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Bontrager branded Rockshox RS1?

2K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  hollister 
#1 ·
Please excuse bad photos. This RS1 came on my 1990 Bonty OR when I bought it used off ebay back in '02. It's, as you can see, different than any other RS1 I've ever seen.

Anyway, I never ran it because I had a mag 21 on it for a while then went fully rigid with a generic Tange front fork. I never ran it because it was missing the crown race shim, and I never could find one- until 2 weeks ago, which was suprisingly provident because I crashed bad and folded that Tange fork right over. Frame's still fine which is a tribute to Keiths philosophy, although I don't know if even he factored in 29 years of hard use.

Anyway anyway, Pumped it up, damn thing held air. Whacked it on the bike and I'm kinda digging it. But it's a bit of an enigma. The OR is *not* suspension corrected obviously, and we're talking a whopping 63mm of travel, AND the special Bonty crown, *but* it feels just as sharp and nimble with the suspension fork. And I've never seen this style of Bontrager sticker anywhere but on this one fork.

Could this have been an actual option for a 1990 OR frame build?

Suspension Suspension part Shock absorber Coil spring Carpet
Gun Trigger Shotgun Metal Iron
Hardwood Wire Cable Steel Nut
Metal Iron Steel Lampshade Household hardware
 
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#3 ·
Fair warning, I may be talking out my a$$.

Want to say it's been mentioned here before that he did make *upgrade* or aftermarket what have you, Mag 21 clamp/steerers.

Why, eludes me. Slightly different rake maybe?

But I know the little round stickered crowns were a Keith thing.

Maybe the other stickers were post purchase *upgrades*?
 
#4 ·
Paul Turner, the founder of Rock Shox, had a shop next door to Bontrager's shop in Santa Cruz. Keith was heavily involved with developing the first model of Rock Shox, includind designing the fork crown. It's completely plausible that these would have been on Bontrager frames of the era.
 
#5 ·
Keith designed a re-valve for the RS-1's that came with those first suspension-specific frames - he basically removed the static lockout option to make the fork more supple. Not sure he DID all the modifications himself, however. May have had employees doing that.
 
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