# AMP Research



## Pauliemon (Mar 2, 2018)

My son called the other day and said, "hey dad do you want my old mountain bike?".


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## GTs58 (Mar 2, 2018)

So what did you say?   .................


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## Pauliemon (Mar 2, 2018)

GTs58 said:


> So what did you say?   .................  View attachment 762849



I said, "you know this might be worth some money". He said, "how much?. That's pretty much where we left it.


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## MarkKBike (Mar 4, 2018)

I remember seeing those new in the Mountain Bike Action Magazines back in the day. I always liked the was they looked. 
The Syncros Stem, and Blue Easton Seatpost are also pretty cool. I wonder if the break booster is a early Paul.


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## Pauliemon (Mar 4, 2018)

MarkKBike said:


> I remember seeing those new in the Mountain Bike Action Magazines back in the day. I always liked the was they looked.
> The Syncros Stem, and Blue Easton Seatpost are also pretty cool. I wonder if the break booster is a early Paul.



I sold them for a while. They were a little flexy but worth the trade off. The post is a Ringle' Easton. QRs are Salsa and yes a Paul brake booster. I put some heavy parts on it trying to slow my son down. He had been riding a Alpine Stars hardail and all the sudden started kicking my butt. Lucky for me he got his driver's license. After that he gave up mountain biking for girls.


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## gben (Mar 5, 2018)

I remember back in the 90s one of the local bike shops had a new AMP fork hanging on the wall for sale. I am sure it was partially carbon-fiber. I do not think anyone ever bought it. It was just too weird and pricey for most people in an era when Rock Shocks and Manitou and Marozocchi were pumping out tons of forks that were cheaper and worked well.


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## Pauliemon (Mar 5, 2018)

gben said:


> I remember back in the 90s one of the local bike shops had a new AMP fork hanging on the wall for sale. I am sure it was partially carbon-fiber. I do not think anyone ever bought it. It was just too weird and pricey for most people in an era when Rock Shocks and Manitou and Marozocchi were pumping out tons of forks that were cheaper and worked well.



I hear that! The AMP fork really worked well with the AMP frame and the AMP frame really well with the AMP fork. After that, nodda. I started selling Dagger frames that used a conventional front Easton triangle with a AMP rear end. You could run a Rock Shock or Manitou without the AMP geometry. Horst told me he had a proto 11" travel AMP fork for MX that was to costly to produce.


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## Pauliemon (Mar 5, 2018)

Horst Leitner also designed the ATK motocross bike snd the extended tailgate to name a few.


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## Brutuskend (Mar 10, 2019)

I still have a AMP fork kicking around here someplace. Thinking about modding the legs to fit 700c wheels and disc brakes and building a street bomber / commuter .


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## fat tire trader (Mar 21, 2019)

Who and where were the Mongoose Amps built by?


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## Pauliemon (Mar 21, 2019)

fat tire trader said:


> Who and where were the Mongoose Amps built by?



The Mongoose Amplifiers were rebadged AMP Research B2s.







AMP made some bikes for Mercedes Benz also. The Benz models were B5s with more suspension travel, lots-o-carbon fiber and a healthy price tag.




AMP also sold rear ends to other companies. This a Dagger. It had a Easton front triangle. You could build them crazy light.


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## SKPC (Mar 21, 2019)

Nice.   The Horst Link bikes and the Amp rides with the linkage fork was the cats meao setup back in the day.  Big tube triangles with the Horst Link in aluninum you could build up really light.   This Linkage fork design is still relevant, functional and beautiful IMO.


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## fat tire trader (Mar 21, 2019)

I had a Battle carbon tubed aluminum lugged Amp style bike in 93.


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## Brutuskend (Jul 18, 2019)

I still have one of thier forks. I'm toying with the idea of putting it on a old straight bar schwinn frame with a drum brake and making it a super klunker!


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## Brutuskend (Jul 18, 2019)

Pauliemon said:


> The Mongoose Amplifiers were rebadged AMP Research B2s.
> View attachment 968711
> 
> 
> ...



Worked on at least one of those over the years! The Mercedes that is.
BTW, univega spec.ed many of thier bikes with " concept " forks which were re badged AMP forks in the early 90's.


