Coolwall June 2011 - Girvin Flexstem

[Khane]

Back in 1990 these were a cool thing to have when you were 14 and everyone else had full rigid set ups and couldn't afford to get one of these.

big, ugly heavy and cumbersome - yes.

Cool? - abso-bloody-lutely

+1

 

[dyna-ti]

My dad had a one in his Nishiki Bushwhacker BITD, got it from my friend who got it in his '91 Cannondale SE1000.
What a piece of s**t that was. The biggest failure the design had was the fact that there was only one pivot point making also the bars dive forwards too. Softride is a much better design in that sense.

UNCOOL

Dive !!?? :shock:
You're lucky if it moved any more than 10mm

 

[wadsy]

What a waste of time and money I bought one whilst riding in the Peak district to 'help' on my rigid Kona. I should have gone for suspension forks, mind you, at the time they may not have been much better

 

[MikeyC]

Obviously cool!
Yes they were big and heavy, and not very good. But when we were all 14/15/16 we all wanted one. They are pretty useless in reality but then again if you were seriously looking for suspension then you would go straight to forks, but these were probably aimed at people who were either A) weight conscious or more importantly B) couldn't afford the £300 for proper suspension.

Whether we now know them to be crap or not it doesnt matter.....cool cool cool!!

 

[thecynic]

Coolio

 

[wackywacerwill]

Just rediscovered one in the garage only yesterday. I vote cool though in truth they were pretty pony.

 

[andysblacksoul]

Used to think they were uber cool...

Only just getting into retro mtbs I may have been very naive back when I was 15

 

[Martin]

Very cool BITD, lts-biker had one and all I could do was look at it and think: how can I ever afford this.

 

[Marcus W]

Used to ave one in late 80's and early 90's. Used it for many miles very comfortable but it gave up in the end. The steel bit that presses onto the rubber actually cracked.

Cool while it worked

 

[Tazio]

4 months of this and it appears it is cool.