I'm sure someone must have tried this..

[Chris Zacho The Wheelman]

I was looking at some of the elaborate methods of attaching rear shocks
to frames, and thought, "Why doesn't somebody just turn the frame into a
shock?" Use a wishbone seat stay attached to a plunger that fits into
the top tube, the body of which makes up the rest of the Shock Absorber?
Sort of like Cannondale's HeadShok. Pivots at the dropouts and at the
top of the wishbone would compesate for changing angles.

This seens to be such a simple and relatively lightweight solution.
SOMEbody must have tried it, so why didn't it work?

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

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[moparfreak]

(Chris Zacho "The Wheelman") wrote in
:

> I was looking at some of the elaborate methods of attaching rear
> shocks to frames, and thought, "Why doesn't somebody just turn the
> frame into a shock?" Use a wishbone seat stay attached to a plunger
> that fits into the top tube, the body of which makes up the rest of
> the Shock Absorber? Sort of like Cannondale's HeadShok. Pivots at the
> dropouts and at the top of the wishbone would compesate for changing
> angles.
>
> This seens to be such a simple and relatively lightweight solution.
> SOMEbody must have tried it, so why didn't it work?
>
> "May you have the wind at your back.
> And a really low gear for the hills!"
>
> Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"
>
> Chris'Z Corner
> http://www.geocities.com/czcorner
>
> --
> rec.bicycles.off-road is moderated by volunteers. To find help
> solving posting problems, or contact the moderators, please see
> http://rbor.org/ Please read the charter before posting:
> http://rbor.org/rbor_charter.txt
>
>
Dude, it did work and it was called the Balfa Belair!!
Hand made in Canada, with an aluminium Front end and 4130 cro-moly rear
end, it was seriously one of the sweetest bikes ever made - had a chance
to test ride one at Mt. Tremblant (Montreal, QC) as part of the Canadian
Bicycle Trade Show in September. Regretfully, I must use the past tense
as Balfa has recently announced that they will close their plant as of
the end of the 2004 cycling season, and may or may not continue to build
bikes out of the Procycle Factory in St. Georges. Their bikes were
innovative and bombproof - literally, their quality was legendary, and
they were dedicated with pride to the riders. May their spirit live on
in the hearts of those who are lucky enough to own one of their bikes

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