platforms.
It may be pretty neat idea. But certainly lightweight is not its top priority.

It is so funny how riders in this and the moto industry are so quick to judge a new idea a failure before ANY evidence based solely on its unfamiliar appearance. Don't be a luddite. New shit should be celebrated. Paul Turner was called a nut for coming out with silly suspension forks not that long ago. Tons of people called them ridiculous. Same with rear suspension (any).
bturman
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bturman 6/4/2014 8:18am
6/4/2014 8:18am
Here's another WTF invention:









groghunter
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groghunter 6/4/2014 8:36am
6/4/2014 8:36am
Hahaha, the harness is a climbing harness worn backwards.

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