Monday, March 16, 2009

X-IT Designs #2

Sure, you're familiar with damper adjustability at the base of your suspension fork legs now...but where did that come form originally?
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X-IT Designs.
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Yup, Frank Vogel designed, and then provided (for a small license fee I'm sure) to Rock Shox.
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Remember that the original Judy had internal damper cartridges which were adjustable via a small hole in the damper fixing cap screw at the base of the damper leg. Well, this little beauty (pictured) was the original Judy Nipple, a replacement for the damper cap screw that featured a permanently fitted allen bolt with a handy little knob. These were aftermarket goodies available from QBP for a while, until Rock Shox took control and fitted a version of their own to newer Judy forks. I could tell you more, but then the lawyers would hunt me down...
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X-IT also made little adaptors for tool-less adjustment of Marzocchi Bomber dampers, called 'Bomber Buttons', and also full aluminum top caps called 'Hard Hats' to replace the brittle nylon jobs on Judy forks. Hard Hats were also available through QBP, I think, although Bomber Buttons didn't catch on...and Marzocchi was already moving toward a tool-less damper adjustment knob of their own. I don't have any Bomber Buttons, or Hard Hats, but you see Judys for sale every once in a while with full aluminum top cap assemblies fitted, and I'm not aware of anyone else making them, so I'd say that those floating around out there are Hard Hats.
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