1997 McMahon BUFF

[Oldsklrdr]

Little backstory. 

Got into mountain biking in 1990. 
Started with a Schwinn Sierra MOS. 
Went through various bikes over the next ten years. Klein Rascal. Manitou FS (not the fork. Manitou full suspension frame). Amp B4. GT LTS. 

Built up this Mcmahon BUFF towards end of 97 going into 98. IIRC, I got frame at end of 97 and collected rest of pieces in 98. 

I rode this through 99 and life got in way and stopped riding. Luckily sat unmolested collecting dust in my parents basement. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and i got the biking bug back. Ill be bringing it back to life and will make some decisions on some upgrades. 

Some highlights 
Manitou xvert r
Chris king headset. 
Grip shift
Hope titanium hubs with titanium spokes. 
Hope disc brakes. 
Raceface cranks
XTR Derauiller and cogset
Speedplay Magnum pedals. 

Some iPhone pics to start. 

 

[walleater]

Is this the same company that made Ti frames and parts in the late 80's and early 90's?

I'm intrigued by the lower shock mount.....Does it move like the current Trek 'Full Floater' design? It'd be pretty funny if that's a floating mount for one reason or another....

 

[Oldsklrdr]

Is this the same company that made Ti frames and parts in the late 80's and early 90's?

I'm intrigued by the lower shock mount.....Does it move like the current Trek 'Full Floater' design? It'd be pretty funny if that's a floating mount for one reason or another....

Yes...the same company that made the Ti frame and parts.

I've heard mixed rumours regarding Mcmahon's association with Horst Leitner so who knows what's true...but this frame does predate specialized buying the patents.

If i recall correctly, previous to this design the Mcmahon had a frame called the Boom Shaka which i beleive is similiar to Specialized FSR. Interestingly the front triangle of this bike is same as Boom Shaka as it is stamped on a section of the reinforcement of the seat tube where the original boom shaka design had the shock mounted to.

you are correct, the shock does have a floating design just like the Trek full floater. It's funny that the essential design of this bike in 1997 is good. Of course it could benefit from larger pivot points and perhaps some refinement of linkage angles and lengths to fine tune the linkage and shock rates. I doubt there was much analysis done back then with regards to those details. More like a "hey, this seems to ride ok"...