Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

Thinking about doing this to my V10 so i can BRAAAAP at Pismo Dunes....



SIKE.

 

please dont

 

I'll never pinch flat though.

 

Slightly off-topic but you gotta love how Fox adopted the upside down shock idea for truck shocks but they know bikes are all about swag.

 

haha its like jays old godzilla 3.0 tires haha (front tire)

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/3082056/

 

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Weight is a bigger concern on a mtb and an inverted fork would likely have to be much heavier to provide the same rigidity that current fork design provides. Plus, impact forces aren't as high because of the weight of the bike and rider. I guess I'm saying it's a compromise between the heavier fork and the forces it needs to absorb-the current design reflects that pretty well. Some have argued damage to the lowers would also be a problem in the inverted design but that really isn't a big deal.

For motorcycles, inverted makes sense. The fork is more rigid and is capable of absorbing much more of the force generated from landing a big jump. But, the design requires the uppers to be much larger in diameter and that's what makes them heavier.

 

This ^^

To add, one of the major benefit for an inverted strut(fork) design is less unsprung weight. On an inverted setup, the upper(heavier) tubes are attached to the frame instead of the wheel. As a result, the wheel, theoretically, will respond MUCH better to terrain changes---sometimes giving the bike a "lighter" feel.

The other major benefit of inverted is strength. Again, in theory, an inverted fork will take on abuse much better. On a mountain bike/dirt bike, leverage forces that cause "fork flex" are the greatest near the crowns. On conventional non-inverted setups, the bare stanchions(the "inners") have to bear the leverage force. On an inverted setup, you move the bigger, stronger "outers" up to the crown area which pretty much eliminates any risk of fork flex---permitting rigidity for better handling performance.

The main reason I believe MTB industry hasn't widely embraced this technology is simple...as stated above me, body weight of the riders and overall weight of the bikes combined are not enough to warrant such a design. Racecars & dirtbikes will always subject suspension to a greater set of forces than a human would on a bike.

BUTTTTT, I honestly wouldn't mind ever entertaining a new DH build using a Manitou Dorado Pro dual crown inverted fork. I've only heard good things about it and it's pricing/weight fall right between Boxxers and 40's.

 

Excellent points guys. I would have to say that I've seen the Manitou guys/gals go just as fast as anyone else down here at the Chile Challenge in AngelFire. Of course it's still usually a Yeti guy taking the top spot and the only reason for that is pure swag.

As far as rigidity goes I don't believe there would be a noticeable difference just because having a dual crown fork with and a 20mm axle on a mountain bike is enough that whats between them won't be a game changer.

Edit: You still won't see me giving up my 40's anytime soon.

 

Something else you notice between a motorcycle and bicycle is the width of the tire/rim combo. For a bicycle, you'd need to widen the triple clamp to enable the tire/rim to clear the upper. Again, for a motorcycle, this isn't such a big deal (weight wise and not the tire/rim sit below the uppers too.).

 

OOOOOH man, I haven't ridden my bike in months!!!!!

 

http://www.mtbpark.com/index.php?stran=underground&lang=en

underground (literally) mountain biking!

 

what do you mean by "swag"?

normaly swag means "shit we all get".

 

Another benefit of inverted forks would be dust, dirt, water and mud being pushed away from the seals instead of into them...........if you don't run boots, which I see a lot of. Also being inverted generally moves the seal area down, away from where the faunky shit slinging tire is.

 

damn thats awesome

 

Hi guys!, I havn't posted in here before my old bike was a Giant revel rank 1. today I picked up a Giant XTC 29'er rank2 . here are some pic's of my new rig. When i ride i do the trails in the MT. Baldy area.

 

welcome man!

 

Too soon to know.

 

Went off a rut/jump yesterday flying down a trail, landed on the slanted left side of the trail and my front wheel washed out, broke the fall with my head/face and broke my sunglasses. Also landed directly on my pedal with my thigh. I am so proud of my bruises.

 

I've hopped on one for half a trail ride....liked it. You get slightly less "rolling ease" over obstacles than a full 29er, BUT as a plus you get better steering response on tighter trails than a niner.

In my opinion it's a great "big wheel" mountain bike for those who fall under 6 feet in height. I'm well under 6 ft tall and I find 29er bikes(I've tried 5 so far--2 on the same trail back to back) are just too big for my liking on the technical(turning) stuff. Someone taller(6ft+) with longer limbs could probably flick around and turn a 29er much more easily.

I believe there will be a great following for these INBETWEENer bikes.