Wednesday, August 26, 2009

911 concept



Years ago I was watching a documentary on Porsche. The engineer they were speaking with explain the 911 design philosophy like this: "We are going to take the 911 as far as we can within the given design concept, that being a rear engined sports car."
I've been thinking about rigid singlespeeds that way for a while. I want to take the ss rigid design concept as far as I can in racing.
Yeah, I 've strayed a few times this year and relied on the crutch of a suspension fork only to find I still suck at descending, only to end up rigid again.

My original race bike was a steel frame and fork, with 26" wheels, or early 60's 911.


Currently it is a steel frame w/ a carbon fork, so I think that puts me around the late 70's on the 911 design scale. Maybe because it's a 29'er I can claim being in the early 90's due to the larger wheels.



The question is, if I had the wallet, do I really want to take this into the 21st century of design technology?

2 comments:

MMcG said...

The next question would be, if I get the CF Niner would I also have to get the CF Niner fork to match!

It is a vicious cycle I tell ya (no pun on the builder in NY intended).

James said...

I think you might be stuck in the 80's. "Steel is real," Ya, really heavy. At least I have a little carbon to show for. You might not need to refinance your house if you got a Selma. It's a good value except for the clearance issue. Never mind. Just get the Niner with the new fork and be done with it. Can you get me one too?