Hello all,

I have just had a slightly rash moment on eBay and bought some IRD Titanium forks, they are three piece jobbies and they have some Ti anodised graphics on them by Leni Fried - now I think ive heard his name ascociated with anodised Fat Ti's and also some painted Fat's - but whats the craic here?

a picture would probably help wouldnt it (sorry there not great - taken from the auction)

Thanks a lot, Djuc

Leni Fried is a woman... She's the wife/partner of Mike Augspurger. Mike's half of the business is "One-Off Titanium" and he was one of the original founders of Merlin Metalworks as is split off from Fat City/Chance.

Their website http://www.titaniumarts.com/ has lots of good info on them.

-Geoff

Cheers Geoff,

I thought i'd heard her name mentioned in ascociation with Fat City before, she did some anodised 'paintwork' on a couple of Fat Ti's I think, very glad to have got this fork then, epecially as it was a bit of a bargain.....

Cheers, Djuc

Nice forks Djuc, what bike are you going to fit them to?

Nice forks Djuc, what bike are you going to fit them to?

They are going on the Salsa (http://images.fotopic.net/?id=2414970&outx=600&oq=0) for car park cruising duty, I only have one bike at the minute so they will probably just sit waiting for a home looking pretty for a little while, til I can afford the bike after the next one!

Ta, Djuc

Howdy, there's a wee blurb on a certain page buried in a (very) unfinished website, containing the original info on those forks and a few others. Here's the page:

http://brutalartistry.com/trimblebicycles/Technical/forks.htm

It's down a ways. The site's a rough one, and isn't really meant to be seen yet, so don't get too excited...

The site's a rough one, and isn't really meant to be seen yet, so don't get too excited...

hey FSP, site looks ok to me..... Pleased to say I have both the IRD Ti's and the Bonty Race forks....

some peeps have told me they were a bit flexy, but for $100 including shipping to the UK I can live with that - besides, they have some pretty cool one off Leni graphics....

I love those Track Two's and the Syncros forks, thats a couple of rigids ive got to own.....

Cheers! Djuc

hey FSP, site looks ok to me..... Pleased to say I have both the IRD Ti's and the Bonty Race forks....

some peeps have told me they were a bit flexy, but for $100 including shipping to the UK I can live with that - besides, they have some pretty cool one off Leni graphics....

I love those Track Two's and the Syncros forks, thats a couple of rigids ive got to own.....

Cheers! Djuc
$100!!! Wow. Good score! I've seen those sell for 350-400. The Bonty's for 250-300... I know, cause I usually wind up buying em for that...

I like the Bontys too. I've got two Composites I'm having threadless steerers made for, and have some authentic top caps on the way for patterning, to have cnc'd later...

A buddy of mine has a Gatorblade that came with his Brodie sponsorship deal back in the 80's. I keep trying to get him to put it back on, the more I see it, the prettier it is. The syncros jobs were pretty hot too. A couple of those came and went a few months ago, for slightly less. I think around the $200 mark? Don't recall exactly...

I think I'm developing a rigid fork fetish.... Of course the number one for me would be the Project 2 Ti.... mmmmmm, and have you did you see the Ti Syncros on ebay.de a few months back, that was amazing - although I'm not too sure as to their authenticity....

i'll post pics up in a week or so of the art work on them... I really cant wait..... just need to get a bolt on them heli-coiled and I may even ride them (dont bet on it though)

Djuc

OK, my habit may be getting serious......

http://www.singlespeed.net/images/articles/forks/DSCN0037.JPG

http://www.singlespeed.net/images/articles/forks/DSCN0038.JPG

damn you McMahon! I'm only Human!!!!!

ahem, Djuc

OK, my habit may be getting serious......

damn you McMahon! I'm only Human!!!!!

ahem, Djuc
Ohhh man, i have a McMahon Ti, somewhere..., but I wasn't lucky enough to land a matching fork with it! That's one fine specimen. Say, would you mind if I feature those pics on the rigid fork page I mentioned earlier? I'll credit ya & everything. Any weight or geometry or cost (now or then) info you may have on it would be swell as well. You've GOT to take a spin on that one.


Yes, it collecting rigidity is a wicked mistress. But we wouldn't do it if it wasn't soooo gooood in the end.

Dude,

help yourself, I nicked the pics off of another website!, ill find the url for you....

I think we need pics of your McMahon, I love Mcmahon, really, i LOVE them....

Ta, Djuc

here is the link

http://www.singlespeed.net/forks.htm

i am mad about old rigid forks as well, especially the old fat Klein forks (with or without the bike...). have a gatorblade and a bonti composite as well and Ti P2s are very high on the wish list but now i am dreaming again...

did you see this McMahon on mtb-classic.de? gorgeous
.
http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=96662

cheers, Carsten

http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=56136 (http://)

did you see this McMahon on mtb-classic.de? gorgeous

I saw that one Carsten, very nice, does anyone know how many bikes and when McMahon did, they are certainly somewhat of a rarity.... I just remember always lusting after their frames and forks....

