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Last Post 08/12/2014 10:01 AM by j t. 10 Replies.
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ChinookPass

Posts:809

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08/08/2014 10:41 AM
I think these softride parts and frames live forever. They are always popping up where you least expect them.



Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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08/08/2014 10:44 AM
"Suspend the rider, not the bike."



Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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08/08/2014 01:17 PM
"One from the vaults"
Keith Richards

Posts:781

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08/08/2014 01:41 PM
lol....ah, I remember that marketing phrase! The regional rep kept asking me to work for him back in the 90s.

The irony is they had it totally backward. You want unsprung weight kept to a minimum. On modern bikes unsprung weight is limited to the wheels. On Softrides it was the whole bike. Not ideal by any stretch.
----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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08/09/2014 09:35 AM
Nice "bar ups"!

Softride "suspending the rider" might have been OK for tri folks, but it was horrendous for serious dirt use.
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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08/09/2014 09:58 PM
Well, it did work well enough for this guy...TWICE!

Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
jmdirt

Posts:775

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08/10/2014 07:28 PM
Those stems came out when I was trying to be a pro, and the Softride, Ritchey, Otis Guy, and Control Tech teams had them on their bikes. You would have had to drop off of a house to get them to move. Those guys knew that having your stem bouncing up and down wasn't good. I bet that HD's stem is solid. TF even had a CNC piece of AL instead of the damper (I bet that stem didn't move much). I often wondered why they would have them on their bikes, and the only answer is $. Softride sold a ton of those, and pro riders were part of their advertising.

On a related topic: the Pro Flex guys had CNC AL "elastomers" painted yellow on the rear of their bikes so that they wouldn't get launched to the moon when they hit a bump. Pro Flex actually got really close to figuring it out eventually.
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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08/10/2014 07:38 PM
Well, I was being kinda sarcastic, but that is certainly some interesting background! Too funny about the ProFlex bikes!
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
jmdirt

Posts:775

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08/10/2014 08:31 PM
Remember the Cannondale High Suspension System (or something like that) rear suspension bikes in the early '90s? They used a Girvin Flexstem kinda like the Softride. What ever happened to Girvin/Pro Flex? Did Trek buy and dissolve them?
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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08/10/2014 09:11 PM
Don't remember....I know I spec'd some Girvin Flex Stems on comfort bikes back in the late 90's. Even worked with them on reversing the actuation on them due to a particular HB I was using.
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
jrt1045

Posts:363

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08/12/2014 10:01 AM
I had both a Pro Flex and a Softride, how unlucky was I?

The Pro Flex was straight up junk, I can see why you would replace the rear elastomer with a piece of alum. Wheelbase was like a mile long, too. The other issue was the fork, had a few scary issues with those

Call me crazy, but I actually liked the Softride (got one right after the Crap Flex). It was great for flowy singletrack, you could sit thru the bumps, climbed great, was super reliable and the "suspension" was as good or better as pretty much anything else on the market at the time. Weaknesses?: felt really weird in low speed techy stuff and big hits were not its forte

Thanks for spotting that thing, trip down memory lane
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