Top 10 All Time Great Bike Designs
- Thread starter ededwards
- Start date
Agency_Scum
Retrobike Rider
- Feedback
- View
My top ten, all time great ( mountain ) bike designs:
Bontrager: gussets, good engineering, slim-tubed elegance.
Kona: sloping top tubes, lightness
Islabikes: grown-up values to kids bikes, sign of a good parent.
White Industries ENO hub: all great retro steel frames can now be singlespeeds.
Shimano thumbies: the perfect " moment " in design.
Flite saddle: see thumbies.
Camelbaks: no poo covered water bottles, no pannier racks or saddlebags.
V brakes: the ultimate cable stopper.
That's only eight but I'm happy with that...a bit like my retro attitude to gears.
Bontrager: gussets, good engineering, slim-tubed elegance.
Kona: sloping top tubes, lightness
Islabikes: grown-up values to kids bikes, sign of a good parent.
White Industries ENO hub: all great retro steel frames can now be singlespeeds.
Shimano thumbies: the perfect " moment " in design.
Flite saddle: see thumbies.
Camelbaks: no poo covered water bottles, no pannier racks or saddlebags.
V brakes: the ultimate cable stopper.
That's only eight but I'm happy with that...a bit like my retro attitude to gears.
Cool. Being a bit of a MTB hardtail / roadie here's my list:
1) Although I would say Kona, it's probably better to say Joe Murray.
2) Dia-comp / Cane-creek Aheadset, but I think PACE did it first.
3) Campagnolo. Even for the QR...but it's probably more.
4) Shimano. Even for SPuDs...but it's probably more.
5) Modolo. A concept bike on an unparralled level that the industry is striving for: http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/modolokronotech.html
6) Square taper BB...
7) Chain driven bike...
Double diamond frame...
9) Parrelogram front & rear mech...
10) San Marco Rolls Saddles....but that's my arse talking
1) Although I would say Kona, it's probably better to say Joe Murray.
2) Dia-comp / Cane-creek Aheadset, but I think PACE did it first.
3) Campagnolo. Even for the QR...but it's probably more.
4) Shimano. Even for SPuDs...but it's probably more.
5) Modolo. A concept bike on an unparralled level that the industry is striving for: http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/modolokronotech.html
6) Square taper BB...
7) Chain driven bike...
Double diamond frame...9) Parrelogram front & rear mech...
10) San Marco Rolls Saddles....but that's my arse talking
- Feedback
- View
Why do people call it a double diamond frame ? It's just called a diamond frame
Double triangle would be the other term.
.. and at that diamond is not the best name for the shape, but it sounds good lozenge?, rhombus? or more like ~quadrilateral
Double triangle would be the other term.
.. and at that diamond is not the best name for the shape, but it sounds good
lozenge?, rhombus? or more like ~quadrilateral
craigsmith
Retrobike Rider
BoyBurning":235nbmvh said:
Dear BoyBurning,
No offence either, but your nonsensical ramblings suggest you have a brain the size of one of the lesser simians. You say I learnt old MTBs from a book. We've never met. I didn't meet you on the Surrey Hills back in 1986 when I started in this sport, on the race circuit, when I wrote the occasional review for MBUK (including strangely enough the Bontrager Privateer). I didn't meet you in Moab or Durango or in Crested Butte where I lived for a year in 92. I didn't meet you when I lived in North Vancouver in 95. In all these places I have ridden a range of "old" MTBs. I'm 44, pretty old myself. It's a shame we never met in any of these places because that might have prevented you from posting such a foolish message.
Craig
I think there are a lot of confused responses to the original question. We're talking about bike designs and someone mentioned dia compe headsets :?:
In terms of bike designs, here's my list:
1981 - Specialized Stumpjumper. Tim Neenan design. Asian made frames based on custom designs to get people on the "trails" for less money. Take a successful design and make it more accessible to the masses.
1979 - Kelly/Fisher MountainBikes. Tom Ritchey design. The first production mountain bike.
