lawwill leader 3 info por favour

[lewis1641]

howdy all.

spied a raleigh on ebay with what i thought to be an amp fork from the gallery picture, turns out it is a Lawwill Leader 3.

Anyone have any info they would care to share? No idea on the age or travel. There is a scan in the archive suggesting 2.5" but not sure if that is for the 1,2 or 3.

just need a fisher rs1 now

 

[cce]

FairfaxPat knows loads about these, if he's still around

 

[danson67]

Lewis,

Just measured up the set I've got here in the shed.
I can't say if they're any good...bought them for the 'freak value' :shock: and they needed some major structural work, so I haven't fitted them yet.
I've got plenty of spare pivot bushes if they're needed. There's 16 of the little buggers in each fork.

The user manual makes no claims for travel, but absolute max travel is 60mm (2.3") with no pressure in the shock, so I wouldn't expect more than 45mm in real use.
430mm dropout to crown length.
Date: 1995-6 ish?

All the best,

 

[lewis1641]

thanks for the info.

so these would be ok for an early to mid 90's hard tail?

wonder what they would ride like on my lts?

 

[FairfaxPat]

Hey Lewis, I helped Mert develop the Leader and I thought up the name, too. There is 2.5 inches or so of travel, the Risse shock is quite rebuildable-Risse is still in business here in NorCal. When it was new, it was one of the longest travel forks out there. If you notice, it has two Leading Links per side of different lengths. This makes the wheel travel up vertically, rather than through an arc, like a leading link fork with one link per side would do. The result of this is the amount of Trail never changes as the fork travels up and down. Regular forks with sliders change the amount of trail as they move up and down, with the result being shorter trail as they compress, and quicker steering. Thus you have the same steering feel throughout the range of travel with the Leader fork. Also, you'll notice the links are angled upwards at the front, which helps it go up easier-I used to demonstrate the fork by riding a bike with it fitted head-on into a curb and it would just pop up and over it with no problems, to the amazement of onlookers. Here is a pic. of the first Fisher RS-1 bike (designed by Mert) with the Leader Fork on it. The rear sus kinda looks like the fork. The legs in the shot are GF.

 

[lewis1641]

Fantastic info pat. Thank you.

Got to love this site!

 

[ishaw]

Fantastic info pat. Thank you.

Got to love this site!

Indeed you have. That's a great bit of info, thanks Pat. I bought a set of these a while back now in the hope that I got a bike that they would suit, and the shock shaft was corroded. I contacted Mert Lawwill via his website and to my surprise he got in touch and said he could replace the shock shaft if I sent him the fork. I obviously did this and he sent it back as good as new, along with a bag of bushings to keep it running.

Sadly I've yet to find the right build that these would suit, though I'm tempted to try them out on the DBR Ti once I've resolved the issues with the repairer. Do you think that these would work/suit?

I love the industrial look of them and hope they work well too. I don't plan to go off road crazy, but as long as they take the buzz out and don't ride like a clown car, I'll be well pleased.

 

[FairfaxPat]

I think you will be pleasantly surprised how well they actually work. Definitely much better than the early Mag 21 of the same vintage, with 60% more travel. I have The Mag 21 on my 1991 Funk, and it is a much harsher ride than the Leader.

 

[Chickenball]

I just bought mine on EBay. Can't wait till it gets here! SOOOO EXCITED! I will post pics as soon as they arrive!

 

[lewis1641]

what are they going on chickenball?

i have no idea what to fit mine to!