My 93 or 94 ish Slingshot

[fatchanceti]

Grabbed it for pretty cheap off the local craigslist. I lost count but it's probably my 8th or 9th Slingshot over the past 20 years.

As purchased:

Came with this Tange fork, which I quickly swapped on in place of the useless Manitou:

Picked up a straight-leg fork as an original Slingshot fork is unlikely to be found, and also installed a set of the Ritchey Z-Max Re-Pops from a few years ago. Also removed front derailleur and cables to run as singlespeed:

The above setup was ok, but since I ride this a lot, I really wanted a reliable tubeless setup. Mavic and Schwalbe to the rescue:

How she sits now - although the pink grips and white bar end plugs are next to go.

 

[Smithjss70]

Still haven’t got to ride one off these bikes. That’s a really cool one you have there!

 

[Max Headroom]

I can’t get my head round the design

I get the cable stops the frame collapsing/pan caking when downward pressure is applied such as a rider sitting on the bike - but when you pull on the front brake what stops the frame compressing and the wheel base shortening by 6 - 9 inches or more ?

It’s just bonkers

 

[Prodigal Son]

I can’t get my head round the design

I get the cable stops the frame collapsing/pan caking when downward pressure is applied such as a rider sitting on the bike - but when you pull on the front brake what stops the frame compressing and the wheel base shortening by 6 - 9 inches or more ?

It’s just bonkers

I have not ridden those but i see a good thing when applying a sudden brute front braking force: usually the rear will kick around but on this bike it will move forward in a gentler way. It´s descending steep chutes on technical terrain where the hinge may not help.

 

[fatchanceti]

Really not that weird. The scotchply doesn't just allow it to arch its back all willy-nilly, I'm sure the wheelbase compresses a bit. Overall just rides like a nice lively steel frame. I think when combined with a suspension fork or a worn out flex board the results could probably be pretty spooky.

As a rigid, singlespeed platform it's fast and great fun. As a bonus I can swap on the dirt drop config in five minutes and almost have two bikes in one:

Also if you don't want to talk to people about your bike, don't show up at the trailhead with one of these.

 

[CTK]

Super cool bike

 

[raidan73]

Looks great in dirt drop mode

 

[fatchanceti]

Thanks, I'm obviously having a blast with it. I was going to do another 650B conversion on it (like my last Slingshot), but it rides so nicely with the Crossmax and tubeless Schwalbes that I'm shelving that.

Here's my old 650B conversion for reference: