• This topic has 32 replies, 23 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by SirHC.
Viewing 33 posts - 1 through 33 (of 33 total)
  • Where are the British aftermarket suspension guys?
  • kimbers
    Full Member

    Looking to upgrade my Yaris

    Already got a luftkappe in there (Canadian)

    Fast damper is supposedly da bomb. (French)

    Novyparts splug damper & their version of the luftkappe, Similar (French)

    Crconcepcion offer damper and spring kits (again France)

    There’s at least one German company who’s name escapes me that make drop-in dampers too.

    Avalanche stuff is great and they offer some impressive cartridges (American)

    There’s a Push damper & coil option (American)

    MRP ramp control is also an option , tho not so complicated (American)

    Only UK company is TFT and they do offer a pike coil conversion but that’s just a spring and a bumper.

    Where are the British guys tinkering in their sheds With CNC machines & shim stacks?

    We have tuning companies like mojo, jtech, TFT, loco? But none of them make something like this.

    nixie
    Full Member

    mojo, jtech, TFT, loco?

    EFA

    mickmcd
    Free Member

    ^^^^^ is that not enough choice

    kimbers
    Full Member

    There’s plenty of choice

    Im more than happy to get a novyparts splug

    Just wondered why there’s no UK companies making something similar, there’s 3 french ones I know of!

    wiggles
    Free Member

    Mojo/chris is working on stuff apparently. Now they are seperate from the fox place

    Looking to upgrade my Yaris

    shortbread_fanylion
    Free Member

    ^^^^ 😆

    kimbers
    Full Member

    Don’t mock the Yaris

    Remember channel4s Dogging Tales ?

    This guy had one #livingthedream

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Good question.

    I know a small UK firm will shortly be launching a luftkappe alternative but you’d think it’s something we’d have more of already.

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    J-tech makes some stuff I think.He used to make an entire damper assembly for boxxers.
    I suspect Mojo Rising will have one or two things soon.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    I suppose without Pace, we no longer have fork manufacturers either really.

    benpinnick
    Full Member

    Yeah but we have pretty much ALL the independent mudguard companies 😉

    zero-cool
    Free Member

    Do Sprung do custom work? Not sure if they modify and machine stuff themselves or just fit
    Prepare stuff from other brands.

    Tom KP

    mickmcd
    Free Member
    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    Because it’s very limited market. UK labour is expensive (less so now), UK sourcing of raw materials is expensive, (more so now) etc etc.

    The question really is why would there be a UK company doing it?

    kimbers
    Full Member

    france, gremany, america seem to have no problems

    I thought we were mtb crazy & great industrious innovators or something

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    They also have a motor vehicle industry.

    As i say, why would you do it in the UK?

    ThePinkster
    Full Member

    Mojo certainly used to do this – I still have one of their original own brand coil shocks in the garage. It’s got more adjusters everywhere on it*.

    Perhaps Chris is planning on going back to that side of things, we can always hope.

    *I may be slightly over exaggerating there but it was very advanced for its age.

    mickmcd
    Free Member

    all the aluminium and titanium comes from the UK via various aerospace sources ,aluminium is via germany titanium via sweden

    As i say, why would you do it in the UK?

    IME some do it for the love and exposure and your awesome pat on the back some make a living at it but your not going to be minted and once your so **** off with it that you wondered why when earning 2 grand a week drawing pictures is much easier for someone else. some things we make an absolute loss on but are pretty cool

    I thought we were mtb crazy

    correct

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    It’s an already flooded market so what would we be bringing to the party? Suspension is not exactly a dark art, so the guys already in the market are pretty much already cutting edge with no real chink in the market. So unless you’re going to offer similar products a lot cheaper (we can’t do anything cheap in the uk) or something superior (not really possible the current chaps already do it as best as it can be done) then what are you offering? It would cost you a whole chunk of cash to buy your way into the market so extremely unlikely to survive.

    And in this market anyone who comes to the party gets shouted down with BS about ‘What’s wrong with he current stuff’ and “that’s all we need, more new standards’, or ‘bloody marketing men trying to push something on us we don’t need or want’. We don’t come across as the most open minded and accepting bunch so why would anyone risk their mortgage and a roof over their families head trying to sell new products and tech to luddites?

    mick_r
    Full Member

    Because the vast majority of riders are perfectly happy with the performance of standard forks? So any remaining market interest is a niche of a niche and not financially viable.