1979- The Cunningham Mountain Bike. Charlie Cunningham design. The innovator - doing it his own way, paving the way for many mad scientists turned entrepreneurs. Pioneered the use of aluminum as a viable frame building material. Breezers born from Klunkers, Ritcheys born from road bikes, and cruisers / Yetis born from BMX, Cunninghams were born from one man’s brain.
1987- Merlin Mountain Bike. Murray/Kellogg/Helfrich design. Pushing the boundaries of traditional frame design with new materials.
1987- Kestrel MXz. French/Hogg design. The first production carbon fiber frame. 25 years later, the industry standard in lightweight frame material.
1989 – Fat Chance Yo Eddy. Chris Chance design. The move away from comfortable level top tubes to sloping and a return to cantilevers: the race bike, with aggressive geometry that would appear on XC bikes for 15 years. Also the introduction of the Yo Eddy fork.
1992- AMP Research B1? Horst Leitner design. One of the first well-executed suspension designs for XC use.
1992- Cannondale Delta V 900/1000/2000. Unknown design. A forgettable suspension frame, but the first series to feature the Headshok. This simple design would feature on Cannondale frames for the next 20 years.
1992 – Mountain Cycles San Andreas. Unknown design. Arguably a forgettable suspension design, but the monocoque frame / swingarm design with the use of dual disc brakes created the whoa factor that would begin to attract buyers to Cannondale Super Vs and Ravens for ten years.
1996 – Cannondale Super V DH Active. Unknown design. While other companies stretched the limits of XC designs, Cannondale embraces gravity racing and offers a long travel, disc specific DH frame available for public consumption (IE, affordable). Component design flipflops from XC-influenced DH technology to the opposite.
In terms of bike designs, here's my list:
1981 - Specialized Stumpjumper. Tim Neenan design. Asian made frames based on custom designs to get people on the "trails" for less money. Take a successful design and make it more accessible to the masses.
1979 - Kelly/Fisher MountainBikes. Tom Ritchey design. The first production mountain bike.
1979- The Cunningham Mountain Bike. Charlie Cunningham design. The innovator - doing it his own way, paving the way for many mad scientists turned entrepreneurs. Pioneered the use of aluminum as a viable frame building material. Breezers born from Klunkers, Ritcheys born from road bikes, and cruisers / Yetis born from BMX, Cunninghams were born from one man’s brain.
1987- Merlin Mountain Bike. Murray/Kellogg/Helfrich design. Pushing the boundaries of traditional frame design with new materials.
1987- Kestrel MXz. French/Hogg design. The first production carbon fiber frame. 25 years later, the industry standard in lightweight frame material.
1989 – Fat Chance Yo Eddy. Chris Chance design. The move away from comfortable level top tubes to sloping and a return to cantilevers: the race bike, with aggressive geometry that would appear on XC bikes for 15 years. Also the introduction of the Yo Eddy fork.
1992- AMP Research B1? Horst Leitner design. One of the first well-executed suspension designs for XC use.
1992- Cannondale Delta V 900/1000/2000. Unknown design. A forgettable suspension frame, but the first series to feature the Headshok. This simple design would feature on Cannondale frames for the next 20 years.
1992 – Mountain Cycles San Andreas. Unknown design. Arguably a forgettable suspension design, but the monocoque frame / swingarm design with the use of dual disc brakes created the whoa factor that would begin to attract buyers to Cannondale Super Vs and Ravens for ten years.
1996 – Cannondale Super V DH Active. Unknown design. While other companies stretched the limits of XC designs, Cannondale embraces gravity racing and offers a long travel, disc specific DH frame available for public consumption (IE, affordable). Component design flipflops from XC-influenced DH technology to the opposite.
- Feedback
- View
1989 Fat Chance...
Why is this any different from the other companies doing sloping top tubed frames, that same year or before, that are still used today ?
Though todays sloping tubes are born out of technicalities rather than advantageous use. The long suspension forks force it to be sloping, even it the top tube ends up as high as a flat tube on the seattube.
Why is this any different from the other companies doing sloping top tubed frames, that same year or before, that are still used today ?
Though todays sloping tubes are born out of technicalities rather than advantageous use. The long suspension forks force it to be sloping, even it the top tube ends up as high as a flat tube on the seattube.
