Funk A.S.F; another unicorn…

[Swede]

Fantastic photos John! I’ve been scouring the internet for photos for months but drew a blank; these are great.

No news from Funk but that's to be expected... In the meantime, Ristonesia has measured the tubes listed in the brochure and they're consistent with a “small” i.e. 22" top tube and 16.75" chain stay. It would be great to get confirmation from Mr Funk himself, but I think the photos and measurements are very persuasive.

Authentication Success. Finally!

 

[Swede]

The differences between the reference photos and Ristonesia’s bike had been bugging me, so I wrote a long essay identifying each one and provided possible explanations but before I posted it, I thought “I’ll just try Daryl one more time”.

By that point I’d already sent him two messages, so was a little conscious that I was coming across as desperate and needy. However, this time he sent a mail straight back along with his mobile number saying that he’d love to talk about the bike. We spoke on Saturday, and he confirmed that it is indeed an ASF and was amazed to see one after so many years.

Apparently, the swing arm pivot is the give-away which he thinks could be a bearing rather than a bush, but his recollection is a little hazy. The missing drop-out stamp was explained by “we did that sometimes” and the shock is a Horst Leitner job.

I explained the bike was in Indonesia and presumably had come into the country via Bino Asia (see distributers in advert). Based on his response I think there must have been some sort of disagreement between them as he said they “used to be friends”.

Frustratingly, he also couldn’t remember what ASF stood for but is going to think about it, so until then you’re going to have to put up with my suggestions. I was trying to tell my other half a few weeks ago about the bike and the fun I was having with the ASF acronym. She just rolled her eyes and said,

Another Sodding Funk.

 

[raidan73]

The differences between the reference photos and Ristonesia’s bike had been bugging me, so I wrote a long essay identifying each one and provided possible explanations but before I posted it, I thought “I’ll just try Daryl one more time”.

By that point I’d already sent him two messages, so was a little conscious that I was coming across as desperate and needy. However, this time he sent a mail straight back along with his mobile number saying that he’d love to talk about the bike. We spoke on Saturday, and he confirmed that it is indeed an ASF and was amazed to see one after so many years.

Apparently, the swing arm pivot is the give-away which he think it could be a bearing rather than a bush, but his recollection is a little hazy. The missing drop-out stamp was explained by “we did that sometimes” and the shock is a Horst Leitner job.

I explained the bike was in Indonesia and presumably had come into the country via Bino Asia (see distributers in advert). Based on his response I think there must have been some sort of disagreement between them as he said they “used to be friends”.

Frustratingly, he also couldn’t remember what ASF stood for but is going to think about it, so until then you’re going to have to put up with my suggestions. I was trying to tell my other half a few weeks ago about the bike and the fun I was having with the ASF acronym. She just rolled her eyes and said,
View attachment 598452
Another Sodding Funk.

Great researching Caspar

 

[1552]

I have been enjoying following this mystery hunt from the beginning.
So cool to see your research paying off.
The big question is....

Will Ristonesia sell it???

 

[Swede]

Good question! An offer has been made and I'm waiting for his response...

In the meantime I sourced this in anticipation; tempting fate?


Attracting Setback Failure

 

[pw_pw_la]

Surely it stands for All Suspension Frame?

As in, another way of saying Full Suspension?

That would be my guess anyway!

 

[Swede]

I'm now in regular WhatsApp contact with Mr. Funk, so will remind him that we're all waiting for his grey cells to recollect .

I’m pretty sure that the S is for suspension too, but when I asked him who or what was Profab, he said “Profab was simply a name we made up. Kinda sounded cool at the time….”, so don’t be surprised if the answer is totally different!

Acronym Secret. Flummoxed

 

[raidan73]

Possibly not the place to share it but I thought you might like this Caspar, if you've not already seen it?

 

[Swede]

I have seen it but hadn't paid too much attention as I assumed it was a one off but Daryl said this last week "We really should have created the Santa Cruz Superlight before they did. We already had the e-stay and just needed a reliable suspension shock with the "correct" pivot".

I'll ask, but maybe the reliability issues he's referring to was on that prototype?

 

[johndeverill]

That's lovely and I hope you eventually get it! Very similar in design to my Amplifier 2 which was a Leitner/Nicolai design and lovingly tig'd together by FTW