Trust Performance Goes Under During Pandemic Shutdowns

[FlatSix911]

It may be the first major casualty in the cycling business this year... an innovative suspension fork with a loyal following.

Out of Business: Trust Performance Goes Under During Pandemic Shutdowns

A perfect storm of collapsing financial markets and manufacturing delays just put this bicycle fork manufacturer out of business.

gearjunkie.com

A perfect storm of collapsing financial markets and manufacturing delays just put this bicycle fork manufacturer out of business. Trust Performance, a manufacturer of innovative bicycle suspension forks, has gone out of business. It marks the first outdoor/bicycle industry casualty of the COVID-19 crisis. Sadly, we expect it won’t be the last.

Master suspension designer Dave Weagle and retail master Hap Seliga (co-founder of Competitive Cyclist) started Trust Performance in 2015. Its debut product, a pivoting suspension design, left some saying it could change the future of front suspension — not just for bicycles, but also vehicles. It didn’t merely change the way front suspension looked and felt, but in our test, it noticeably improved the ride.

 

[Browneye]

Reminds me of the old Greeves and DKW's.

Here's a 1970 DKW I restored for an owner some years ago...

 

[Feliz]

Reminds me of the old Greeves and DKW's.

Here's a 1970 DKW I restored for an owner some years ago...

Beautiful restoration.

Gee, I had forgot about the Greaves forks, I had one on an old Ural bike/sidecar that I restored.

 

[Handlebars]

Reminds me of the old Greeves and DKW's.

Here's a 1970 DKW I restored for an owner some years ago...

Nice work. Since I don't remember motorcycle forks of that type, my reference is to modern suspension additions for seats on our ebikes.

 

[Browneye]

There are a few versions of these strange front suspension systems of the past - even one on the old iron bikes called a 'springer', but others like the bike above were called 'leading link' or 'trailing link'. I can't tell you the exact difference, and I'm not an engineer. Greeves and DKW I'm familiar with, there may have been others as well. Oh yeah...Ural, right?? Seems like a Euro-bloc thing IIRC.

Most didn't like them because they were balky and heavy - not what you really want on the front end of a motorbike. So the conventional telescoping tube type suspension forks came into domination, and eventually got turned upside down - that improved unsprung weight, travel, and made damping effects easier to modulate.

It's sad to see good design exploration get shut down. Maybe someone like Fox will come along and partner with them. Then again, maybe they view it as a threat to their existing business. [shrug]

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

Janus Motorcycles in Indiana features that Leading Link front fork design on their 3 motorcycle models. These motorcycles tick all the right boxes for me, so it's time to save up my spare change! And aside from the Chinese sourced engine & the actual shock absorbers from Ikon (which they get alot of grief about, that engine), everything is made in the USA

 

[Kayakguy]

Trailing link is like the one in the photo, but turned around. Fairly common on motorcycles of the 40s and 50s. Replaced by piston type forks (can't remember the current name for those). The Springer was a Harley with leading forks, still a cool looking m-cycle, though I was never a Harley fan.