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Who remembers Stratos forks!?

19K views 44 replies 33 participants last post by  Scott@GO-RIDE.com 
#1 ·
Hey everyone -

I just recently came upon a sweet fork - an 8" Stratos S8 DH triple-clamp.

This thing is HUGE. 35 mm stanchions, 1" of negative travel...upside-down moto-style configuration.

The problem is, Stratos is no longer in business. So, getting spring kits/seals/service for this fork is sure to be an issue.

That is, unless you have some advice.

Know of any OEM companies out there who reproduce Stratos parts? Anyone know anything about these forks??

Thanks!!
 
#4 ·
okay. mike destroyed all his parts/tooling when spec. did what they did. he aso erased all the programs he wrote and destroyed the prints with all the dimensions, ect. i can see if he has or would be willing to make any parts you need, just shoot me a pm or something...
 
#5 ·
Thanks, Scabrider

What I'm really looking for is a firmer spring kit.

Again, the model I have is the S8, 8" travel DH fork.

I understand that each leg has THREE different springs in it. If I could locate an 'extra firm' spring kit for both legs, that would be superb.

Also, it would be nice to have a spare set of seals handy in case they're needed.

Thanks man...

Bret
 
#9 ·
scabrider said:
okay. mike destroyed all his parts/tooling when spec. did what they did. he aso erased all the programs he wrote and destroyed the prints with all the dimensions, ect. i can see if he has or would be willing to make any parts you need, just shoot me a pm or something...
Did he do it under order, or voluntarily? What's he up to now?
 
#11 ·
FBC2008 said:
I have an old stratos s8 laying around and my own machine shop, what did you want to possibly want to reverse engineer
I'd really just like a spare set of seals for the fork as well as an extra-firm spring kit for it. No reverse-engineering required, I don't think...
 
#14 ·
Do you need extra firm springs because your sag is too low or because you bottom out? I used to have one and the trick (if the latter is your issue) is to just add more suspension fluid. I used Golden Spectro fork oil instead of the recommended ATF fluid and the fork worked better and seals lasted longer. Incredible fork, just heavy. You can still find them on E-bay occasionally so might not be a bad idea to get another for parts as they're cheap.

Have FUN!

G MAN
 
#18 ·
Jerk_Chicken said:
Did he do it under order, or voluntarily? What's he up to now?
voluntary. he is still making shocks for prosthetic arms/legs as well as other machine work. right now he is working out of my parent's shop and his garage...
 
#19 ·
SHIVER ME TIMBERS said:
most likely with specialized under order
I doubt it, stratos self-imploded due to many things, improperly speced seals, improperly machined crowns, glide rings in the dampers broke fairly often, the chassis were never updated and way heavy, etc. There were some good points, but they never evolved, and then they started doing stupid stuff. There's a whole lot more info out there if you do a little digging, and they didn't implode because of specialized.
 
#22 ·
Here's an exceprt from a post made by a former Stratos employee;

Business wasn't flying right - product kept changing but standards weren't being met - both Dave and I had to do a lot of dancing and jumping through flaming hoops to get what we could to the folks who wanted them.

It was a constant battle. Somehow, Mike got Catharine to invest her own money into the business, thus bringing in a new partner. Although she was a CPA, she had very little experience with this kind of business.

Problems arose between people. Apparently, both Dave and I were making too much money. We got downgraded from a salaried/bonus structure to commission only. However, no guarantees were in place that product would be improved or standards would be met.

We both quit. I think it was 2001/02

The revolving door policy began. So did the tailspins.

Lacking any clear corporate vision or market strategy, they lost ground in every arena.

Now, here's where things get even more murky.

Mike made some arrangement with the Patent Holder for a particular type of Inertia Damping [I met him, but totally forget his name.]

Do a Google on RICOR. Edelbrock uses the technology.

However, unlike some other posts I've encounter recently, talks with RICOR did not enter into an agreement until about 2002-ish.

The Patent was specific, however, and applied only to Motorized Vehicles - Mike was trying to work it into the bicycle side of things when I left town for the first jaunt to Mexico.

My best guess is that he failed in due diligence with the patents that Specialized held with Fox and the loophole didn't work in his favor.

On top of that issue, they came out with the El Jefe - a shock that they acknowledged to me at my very last Interbike as a reverse engineered Avalanche shock [with some variation in size and threading and such] but were totally out of the OEM market.

