[Bingenito]

Rode across northern France, through Belgium, then down Germany along the Rhine to Munich (in time for the beer festival  ). From there up the Brenner pass into Austria, through Innsbruck, and down into Northern Italy through Lago del Garda and Genoa. Then across the south of France through the Riviera and Marseilles, into Spain and down to Barcelona. We wanted to go further south but were running out of money so we turned around and went back up through France and back to England. Arrived back in London with only about $50 between us - had to work oddd jobs to get together the money to fly home. What a great trip. Many years ago but still a great memory.

Man that sounds like a killer time. All of my friends are broke or lazy or both. I would love to take a few weeks off work and do that. Sounds like the making of a good B movie if you ask me  

[John Casler]

Klein, Cannondale, Trek all had the "oversized" tubes back then.

Funny story, I had what I thought was a "stroke of genius: and began working on a Patent Application for a "pressurized" bicycle frame, which would allow you to make the frame stiffer and lighter by presurizing it.

I though $$cha-ching$$ the bike world would beat a bike path to my door.

I saw all these applications of tuning the frame via pressure and frames, forks, seat posts, handlebars, stems, and other parts that would be stronger, yet weigh nothing.

I began applying the technology to Wheelchairs, arrows, bats, cars, and anything I could find that could have a tubular or enclosed frame (even freakin skyscrapers) that might benefit from lighter frame, adjustable pressurization,  or a more controlled weight distribution (as in a bat).

Imagine being able to "adjust" a bat for bunts, home runs, or base hits

Spent about $2000 writing and doing a preliminary search, and then final patent search, and at the end of the final search I finally find out that someone had patened the idea in the 1800's!!!!!!

[Bingenito]

Spent about $2000 writing and doing a preliminary search, and then final patent search, and at the end of the final search I finally find out that someone had patened the idea in the 1800's!!!!!!

So what you are saying is your idea was really cutting edge

You could also use the pressurized tubes like a compressor tank to fix a flat. I have done that on a jeep I used to own with tube bumpers. Tap an NPT valve and fix it with air. Get a flat or need to increase tire pressure no problem.

Taking a bad spill on a thin highly pressurized frame would be a very bad thing if the frame explods  

[John Casler]

Spent about $2000 writing and doing a preliminary search, and then final patent search, and at the end of the final search I finally find out that someone had patened the idea in the 1800's!!!!!!

So what you are saying is your idea was really cutting edge

Taking a bad spill on a thin highly pressurized frame would be a very bad thing if the frame explods  ...

So cutting edge, I was over 100 years behind the curve!!!

I figured "engineering" would be able to compute the wall thickness and material type needed for maximum perfromance and safety, just like they do now.  At the time fiberglass was also looking pretty good.

But look at TT bikes.  They just need to be able to take the leg torque and bodyweight.

Obviously it wasn't as good an idea as I thought  or all bikes now days would have "Air frames"

[PhilNYC]

Taking a bad spill on a thin highly pressurized frame would be a very bad thing if the frame explods..

That reminds me of an old training buddy who got a Kestral carbon mountain bike...one place we used to ride was a great place called South Mountain Reservation in NJ (now closed to mtn bikers).  The finish to our ride was on a fairly good descent on a fairly rocky horse trail that opened up into a parking lot.  We were coming down probably around 35-40mph.  The opening into the parking lot requires that you take a somewhat hard turn...my buddy takes it a little too hard and ends up taking a bad spill, with the bike sliding about 25ft across the parking lot pavement.  Carbon fiber frame...poof!!!  (actually not that bad and repairable, but I swear to god there was a cloud of carbon fiber dust... )

[bikeman]

Klein, Cannondale, Trek all had the "oversized" tubes back then.
...

Klein and Cannondale had TIG welded oversized tubes long before anyone else.  The court battle where Cannondale finally previaled took years.  Gary Klein had patented the oversize frame design and tried to enforce it on Cannondale.  Getting a patent that's enforceable is tough.  

David

[Mad DOg]

complete with eliptical crank

ah...the days of Biopace...

[John Casler]

complete with eliptical crank

ah...the days of Biopace...

That was even before "BIO-FORCE"!!!!!

[KJ]

What are you riding?