I think the Ti P2 is pretty much the holy grail of Ti Rigid forks, has anyone actually ever seen one? - there is urban legend in England of a guy who still rides a '92 Hei Hei with them on, but no one knows who he is.... mysterious.

rigid forks just plain look better in my opinion, Example (http://www.teamcow.ca/bikeguide/dekerf/images/Generation01.jpg)

Djuc

nice collection of forks guys :)
I've seen a few of these forks back in the day. MRC on a MRC C68 at the malvern hills classic bike race in the very early 90s. got more pics somewhere.

we'll have to test that love of rigid forks when you come riding in wales yeh djuc ;)

ta

scant

there is a guy in dresden with a hei hei and the fork.
this combo is a dream. he has a bicycle store called Antrieb Bikes parts.

thomas

I knew someone in Germany would have one! you guys have eerything!

> Of course the number one for me would be the Project 2 Ti....

Well, check this out! Auction starts at 6pm today (ebay time):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3656788389&rd=1

Thanks for sharing the great fork site & pics. Be sure to check out that stunning complete McMahon in the next thread. Tasshi, we could use a nice pic of yours! (even with your MRC fork being of the suspended nature)...

dude, the ebay link doesnt work, yet?

ta

scant

Right, not yet, ebay won't show the page till the auction starts. The photo's look pretty nice though. He'll have a matching stem too.

auction starts 6pm eBay time

....eBay time in the US, so 6PM there is another 5 hours or so yet...

anyway, your not interested in them......

Djuc

Nope, they're all yours guys.

I just found out about an hour ago some prototyping I'm having done is going to use up most of my bike budget...

Also, I should note, last night appeared a Santana Moda (Nivacrom OR, beautiful welds) for sale on ebay. Buy it now price of $800. The seller didn't think things through aparrently, and decided to list it as pick-up only, not realizing that he'd get a load more for it if it were available to anyone outside his locale. Also, would get a lot more for it if he had photos up...

Even without photos, I'd be all over that sucker like any number of things...

Can I rename this thread "the kick ass old school Ti fork thread"?

I had one of those Ti Velocity stems, except the guy never sent me it.....

Oh man, are you deralex?

Cheers FSP!

>>> there goes my bargain!

;)

Not to get back on topic or anything here but here is a pic of the IRD Ti I have in the overhead, bought the fork in 90' I believe.

http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/IRDTi.jpg

And here is a pic of the next way they went, this fork was brand new in 91'.

http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/IRDShock(1).jpg

Rod Moses and Ray Baldwin were IRD based out of Selma, Oregun USA. They were big proponents of the use of longer cranks and produced bicyles called the Stroker which had 225mm Bullseye cranks and the Semi-Stroker which had 190mm cranks. High bb's were deraguer on their bikes and they had some of the first long top tubes in the industry also!

The extra long cranks produced an ungodly amount of torque in times of good traction, but were a bit hard to get used to if you were a spinner...Some of the best rides I had on my Stroker were at SlickRock in Moab because of that torque/traction. Also they developed a little accessory called the Remote Quick Release (RQR) that in conjunction with a Breeze Hite Rite made for the ability to raise and lower your seat from a thumbshifter mounted on the handlebars. It worked well in the Slick Rock also because of the constant ups and downs in there by enabling you to raise and lower your saddle while moving.

Needless to say the extra long crank thing never caught on. But I would imagine there are a few diehards out there somewhere riding their IRD's and that Shiggy knows both of them! :)

dude thats great, just what I was looking for...

did you put the 'Cross Country' bit on those?

also, I have just noticed that the forks I have bought dont have a) IRD stickers on the crown, and perhaps more importantly b) any brake studs! (its amazing how wrapped up in something you can be for it to take me over a week to realise they dont have brake mounts.... ho hum)

so, do you want to sell me your brake mounts? ;) otherwise I guess ill be buying dome Pace V brake retro mounts eh?

Thanks a lot for that info and pics Bigwheel...

Djuc

The Cross Country bits are vinyl stickers that was the name of my bike shop back then.

I had noticed you didn't have the brake mounts but thought they were just not on the forks at the time, bummer. But you have the cool Leni Fried thing going on. I knew Leni when I lived back East years ago and she is very cool and her SO Mike Augsberger should be in the MBHOF in my opinion. She does some really great art on Ti with just a little ammonia and water, some juice and a foam brush!

hmmm, I seriously just got carried away, you know I didnt even ask the guy if he has them still - I guess I will find out when they arrive - otherwise its either fabricate some new ones (not with my 'expertise'!), buy some Pace ones (which cost almost as much as I paid for the forks, and probably wont fit), or do you reckon Interloc would have any old stock???? - bit of a long shot I know!

