I found a really great thread on the Ridemonkey forum last week. I noticed on Statcounter that someone had linked my Pong magic fork post to a thread named “Pictures of old and obscure suspension bikes”, so I followed the link over to check it out. What a great collection of old suspension designs. If you need a reminder of how much suspension has evolved over the last 15 years, spend some time looking at these pictures. For me, viewing this thread brought back a lot of memories. I was working in a bike shop that carried the Trek line when the good old full suspension 9000 came out in the early nineties. At the time, the only suspension bicycle that I had ridden was one of those full suspension Yamaha BMX bikes that a kid in my neighborhood had in the seventies. Compared to that, the 9000 felt OK. The elastomers were not great, but at least they didn’t pogo like a big coil spring. The main thing I remember was that the pedaling really affected the suspension. It wasn’t that great, but I have to admit that I thought it was cool at the time. Luckily for Trek, they jumped on the URT bandwagon in a couple more years. For more pictures and a little history on the Trek 9000 and other vintage suspension designs, check out the museum section of First Flight Bicycles website. If you are ever near Charlotte, NC, you can stop by the shop and see some of the old bikes in person.

Okay, away from suspension talk for a bit. Some of you may have noticed that my posts have been a bit sparse lately. Since I started this blog, I have written these posts quickly during lunch. They have always been hurried (and probably full of errors) but I keep the blog up because I enjoy it. Lately, I have been way too busy to think much about the blog. I have tried to get something quick posted each week, but most of the topics that I really want to cover have been continually slipping. So, I think I need a break from the blog for a while. Maybe a week, maybe two weeks, who knows. I’ll be back sometime, and hopefully I will be recharged. In the mean time, check out some of the excellent blogs that I have listed in the sidebar.