    What do you expect this upgrade to do to your Yari? Would many other riders even notice the improvement if you did a blind comparison?

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    As i say, why would you do it in the UK?

    IME some do it for the love and exposure and your awesome pat on the back. some things we make an absolute loss on but are pretty cool[/quote]

    True enough there are a few one man band types, and I’m sure you’d find them if you knew where to look/ask, commercially though that tends not to be viable, one off stuff is very difficult to do at an acceptable price point.

    Also i should say, I can’t see any reason you wouldn’t do it in the UK, I can however see plenty of possible difficulties and more to the point I can’t see any specific benefit to being UK based, so no reason why there should be someone doing it here, given the UK market is maybe (complete guess) high 10s low 100s of units a year.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    What do you expect this upgrade to do to your Yari?

    I had a luftkappe in my pike (both 160mm) and it had just the right balance of plush, without diving too much, even with a luftkappe I can’t get the Yari sitting up enough without it getting too harsh and I’ve not done any racing or super fast stuff on it yet either.

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Yeah but we have pretty much ALL the independent mudguard companies

    😆

    manlikegregonabike
    Free Member

    Nitron needs to join the game

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Because it’s very limited market. UK labour is expensive (less so now), UK sourcing of raw materials is expensive, (more so now) etc etc.

    The question really is why would there be a UK company doing it?

    On the other hand, the kind of work we’re talking about is not very labour intensive, uses small amounts of material and requires very specific technical knowledge – which independent UK suspension tuners do have.

    And the market is not saturated, as someone else claimed, if you want a Luftkappe you have to pay about £70 (possibly plus fitting) to TF at the mo. I’m not aware of any alternative currently available but I wouldn’t be surprised if more than the one tuning company I know about is working on them.

    VanHalen
    Full Member

    isnt this what chris porter / mojo mk2 will likely be? i`m pretty sure he alluded to something along this line in his interview following the split from fox.

    simonloco
    Free Member

    Best bet would be JTech TBH, although with small amount build runs & the time designing & testing to sell not many it’s not that financially beneficial to do & no one is making a fortune to start with..

    russyh
    Free Member

    I love the idea of a uk based company making suspension upgrades liek the Luftkappe. Its a great little bit of kit and i desperately want another for my new forks but always wince at the £70 especially as they are bought over from Canada so the cost could be cheaper int he uk.

    scottfitz
    Free Member

    Ti Springs counts as a UK aftermarket suspension upgrade company, not that it helps you.

    retro83
    Free Member

    I think part of the reason is that very few people seem to ‘tinker’ any more in Britain…

    I see this all the time in one of my other hobbies which is reef aquarium keeping. There the lighting is very expensive (easily £1K+ for LEDs on a reasonable size tank).

    Often over in the States and in Europe people will tinker with their lighting to improve performance in some way; they do their own soldering, modify heatsinks, change lenses etc. People have posted tear-down guides and so on.

    People then follow the guides and ask where they can get these improved bits, and sometimes it turns out they’ve actually made them in their shed from acrylic, or they know a bloke with a 3d printer or whatever. Over time it by word of mouth it gets popular and becomes a business selling these little bits.

    Yet over here, if i speak to another hobbyist about doing anything like this they look at me like I’m Albert Einstein’s smarter brother just because I’ve undone four torx screws and had a look inside. I don’t get it.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    retro83 – Member
    I think part of the reason is that very few people seem to ‘tinker’ any more in Britain…

    I dunno if that’s true, I work for a company that builds fixed rigs for TV shows, pretty much everything that leaves the door is tinkered with to the Nth degree! The 3D printer doesn’t stop some weeks!

    scruff
    Free Member

    What’s that shock that’s based on tank suspension? Pretty sure that’s UK based, even if it’s still work in progress.

    SirHC
    Full Member

    scruff – Member
    What’s that shock that’s based on tank suspension? Pretty sure that’s UK based, even if it’s still work in progress.

    https://www.instagram.com/allenmillyard/

    Jedi level fettler!

Viewing 33 posts - 1 through 33 (of 33 total)

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