With a tattered reputation and a new guy on the phone every other month, people just stopped buying the stuff
 
#23 ·
Regardless of how you feel about the company or the reason they are no longer with us, I like my Stratos Fork, and if the gentleman who used to make them can point me in the right direction as to where to get springs, rebuild kits, seals. I'm more than willing to listen.

Heck Retro is in these days.............;p Seriously though if anyone knows where I can get some parts, or a manual to try to figure it out myself, please let me know.
 
#24 ·
vack said:
Regardless of how you feel about the company or the reason they are no longer with us, I like my Stratos Fork, and if the gentleman who used to make them can point me in the right direction as to where to get springs, rebuild kits, seals. I'm more than willing to listen.

Heck Retro is in these days.............;p Seriously though if anyone knows where I can get some parts, or a manual to try to figure it out myself, please let me know.
We weren't talking about how we "feel", but rather how stratos imploded.

Anyways, there are potentially more problems with the seals. This is another excerpt from the ex-stratos employee.

...Oh, and the thing about the Seals on the S8

Two things:
Part One - we used to have these brilliant seals that we used on the Stratashock Pro - very high quality and very expensive. We started using them on the S8 and the first few hundred worked like a charm.

Then, before the second season started, all hell breaks loose. Leaks?

OMFG!

My beard went grey in one month.

It took months before we found out what was going on. We changed production on the housings, reduced diameters, tried and tried again and again to fix the problem.

This prevented the fork guards, btw, from ever happening. We made our own out of PVC and zip ties.

Turns out, the Seals we'd been buying for years from one company overseas had moved the production from one country to another. From Japan to China.

But, instead of sending the molds, they'd sent drawings. e-Mail! aaaaaaah! So the new molds were out of tolerance and the seal mfg'r didn't want to tell us.

Part Two By the time that was finally resolved, I was no longer associated with the company. They came up with 'Tiger' seals and some other company was making them.

But one year of bad seals is all it takes if the rest of the company is unresponsive to market concern! By ignoring it, and in many cases outright denying it, they poisoned the tiny number of bike enthusiasts that wanted to buy boutique-brand products.

Sure, Rock Shox could have faulty Ti-Ni coating on all their stanchions and have a recall and such. They could have bad seals for a season or two and just toss the entire event on the shyt-heap. Who cares? People ***** and complain about it, swear never to use it again, yadda yadda.

But Rock Shox's real market isn't 'Early Adopters' or 'Innovators' or the tiny 'Enthusiast' market. It's Gary Fisher/Trek and Pacific Cycles.

But Stratos - it had a worldwide market of about 8,000 customers and each and every one of them was a vocal and savvy bike beast who not only rode all the time, but also talked to other BikeBeasts all the damn time. Certainly not BikeFred out for one of the three 'trail rides' he'll have this year.
__________________
So, even if you find "stratos" seals, they may actually be totally wrong. The best thing to do may be to take your seals to a seal/hydraulic supply store. These are usually in the industrial area of a city. Have them try to match the specs of the seals. Otherwise other suppliers like marzocchi, RS, and Push can probably supply 35mm seals, but you have no guarentee they'll work.

Ever wonder what those cool looking "dimples" are at the end of your uppers? The forks were made to accept some huge car-bearing or something that served as the "wrench" to loosen those caps. That's what holds the seals in place evidently (I never had to take em off). A strap-wrench should be sufficient I'd imagine.

There are no "kits" for stratos stuff.

I'd also suggest taking a look at the hydraulic cartridge. I had the glide-ring fail on my MX6, which caused clunking in the travel. Well, don't take it apart if it isn't broken, but it was a wear-item prone to failure.

As far a springs, you could probably make a variety of springs work, possibly with spacers made out of PVC pipe.

It's not going to be impossible to rebuild stratos forks, but it is going to be extremely challenging and going to take some resourcefulness. Good luck.

Yeah, stratos had some good damping cartridges based on sound principles (which hasn't always been the case for the bigger manufacturers), but they fell behind in so many other areas, then there were the QC/design issues, then there was the squandering of resources and simply many bad business decisions. Once you get a few pages into this thread, you see the real picture. It starts off with simple conjecture and assumptions. http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165385&highlight=stratos
 
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