the first Fat Chance Titanium

Here is an article from 1986 about Chris Chance and his Fat Chance titanium,......he was much earlier then most of us would think!

Serotta 1995 catalogue

from the year my TiMax was built

the Top 10 MIMTBE: Number 8 -> Bontrager

In 1978 Bontrager became attracted to cycling and in 1979 built his first road bike. With his motocross background he was attracted to mountain bike cycling. In 1980 he built his first mountain bike frame and founded Bontrager Cycles in Sunnyvale, California.
In 1984 he cut 700C (ISO 622) 40-hole Mavic MA-2 tandem rims to the circumference of a 26" rim, re-rolling them to create a 32-hole 26" rim.
Bontrager rims were the first lightweight yet strong mountain bike rims, albeit using a profile intended for road racing bicycles. Mavic provided MA-40 MTB rims for some time. Bontrager went on designing lightweight rims, manufactured by Weinmann USA. Several were introduced but never went into high production as the Weinmann plant suffered a fire.
The design of Bontrager frames was based on his studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz and experience as a motocross mechanic. While other manufacturers developed frames out of (oversized) aluminium, titanium, or carbon-fibre, Bontrager's believed steel was not outdated but that its design and production could be improved. Joints could be strengthened by gussets to distribute loads and reduce the weakening of brazing and welding.
He found areas in which joints could be made by bonding and riveting, i.e. the frames made between 1989 and 1994 had cable stops milled out of Aluminum that were bonded and riveted to the top tube. Frames made at Bontrager's Santa Cruz workshop had two-piece seat stays made of larger diameter tubing in the upper area which added torsional stiffness around the brake-bosses, while the smaller tubes in the lower area reduced weight and vertical stiffness of the rear triangle leading to better damping of hits.
Bontrager published articles on bicycle design and construction, ranging from the effects of TIG welding on the tubes to the flaws in the accepted sizing methods of the day.
In 1987 he designed and patented the composite fork crown. This used an aluminum fork crown that clamped the fork blades and the steerer instead of using welds or brazing. This design was used on the Rock Shox RS1 suspension fork, and Bontrager's own rigid fork, the Switchblade.
Bontrager's belief in avoiding heat affection of the tubes led to versions of the Switchblade with bonded and riveted dropouts and brake bosses leading to a fork with no welding or brazing. This retained the strength gained by tempering the tubing.
In 1992 Bontrager Cycles expanded from a one-man shop to a limited production facility. In 1993 they started to produce handlebar stems. In 1995 Bontrager's business partner, Hans Heim, left to join Santa Cruz Cycles, and put his share of Bontrager Cycles up for sale. Trek acquired Bontrager Cycles and hired Bontrager as president.

The current BONTRAGER company can be found here: BONTRAGER COMPONENTS




The top 10 -> MIMTBE

Elephant parade

The last couple of weeks Elephants took over Amsterdam.
112 Elephants were placed throughout the city and this morning i drove through the Westerpark and saw all the elephants in 1 spot,...

ELEPHANT PARADE AMSTERDAM
5 september - 31 oktober 2009
From September onwards, a hundred full size art elephants will swarm the streets of Amsterdam: together, they form a remarkable open-air exhibition, the Elephant Parade, that is dedicated to the Asian elephant. After the successful editions in Rotterdam and Antwerp, the exhibition in Amsterdam will be the largest so far.

The Elephant Parade is founded by father and son Mike and Marc Spits. With their project, they aim to raise attention for the Asian elephant, that is threatened with extinction. Their project has proven to be succesful: the first two editions of the Elephant Parade, held in Rotterdam and Antwerp, raised a total amount of over 700,000 euro. The benefits of the Elephant Parade are donated to the Elephant Family, the largest elephant charity in the world and was founded in 2002 by Mark Shand. He is a globetrotter, philantropist and writer and maker of the BBC documentary Queen of the Elephants.

Especially for the Elephant Parade Amsterdam, a tour is set out that will lead you along all the elephants that are located at several hotspots in the Amsterdam city centre: Museum Square, Spui, Westermarkt, Koningsplein, Kalvertoren…

Many celebrities are supporting this project and are designing an elephant for the parade

Elephant Parade