1986 Slingshot - double cable

My fascination with 80s steel and innovative bikes is pretty obvious, so this 1986 Slingshot fits me well.

The Build: 
Frame: Slingshot, double cable - Cro-Moly
Fork: Chrome tipped cro-mo unicrown
Rims: Araya RM25 hard anodized
Hubs: Suntour XC 
Tires: IRC Racer X1 Pro
Pedals: Suntour XCII
Crank: Shimano FC6206
Chain: Sedis
Rear Cogs: Suntour 6 speed freewheel
Bottom Bracket: Suntour
Front Derailleur: Suntour XC
Rear Derailleur: Shimano M700 "Deer head"
Shifters: Shimano M700 "Deer head"
Handlebars: Alloy, shimmed
Grips: Grab on
Stem: Suntour XC
Headset: GT Epoch
Brake set: Suntour roller cams 
Brake levers: Magura
Saddle: Selle Italia Turbo
Seat Post: IRD
Paint: Red

Bought it as is, so not much to say about the build actually.

I'll see if I can tell more about it later.

Slingshot-4 by Bjørnar Håland, on Flickr

Slingshot-3 by Bjørnar Håland, on Flickr

Slingshot-5 by Bjørnar Håland, on Flickr

Slingshot-2 by Bjørnar Håland, on Flickr

Slingshot-7 by Bjørnar Håland, on Flickr

Slingshot-6 by Bjørnar Håland, on Flickr

Holy moly! This is rad :shock:

Re:

Love this bike.

bonkers - love it! interested to know how it rides?

Thanks!

It’s a very funny bike - it obviously lacks stiffness several places but after trying it a couple of times it feels less scary and more like a bike I can like driving in the woods. First time I rode it I felt like riding a rattle snake.

One cool thing is that the front shifter is mounted Dog Shift (you can decide if the shifters shall be natural or dog shift on Deer head), so flipping the lever down will shift to a larger chainring. Feels good and it’s easy to go fast. Although that is pretty scary when you have to turn...

Great bike, fascinating to look at

Is it a production model or a prototype of some sort?

mark

Re:

Love the looks of these.

Here's some 20"

https://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/search?q=Sl ... r-end=2019

Yes, same maker.

Mine is a 1986, and the mtb version (supposedly) came in 1985, but it doesn’t have a serial number. Makes me think it could be a pre-production model or so. But honestly, don’t know.

Re:

They don't look safe lol, but they do look different and cool.

I'd be worried about snapping the frame in half.

There was a thread on the same site that iirc the slig shot designers son or relation popped up in.

I'm away at the moment but when I get time I'll try and find it.

Here is some more background on the first Slingshot MTB model

The unusual design was pioneered by Mark Groendal of Grand Rapids, Michigan, after he one day in the 70s rode his dirt bike when it broke. He didn't notice it at first, but noticed that his bike became smoother to ride at one point. When he later discovered that the frame actually was broken after a tube snapped, he started thinking that he could construct a frame with similar qualities. The design that eventually worked was a combination of sail boat technology and an old ski. The wires were mounted in the top tube section and mounted with springs in the bottom bracket area, and these wires should hold up massive amounts of force, Groendal said about 1700 lbs each. The ski was cut into small pieces and one piece was mounted in the top of the seat tube section to make a sort of hinge - the ski was flexible the right way and very rigid sideways. The system actually works, although a bit unusual and scary at first. 



This drawing shows the different versions of the Slingshot. Note that mine is a 86 - the 85 have a pretty distinct extra set of seat stays and the tube that the upper cable is mounted on is round in 87. The 86 also have two sets of flat plates accompany the triple top tube and twin spring/cable set up. In 85 there were two sets of round tubes and in 87 there was only one set of flat plates. The top left marked 85 is the 85 BMX frame. I believe that the 85 and 86 model had a flex board painted in the same colors as the bike, but from 87 and later on it was not.



This cool fact sheet from the makers have some funny thoughts. Would love to ride it very hard to see what it's made of, but frankly I would not dare to do so, especially because getting spares for the frame is more or less no way.



Here you can see the decals that it should have. It's the same as on the BMX bikes and looks pretty fast!