Is there a retro full sus bike which can still cut it?

[andrewl]

Turner, turner, turner. Burner, XCE or DH even an original Turner made Kona Stab.

There's a Burner on ebay at the mo'

Thats the Burner frame I'm trying to obtain at the moment...

Turner didn't make the Kona Stab, Kona rebadged some Burner frames as Misser Replicas, as Misser rode Kona badged Turners in the world cup in the mid 90s.

 

[stevet1]

Foes Weasel

One of the best. Lightweight for the 6" of travel, massive pivot which ran on bushings, geometry felt spot on with a 4" fork. Came out around 1994? Wouldn't look out of place as an all-mountain bike today.

Also agree on the Turners as well, my 2000 Turner looks almost identical to the first Burner frames.

Would be very interested to hear how Mr Zero's Crosstrac Sonama rides, another early bike with a massive amount of travel (4")

 

[scant]

I think most of the decent 1s have been mentioned already, original turner burner xce, san andreas (would benefit massively from a new skool shock). I'd add the limited run all steel fat chance shockabilly, webby was riding his in morzine & les gets french alps until a few years ago! santa cruz tazmon was around 97 & ok. henriks personal proflex strictly speaking wasnt a FS bike, purely as the rear shock was set "mega not going to ever move" hard

its funny how times moves on. i personally dont view 98 as retro, yeh its 10yrs ago but by 98 a lot of stuff actually properly worked

 

[messiah]

its funny how times moves on. i personally dont view 98 as retro, yeh its 10yrs ago but by 98 a lot of stuff actually properly worked

I very much agree with Scant here. I really wanted to like early Proflex and other suspension designs like AMP, RTS's and LTS's but I could not get on with the drawbacks for a measly 2" of travel. For me it wasn't until the Turners, SC Tasmans (and Hecklers) and Intense Uzzi SL appeared with 4" or more that suspension really began to be worth the weight and hassle.

I rode an Intense Uzzi SL from 1997 until 2004 and this bike could absolutely still cut the mustard today - go for the coil shock and live with the bobbing... I still think air shocks are bobbins.

Here is a vary large pic of an early one like mine (1997).

http://www.sykkelplassen.no/arch/_img/221705.JPG

Mine even came without disk mounts original - but I broke every part of the frame except the main bit. I still own this frame but it hangs up at a friends garage in the hall of fame. It can still be ridden but the wear on the pivots mean that even with new bearings its a little loose and floppy at the back - and it gets worse very quickly. Mine had an almost unbelievable hammering :twisted:

 

[scant]

the stuff working was a kinda joke.. kinda half-truth as obviously there was some early stuff that still worked fine ... although on topic full suspension did start becoming reliable around this timescale

I guess retro has so many definitions, no reasons why a set date has to be applied, its probabily a case of perception based from when you actually started mtb? .. I wonder if this means that in 10yrs time M950XTR will be as desirable as M900 is today?

 

[messiah]

Sorry to hark on... but bikes like the Uzzi and the Burners, Hecklers were game changing where I ride. Up until they arrived on the scene it was all very much XC or DH.

These bikes went down the middle and meant that we could still do the huge mountain routes we used to do with our XC bikes but enjoy the descents much more. We really began to push the boundaries of what was rideable to levels that those still on the XC machines simply could not touch. Within a year the whole gang had gone from racing and riding XC to spending our weekends exploring the mountains for gnarlier terrain.

Diamond back made an excellent Uzzi copy which came with Manitou Tripple clamps and XTR. Haro made a superb Heckler alike which punched way above it's modest price. These were the brands the local bike shop supplied to the guys cheap and with the odd warranty excepted they were really tough and great bikes.

 

[FSR-Si]

I rode an Intense Uzzi SL from 1997 until 2004 and this bike could absolutely still cut the mustard today - go for the coil shock and live with the bobbing... I still think air shocks are bobbins.

Here is a vary large pic of an early one like mine (1997).

http://www.sykkelplassen.no/arch/_img/221705.JPG

Mine even came without disk mounts original - but I broke every part of the frame except the main bit. I still own this frame but it hangs up at a friends garage in the hall of fame. It can still be ridden but the wear on the pivots mean that even with new bearings its a little loose and floppy at the back - and it gets worse very quickly. Mine had an almost unbelievable hammering :twisted:

If you look at the design of the bike in your picture to the design of my FSR there really isn't much difference suspension wise.

What sort of price were they when new if you dont mind me asking?

 

[grahame]

Early Turner Burner (as already suggested) or how about an original (4 inch)Santa Cruz Heckler? - That's from around 96/97 isn't it?

 

[messiah]

I rode an Intense Uzzi SL from 1997 until 2004 and this bike could absolutely still cut the mustard today - go for the coil shock and live with the bobbing... I still think air shocks are bobbins.

Here is a vary large pic of an early one like mine (1997).

http://www.sykkelplassen.no/arch/_img/221705.JPG

Mine even came without disk mounts original - but I broke every part of the frame except the main bit. I still own this frame but it hangs up at a friends garage in the hall of fame. It can still be ridden but the wear on the pivots mean that even with new bearings its a little loose and floppy at the back - and it gets worse very quickly. Mine had an almost unbelievable hammering :twisted:

If you look at the design of the bike in your picture to the design of my FSR there really isn't much difference suspension wise.

What sort of price were they when new if you dont mind me asking?

The Uzzi frame was a wallet smashing £1250 in 1997 money. About the same as the complete Specialised I guess :!:

I know this might sound condesending but while the Specialised looks similar the performance difference was/is massive. A friend had the same Spec. frame as yours. It never felt as good as the Uzzi despite being newer, and it died in a little over two years. Bushings instead of bearings at the pivots were it's downfall, as they were for the Haro, Diamond Back, and most other cheaper full sussers from that period.

Edit, I should have said the Specialised was good, the Uzzi was better!

I'm not sure if this test ever meant anything other than how free the pivots are, but when you pick a bike up 6 inches and drop it whether the bike bounces or not shows how free the suspension is. My Uzzi never bounced :roll:
I still do this test on full suss bikes... if I'm paying the weight and cash penalty for full suspension I want it to be working all the time. Stick your lockout up your :?:

 

[scant]

as a previous intense owner I have to concur. 2 bikes that use the same basic FSR design, the intense was considerably better built, slightly stiffer & bearing throughout. but yes a massive price difference so I'd expect the intense to be better! for the money stock spesky FSRs were pretty good. they sold like hot cakes in my bike shop days

when did the trek fuel first appear? early 1s were basically a cheap turner copy that had a slight make over.