Titus Racer-X 100 with:

  Manitou Minute Swinger 3-way SPV shock
  Manitou Minute 2:00 fork
  Hayes HFX Mag Plus hydraulic disc brakes
  SRAM X.9 ESP rear derailleur
  SRAM X.9 Shorty Shifters
  Shimano XT cassette
  Truvativ Firex Team cranks
  Chris King headset
  Easton MonkeyLite XC handlebar
  Mavic CrossMax Enduro Disc wheels
  IRC Trailbear Kevlar tires
  Titus machines stem
  Titus Micro-adjust SP
  ODI Ruffian LO grips

Best MTB I've ever owned.  If you're ever near Tempe, AZ I highly recommend taking the tour and going out for a demo ride.

-KJ

[Levi]

I have a Litespeed Obed Ti frame w/White Industries Ti Hubs, Shimano XT groupo, custom wheels by Kovachi, [Ringle {moby post, Ti skewers, stem}], Paul components brakes and Chris King headset.   Total weight is sub >19lbs.


I used to do lots of trail riding in GA.  It is now wearing a pair of road slicks   Nothing really beats spending hours in the woods

Levi

[bikeman]

"Best MTB I've ever owned."

The Racer X and my Dean are identical with one exception.  The Dean has and interupted seat tube.  I've wondered if Titus built for Dean at the time.

David

[Bingenito]

This is interesting. It seems like a good percentage of AC members are into some form of cycling.

[brj]

What are you riding? sm_wave.gif

I grabbed a Yeti Kokopelli last February... one of the last ones made and hand welded in Golden, CO.  It has the exact same geometry as the more expensive and slightly lighter/stiffer ASR.  I couldn't see spending major dollars on squeezing out every last ounce of weight, but I did upgrade the fork, shock, brakes and shifters for various reasons and it turned out pretty light anyway at 26 lbs.

I love the bike... now if only I had the skills to match!  Luckily, tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day, I don't have to work, and I discovered a co-worker looking to get back into mountain biking!

[KJ]

The Racer X and my Dean are identical with one exception. The Dean has and interupted seat tube. I've wondered if Titus built for Dean at the time.

Not that I'm aware of, but they do offer models with the interupted seat tube.

http://www.titusti.com

-KJ

[PhilNYC]

This is interesting. It seems like a good percentage of AC members are into some form of cycling.

I definitely expected to see a lot of guys into bikes, but I'm definitely surprised to see a preference of mtn over road...

[brj]

I definitely expected to see a lot of guys into bikes, but I'm definitely surprised to see a preference of mtn over road...

Road biking is just excercise... mountain biking gets the adrenaline moving!

Kidding... kidding...

(Of course, when I occasionally take my mtb bike on the road, the adrenaline frequently gets moving thanks to the local auto traffic!)

[PhilNYC]

I have a Litespeed Obed Ti frame w/White Industries Ti Hubs, Shimano XT groupo, custom wheels by Kovachi, [Ringle {moby post, Ti skewers, stem}], Paul components brakes and Chris King headset.   Total weight is sub >19lbs. Levi

Hey Levi...I like your taste in components!  I have the Ringle hubs, but wish I had gotten the White Industries (although probably not the Ti hubs).  19lbs is light!  Honestly, I never felt comfortable on mtn bikes lighter than 22lbs (never was a big climber...mostly singletrack and trail riding..., and at my height/weight, I just like the feel of a bike somewhere between 22-24lbs)...

[tybee]

Wow, so many bikers.  I still have a bunch of steel frame road bikes from the 80s when I was regularly riding centuries, double centuries, and all day events. Most of my steel frames were made from Columbus SL or Reynolds tubing with custom lugs.  I still own 5 complete Campy SR component groups and one Dura Record group plus lots of bike related stuff.  I built up all of my frames including the wheels.  Two of my favorite frames were custom designs made for my height and weight. One was built by Scott Paisley and another by Matt Assemmacher in Michigan. It was always a challenge for me to ride sub 5 hour centuries and sub 10 hour double centuries.

Since I moved from the northern flatlands to Tennessee, I have all but given up cycling. Thanks to everyone for sharing their cycling interest.

[Levi]

Hey Phil.  Thanks.  I am gram conscious.

[ctviggen]

I used to be into mountaing biking way more than racing biking.  However, I now ride my racing bike way more than I ride my mountain bike, and the reason is time.  By the time I pack my stuff, put my bike on my car/truck, drive to the mountain bike location (of which I've found only a few good ones suitable for long rides in CT), unload, ride, repack, etc., I could get on my racing bike and be done well before this.  Although I think that mountain biking takes more skill, and I miss it, I plan on riding my racing bike even more this year than last year.  I may go mountain biking on the "easy" days, though.