The race was on.
Every one searching for the perfect solution, brake placement, chainstay lengths, mud clearances, strength, weight....etc etc.
Some british frame builders under pressure from magazines, gave us E-stays....,
but when design solutions to problems get found, the stakes get increased a little.....
with improvements in dedicated Steel tubesets for mountain bikes now availiable........some up"d there game....!!!
In a market massively dominated by American and far east imports, our English Frame Builders, stepped into a fierce market, and gave us something very very special...!!!
Chas Roberts had shown us how good his skills were and given his Contribution, enabling us massive successes with the likes of Dave Baker and Tim Gould, (to name a few). With the White Spider.
But this was new......, and the next step, (in my eyes anyway).
He gave us the D.O.G.S B.O.L.O.X....
In a World Wide Search for the best way to build a Steel Frame (weight/strength/handling), our americans gave us massive quailty and cool with frames like the Bontrager OR and the Salsa Ala Carte............
Chas Roberts for me (and i suspect many) built what the "Press" reported to be the Ultimate steel frame (of its time).
He took highend tubes from Reynolds/columbus etc, and mixed them to gain the best results, for his frame design.
example..
Ultra stiff Columbus Max main frame.
Composite rear stays--
---Extra stiff 4130 horseshoe to minimize brake flex
---Silver soldered Reynolds 753 stays
---Columbus SL monostay
---Massive clearances to eliminate mud build up
The name D.O.G. B.O.L.O.X , was a carefully used acronym.....which playfully stood for..........
Dirt Orientated Geometry System Bidirectional Ovalised Lateral Xtra.
With Massive articles in mags with Bold statements such as the "Ultimate steel" being printed, obviously our other favorite builders had to up there game too...
And they Gave us......
Dave Lloyd C.A.T.S W.I.S.K.A.S........
Cycle All Terrain Systems With Integral Suspension Keeping Alignment Static
and.....
the the Dave Yates D.O.N.K.I.S N.O.B name, an acronym for......
Daves Overactive No Kompromise Independant Suspension, Never Otherwise Beaten
All three frame Builders, used different tubes in different places on the frame, tweeked, and fettled in a quest to build the best performance into there frames, and in a typically british humour kinda way, show it in the names of there bikes.....lol.
I believe the Yates is Coloumbus Max OR and Reynolds 753, and the Lloyd to be a mix of Reynolds 753 and 653.
All stunning......, and for our histories sake worth every penny you can muster spending on them imho.