I cant wait to see the Leni graphics in the flesh... to be honest until I get a bike worthy of the fork they will just be on display somewhere (if my Girlfriend lets me ;) ) - a few peeps have mentioned that they perhaps werent the best riding fork... what do you think?

hey bigwheel,
any pics by chance of the stroker or superstroker?
i had a set of the ird tubular steel cranks, i think they were called the vortex. reasonably stiff, but they sat a little wide. i had them for a spell on my khs montana team 95, i was using a 107mm xt bb and could've used a dura-ace 103mm one. they never made those cranks in anything but 175mm, though.
i also have a pair of rotary brakes, a widget (not to mention three crosstops, which i am sure you know paul copied pretty much directly from the unpatented ird originals), and a switchback. unfortunately, i haven't had the occasion to use any of them yet. maybe when i build a singlespeed up...
tim

[QUOTE=uphiller]hey bigwheel,
any pics by chance of the stroker or superstroker?

http://forums13.consumerreview.com/...w70f.1@.efa2757

I only ever had a Stroker with the 225mm cranks. The Semi had 190's but both cranks were made by Roger Durham at Bullseye. Didn't even know that IRD made a set of cranks but it doesn't surprise me as those boys were mad scientists to the nth degree obviously!

If you get a chance to post pix of the brakes please do. I only had the rollercams and a pair of the long arm cantis with the funky wire arrangement running all around the top, were those the widgets? I know a guy who is looking for some of those cross tops, just the one setup actually for a build he is doing and if you have them to spare they would go to a good home.

hey bigwheel,
your link to the pic of the stroker didn't work!
weird brakes: http://www.blackbirdsf.org/brake_obscura/
the wdiget was the one that was just like the crosstop. i have yet to use mine, it is sitting at home in a plastic baggy, unfortunately. the crosstop in my view is a little nicer, the widget uses a flathead bolt for a screwdriver to hold the cable down, whereas the crosstop uses a marginally less-annoying 3mm allen bolt. oh- and the pad holding hardware on the IRD's is, from what i have heard, pretty annoying.
the one with the funky loopes cable is the switchback. how well does it work, and what levers do you use it with? i read a long time ago, maybe three years that someone had good results with an XTR v-brake lever. dunno if that was with or without the spacers in the lever removed, which could make a big diff.
i have read more than once that the rollercams (aka rotary brakes) were super powerful, but more than a shade temperamental, esp in the mud.
i would sell a crosstop, but i am in germany until july, maybe longer, and my stuff is in cincinnati, ohio.
oh- à propos the vortex cranks... they were tubular steel with some bends in them, rather than the straight arms seen on the bullseye cranks, and were a lot skinnier, too. the pedal sockets looked kind of chintzy, cast steel, but the spider looked great- it looked like one big, smooth piece of hydroformed chromoly plate welded to the arm.
tim

ill take 2nd dibs on that there cross top too.....

theres some cracking brakes on that site.... I love the McMahon Batwings... superb

[QUOTE=uphiller]hey bigwheel,
your link to the pic of the stroker didn't work!

http://forums13.consumerreview.com/crforum?viewall@94.ketJaIep8N8.1@.efa2757

Try that.

Switchbacks! Thanks for filling in that gap....Both the Rotary cam with its little stub of a wire that had a lead ferrule on it that attached to a bit of a round thing with a little teeny allen in it that captured the cable from the brake lever and the Switchback with its wierdness were hard as heel to set up properly but worked like gangbusters (especially with some Mathauser blocks!) when they were in fine tune. The Rotary better than the Switchback though. I remember struggling mightily though with that connection of the cable to the brake wire on the Rotary though.

I still have my Stroker in the overhead and haven't touched it in a number of years now. Will have to get some pictures of it sometime though....it is white now with black sign vinyl splots that went along with our old "Team Holstein" race team theme. :)

