MattiThundrrr
Kona Fan
The text from the ads posted above suggests that only the highest quality of materials were used in Cook products. Titanium quill and bolts, magnesium wedge, etc.
Cook Bros Stem in 1 1/4 real or fake?
- Thread starter Marco-13
- Start date
Caj Remtiw
Geoff Capes
Yes that was one of our first Mt. bike stems. I started producing them for a couple of reasons, first being that none of the other early stem fabricators were making their stems at a higher angle that myself & fellow RADS (down in Laguna) needed for the "cliff diving" trails that we were pioneering out of Laguna Canyon ( LOOOONG before the kids up in BC "claimed" to have "invented" Freeriding). Second being that I was trying to keep the welding/ fabrication side of my company alive while I personally was doing the CAD/ CAM for our CNC machined bike parts, as well as contract aerospace parts.
I was "on the fence" regarding whether i wanted to continue building Fury's and was welding stems for Ross Shafer (Salsa), making the first couple of hundred of the S&M BMX frames, plus welded components for several Baja race truck companies... But my welders were driving me crazy!!! They would spend "highters" (aka: snorting or smoking coke all night long) at Punk rock & roll clubs up in Hollywood, then show up to work the next morning... and be totally USELESS! Or worse, put out bad product then have temper tantrums when I called them out about it!
Man, you have got to LOVE CNC machines... Give them a good program (my forte), and push the "GO" button!
I was "on the fence" regarding whether i wanted to continue building Fury's and was welding stems for Ross Shafer (Salsa), making the first couple of hundred of the S&M BMX frames, plus welded components for several Baja race truck companies... But my welders were driving me crazy!!! They would spend "highters" (aka: snorting or smoking coke all night long) at Punk rock & roll clubs up in Hollywood, then show up to work the next morning... and be totally USELESS! Or worse, put out bad product then have temper tantrums when I called them out about it!
Man, you have got to LOVE CNC machines... Give them a good program (my forte), and push the "GO" button!
Dr Dremel
Fat Chance Fan
I was going to say that the mitering on the quill side suspiciously looks like the way Salsa did it. Thanks for clearing that up (and the anecdotes)!
Ingmar
Retro Guru
@Dr Dremel @Caj Remtiw, what do you think , is this a Cook Bros stem as well? 1" and came of an old FC Wicked.
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Caj Remtiw
Geoff Capes
A LOT of CBR's product ended up on Fat chances! All the spindles in the pre-euro BB's were ours.
Dr Dremel
Fat Chance Fan
Well I´m certainly no expert like Jack, but going from the steel stem I posted ealier, the mitering on this quill (round-ish) does look different. I also don´t know if there were Cook stems with the cable routing through the stem. I certainly haven´t seen one like this before.
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i believe this one had a steel stem similar to the one above.
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/blue-toad.339620/
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/blue-toad.339620/
Ingmar
Retro Guru
Thx a lot @all
Is it a coincidence? The stem came of a Fat Chance that came with IRD seatpost, so I initially thought its an old IRD stem but this does not seem to be true. But seeing Toads that also traditionally come with IRD stems makes it suspicious ...
Is there any connection between Cook an IRD/Rod Moses that i need to know of?
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Caj Remtiw
Geoff Capes
We abandoned our welded stem manufacturing long before 1 1/8" & 1 1/4" fork quills were a "thing", thus I seriously doubt the stem is CBR. We made a few of the "dog bone" stems with larger quills but if there are more than 10 of them out in the world I'd be surprised. There was a time that everybody and their cousins were making welded stems and I opted to start making the billet ones.
Yes, there was a connection between IRD &CBR. First being that one of my best friends (that worked for CBR for a few years) got tired of SoCal (very easy to do) and moved just down the road from IRD up in Cave Junction Or. and end up working for Rod.
Second being that I attempted to buy IRD from Rod and his partner (Ray was the guy with the real talent). I finally just baled because Rod started acting really pompous and throwing around stupid large numbers $$$ and boasting about how great his machine tools were (old school junk). I explained to him that I don't own a boat so I wouldn't need his equipment.
Of course he threw up his arms and asked " What does a boat have to do with it?"
I replied "The only use I'd have for that old iron would be for a boat mourning in my local harbor." then hopped on the plane out BFE of Oregon!
They had some innovative designs but the stuff was really "rough around the edges" and poor QC.
Yes, there was a connection between IRD &CBR. First being that one of my best friends (that worked for CBR for a few years) got tired of SoCal (very easy to do) and moved just down the road from IRD up in Cave Junction Or. and end up working for Rod.
Second being that I attempted to buy IRD from Rod and his partner (Ray was the guy with the real talent). I finally just baled because Rod started acting really pompous and throwing around stupid large numbers $$$ and boasting about how great his machine tools were (old school junk). I explained to him that I don't own a boat so I wouldn't need his equipment.
Of course he threw up his arms and asked " What does a boat have to do with it?"
I replied "The only use I'd have for that old iron would be for a boat mourning in my local harbor." then hopped on the plane out BFE of Oregon!
They had some innovative designs but the stuff was really "rough around the edges" and poor QC.
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Their seat post sizes were always a rough guide, 27.2 could be anything from 26.4-28.6mm.
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