From The Kneeslider:
Magpul Ronin – Possible Limited Production for Buell 1125R Based Special
by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 3/22/2010
Remember the Magpul Ronin, the modified Buell 1125R we showed you back in January? Magpul was pleased with the response from readers and they've further refined their prototype with the intention of exploring limited production. Grady Barfoot of Magpul, sent over some new photos and they look better than the bike we saw earlier. The Magpul designed girder front suspension, a Magpul linkage fork with Penske coil-over monoshock, and front mounted radiator dramatically change the appearance of the Buell and according to Magpul, improves the steering, as well. I think the design changes look right, if it works as well as the appearance leads you to believe, this could be an interesting special. Your response here will have an influence on whether they go ahead so be sure to add your thoughts.
Read more and see more pics at the link.
A note about "girder" forks:
I've read a lot of comments concerning this bike claiming that "girder" forks don't belong on sport bikes. The writers of these comments are obviously thinking of ancient technology that was replaced by modern fork tubes decades ago.
The kind of "girder" forks this bike uses are nothing like the ones of decades ago. The linkage system resembles double A-arm suspension that is standard on sport cars. The shock the A-arms support is identical to standard shocks used in sportbike rear suspension today.
I don't know how well this particular suspension was designed, but modern "girder" forks have one big advantage over fork tubes. The fork legs on modern "girder" forks are much wider front-to-back than side-to-side. That means that they can be tuned to be very stiff front-to-back and up-and-down, but flex side-to-side. That means that the fork legs can flex when the bike is leaned over, providing better front wheel traction and reducing chatter in a turn.
This particular design uses aluminum for the fork legs. A much better material to use for this application is carbon fiber, because its flexibility can be tuned more precisely, and because it absorbs shock much better than aluminum.
The material we commonly call "carbon fiber" is actually a composite made by suspending fibers made of carbon in a polymer (plastic) matrix. Think of bricks made with mud and straw. The mud is the matrix. The straw is the fiber.
Carbon fiber is a good shock absorber because the fibers act like tiny springs and the polymer matrix acts like a damper. This is why most aluminum frame racing bicycles today use carbon fiber forks and seat stays.
The Britten bike used a concept similar to what I'm talking about.
The best combination of materials for a "girder" fork - I think - would be aluminum legs with pre-stressed carbon fiber inserts. Of course, that would probably be much too expensive.