hey man,
questions first:
-cool collection. did your grove innovations machines have the grove tubular chromoly cranks? i remember seeing a picture of them in the bikepro catalog, they were painted dayglo orange and had some weird three-sided axle.
-are you english? i ask because i have only ever heard english people call brake pads brake blocks.
-tell me what kind of performance you got from your brakes, and your setup- rim clearance, what levers, etc. i am always dying to hear about how all these different linkage brakes worked. besides, it's d@mned cold and snowy outside, and we all know the next best thing to bikes and bike riding is talking about bikes and bike riding.
-what kind of ungodly bb height did you need to run 225mm cranks? i assume around 2" higher than normal, ie, 13.75"? that would be high even for a trials bike.
i have been thinking about my next brake setup, by the way. i have an old xt u-brake in great condition with a set of unused mathauser pads, the nice ones with the cooling fins, as well as a new avid shorty 4 canti. i was thinking of getting a u-brake fork welded up and a frame with canti studs, both of them with braze-ons for the cannondale force 40 cable hanger. force 40-enhanced u-brake up front, force 40-enhanced canti on the rear, slr plus levers, mathauser pads. or maybe i will spring for the NOS tri-align 2s sitting in the shop... just another pipe dream for now, at any rate.
tim

hey man,
are you english?tim

Nope, I do speak it though....Born in Vt. USA and living in CO.

The reason I always called the Matties blocks is because that is what they looked like! Actually more like bricks now that you mention it because of their shape and color.

Never dealt with the Grove cranks. Did run into Bill at Interbike a few years back and went over the old days with him. He is now manufacturing ski sleds for adaptive sports clients. Those Pa. boys were another crowd of wackos and had some really fast riders in their stable. Made some funky bikes and were into wild paint jobs to boot. Some of the Brave bicycles were made by Grove also. Built up a Warrior E stay in neon that was quite the site but don't have a picture of it unfortunately.

djuc the compulsive buyer :D
wouldnt be too difficult to make some bolt on brake bosses. gees if pace can do it & look how appaling they are ;)

I tried a set of IRD switchbacks. not the best brake for UK conditions. the cables were real close to the tyre & clogged like crazy. pretty stuff tho ;)

ta

scant

hey bigwheel,
any pics by chance of the stroker or superstroker?
i had a set of the ird tubular steel cranks, i think they were called the vortex. reasonably stiff, but they sat a little wide. i had them for a spell on my khs montana team 95, i was using a 107mm xt bb and could've used a dura-ace 103mm one. they never made those cranks in anything but 175mm, though.
i also have a pair of rotary brakes, a widget (not to mention three crosstops, which i am sure you know paul copied pretty much directly from the unpatented ird originals), and a switchback. unfortunately, i haven't had the occasion to use any of them yet. maybe when i build a singlespeed up...
tim

Here is a SemiStroker <img src="http://www.themudzone.com/bike/ird_sstroker.jpg">

It has a 24" rear wheel and can use a 26" wheel by moving the brake studs. There are two sets of bosses for the Rotary brake. The front brake is an IRD 5-10 canti.

....

rigid forks just plain look better in my opinion, Example (http://www.teamcow.ca/bikeguide/dekerf/images/Generation01.jpg)

Djuc

Thnx Djuc Wun :o thats my DK Generation. (http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/Dsc00247a.jpg) Now full on XTR M900. The picture was taken just after I bought it used, 2 yrs ago.

My other DK (Team SL, also on Teamcow) has a 'traditional' curved, taperd rigid. Currently working on getting the parts together to build up my oldest of 4 DK's. A '94 Mountain/Team. This one will get the Syncros rigid up front.

Next to that I have a Bontrager, with matching Bontrager rigid fork. This will be a singlespeed in the comming time. Have to get some parts for that bike too though...

http://www.mtb-news.de/fotos/data/511/1107Dsc00254-med.jpg

[QUOTE=shiggy©®™]Here is a SemiStroker <img src="http://www.themudzone.com/bike/ird_sstroker.jpg">

shiggy,
wow. is that your bike? it must have been in use relatively recently, as i remember the 5-10 came out around 1998 or so.
i know a reasonable amount about older ird parts, but my knowledge of the frames is pretty sketchy. how does the 24" rear wheel ride on bumpier stuff? i ask because i have a 24" rear wheel trials bike that i may throw a dbl crank and short-travel fork on for riding offroad. the mega-high bb coupled with the small rear wheel must make for a light-feeling front end- or does that get cancelled out by the long toptube? and what kind of riding were the bikes intended for in general? there just don't seem to be any other bikes out there anything near to the ird setup.
we have posted with each other once or twice about the rotary brake. you said it's pretty tough to set up- must be even more so with a chainstay mount like that one.
oh. and what's rod up to these days?
tim
ps sorry if i am providing little information myself and just posing zillions of questions. it's just that i know very little, and want to know a lot.

OK, just to drag the thread slightly back to the original query, here are the pics:

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=2541682&outx=600&oq=0

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=2541683&outx=600&oq=0

they dont have the mounts with them, but ill sort something out, I am quite content just to stare at them at the minute!

they are signed by Leni at the bottom and dated '91, which is nice and also have IRD logos on the sides of the forks, but I didnt get pictures of that...

they are almost worth buying a new frame for...

Djuc