What ever happened to Formula Bikes?

[scant]

charcoal, with big "emmelle" decals?

 

[gingernuts/badger]

deb

ms murrel used to (still might) live in the lovely calderdale town that roly lived in mythromroyd.

and her ex team full susser formula was on the bay lasy year or the year before.
me n brian were looking at it i think....

 

[stevet1]

Hmm would have liked to have seen that, how much did it make?

Jez - how about a funky jigsaw pattern or has that been done?
Steve.

 

[scant]

ta for info & glad you're still watchin this forum neil

 

[Rich]

Even though they had the carbon main frame (and 531 rear triangle methinks) I reckon they were still pretty heavy...about the 25lbs mark or something..still, quite a bike to behold!

Jez, how about a pearlesant paint job??? That would look cool!

Rich

 

[jez-4-bikes-max]

yeah - pearly....I have some brochures from mercia and they do a purple green flip flop. Would that look ghastly?

 

[scant]

Burkes (sp?) bikes in wellington still open rich? Have fond memories of upper hutt & makara peak (probabily massively spelt all those wrong

still havent measured that steerer Jez

 

[jez-4-bikes-max]

Go on boy - if it exceeds 5" I will be impressed

Thats all I need.... :shock:

 

[Rich]

Hi Scant,

Don't think so dude...only decent bike shop I know of is Penny Farthing Cycles in Welly...good news is Pacey arrived yesterday ready to be rebuilt with the RC30's that I bought from Jez...boy, I can't wait to ride these hills...photos to come soon no doubt

Jez....The flip flop thing went out with a Flock of Seagulls..don't do it dude!

Rich

 

[john]

Back on topic there's a thread on MTBR currently with some details on Formula. To quote

No its my mate that does. I knew Peter the top dog manager for a time. Probably wouldn't recognise me now. And Jim who was running the bike show left for a job at McLaren
in Woking last I heard. We are talking about 15 years ago.

DPS who built the bikes started out making, and still do, carbon fibre parts for the motorsport industry. Formula 1, Indy Car, Touring cars, Rally Cars etc. They knew a few of the Formula 1 drivers mountain biked so decided to build up some bikes for them. Great way to launch a product in the pits of a Formula 1 race. This then transpired into a full on deal selling to the public and a race team. They then released a FS model which was pretty ahead of its time. You can see a small picture with a funky paint scheme on their website www.dpscomposites.com. The elevated chainstay design was was a carbon fibre monocoque with a Reynolds steel rear end. I forgot what it came with but hopefully the magazine article I'm getting can bring me up to speed.

I lived and worked around the corner and often wandered in to bother Jim about getting a good deal on ti bolts. Then worked there part time as a kid helping out.

Also got to go to LeMans and wander around the pits drawling over the carbon fibre slayed McLaren F1's. They were sponsored by Harrods at the time and I think they came in second or third that year after leading the race for a while.

I'll dig out the pictures.

Anyway, thats what I call a super hijack of a thread!