Amp Research B4 1997 - updated on progress 1.6.10

[RockiMtn]

Nice work! You should be proud of your efforts and dedication!

 

[dyna-ti]

Very nice.I thought id seen the last of C2's.Are yours working ok?pistons retracting fully?

 

[Benandemu]

Thanks for the kind comments.

The brakes are fine and quite adequate, although a little fade was experienced on a mega downhill in the lakes, which meant fish-tailing down with just the rear to allow the front to cool a little! That was interesting (read bloody scarey).

Funny the Thomson stem is mentioned. I actually bid on 2 last week, but they were over budget. Money has been poured into a house move rather than little extras on bikes. I also realised how good Black cranks and rings look when I put my Cook Bros cranks on it only yesterday to determine where creaking was coming from. It turned out to be loosened bottom bracket bearings.

It's kind of ended up pretty through its function, as everything was initially selected for its quality and form.

A Black stem and possibly big ring are on the cards though...

 

[Hazer]

Hey Benandemu -

I just want to say thanks. Both to you and a guy here named B3. He fabed adapters for me.

But because of your suggestion to thread the boss and use a button bolt vs. reversing the pivot and bushing, I was saved.

I couldn't get out the old pivot boss for the life of me. As I didn't want to risk bending the dropout, I search for alternatives.

The only difference between our setups is that I was able to repurpose one of the button bolts that the F4 linkage forks uses. I had an old one from a rebuild. Anyway it's not M6 strangely enough, but 3/4 SAE. I like it because its head is much wider than others and seems to have an even flatter profile.

I'm almost done with my B5, Crank Bros Cobalt with Avid BB7 setup, but will post pics soon.

 

[RAFbikes]

That really does look good mate, I'm working on an MB4 at the minute the Mercades Benz version of this frame, I thought mine was a '97 but it has the later CNC'd dropouts, is your's definitely a '97?

Staf.

 

[Benandemu]

I'm Glad my ideas have been useful for other Amp owners. I sold the frame to Gadro and the brakes went to ishaw on here shortly after these photos were taken. I had to trim the collection down and both my Amps took the hit!
And to answer the question on it's age - yes, it's a '97, but has replacement chainstays as they snapped on one of it's first outings in '98. I also switched over the seatstay for a 'canti free mount' version to better accomodate the Risse shock. The parts used were later versions.
Incidentally, both Amps made way for my '99 Marin Mount Vision Pro which is far more advanced and stronger from an engineering perspective. Although I'm struggling to pull the weight as low! I'm sub 25 lb now, but can't match 23 for the B4.