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## cyclingday (Jul 23, 2019)

I built up a GT Dyno Moto 7 with a steel AMP Research fork, and used it as a commuter bike.
The downtube on that frame had a tight little curve just behind the headtube that gave the perfect clearance for the Horst Link unit.
It was my first experience with the Shimano Nexus system.
It and the Amp fork worked flawlessly, for the 15 years that I rode that bike to and from work.
I ended up giving the bike to a friend who wanted to start commuting to work on a bike.
As far as I know, he’s still occasionally rides that bike to work.
At first, I was pretty skeptical of the spindly nature of that fork, but it proved to be more than up to the task.
Tried and true, for sure, by this rider.


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## Vintage Newbie (Aug 7, 2019)

Just stumbled across this recent thread while looking for info on this bike. Rode it in the 90s and just dug it out of my parents house. Wanting to get back into biking and have been seeing a lot of talk about how much better the newer tech is. Definitely don’t think it competes with the minimal looks of this one though. Deciding on if I should rehab it or sell and get something more fitting for a beginner again..?


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## Gladiron (Apr 13, 2020)

Started with a 26 in wheel but a bit too rakey.


So I put on a 24 in wheel with a plus size tire. A bit better but not perfect.



Still experimenting with this frame.


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## Pauliemon (Aug 29, 2020)

It doesn't even come close to what I ride now.


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## GTs58 (Aug 29, 2020)

Pauliemon said:


> View attachment 1257345
> It doesn't even come close to what I ride now.




Holy crap! Look at that clump a gears! Mountain Climber or what?


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## Pauliemon (Aug 29, 2020)

GTs58 said:


> Holy crap! Look at that clump a gears! Mountain Climber or what?



Single front chainring requires lots-o-gears 10-50 12 speed. It allows more room for wider bottom bracket spindles to accommodate suspension designs. Front derailleur are things of the past. But yeah it climbs pretty good. Sram just came out a 10-52 to compete with Shimano's 10-51. I'm heading towards a E Mtn bike. I'm 69 and I can't keep up with my 50 something buddies on the climbs. It has pedal assist.


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## Maxacceleration (Dec 23, 2020)

I still have my bought new '93 Mongoose Amplifier. Bought it as a frameset. Rode it for years. Yup pretty flexy, but at 24.5 pounds I learned smooth riding and sprints. Fast bike. Don't stand and stomp, the front & rear wheels will be out of parallel lol. Sit & spin...
The Horst link is timeless and still used today. Intense had it, Specialized had it (still uses it right? As the ebike above). I think Norco had it for a while.
Specialized had the license on it for years.
My bike was the shiznit for years. XT, Syncros, Rocket Science, Flite saddle, Ritchey skinwalls for years, etc... I also have a Fuji Specialized licensed Horst link bike. I have a Haibike pedal assist which has the Horst link also - it is definitely like cheating.
When I buy a mtn bike, the Horst link is what I look for. 








Before that I had Shogun Prairie Breaker Team Issues... Still do.


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## SKPC (Mar 8, 2021)

Syncros Ti post! ^^^  Nice old original Goose.  The Horst link, while effective at reducing negative pedaling and braking feedback, is slowly disappearing to the wayside because of the new shock technology (platform damping).   Most modern full suspension MTBs'  today
have one-piece rear "triangles" or structures for good reason.  No maintenance, _stiffer,  stronger and simpler_, aided by shock platform_ damping._
These are now pretty standard on most all new MTB's.  The DW Link and VPP designs running off the seat tube/bb junction are clearly superior in every way over the Horst Link design, which solved a problem during an era when suspension technology was in it's infancy.  It comes from F-1 racing designs.     Pedaling and braking feedback, because of the new shock and linkage technology is almost a thing of the past.   The Horst Link rear ends, while effective, will be relegated to the dust bin and soon.   I have run horst link bikes , "single pivot" bikes with fake Horst links (alternative seat stay placement), elevated chain stay bikes,  and almost every other FS design over the years and they are all going by the wayside imo.  Not saying it doesn't work well, it is just not needed any longer.    Dating myself a bit here.
     And back to the amp bikes.....I think that these bikes, if low mile and original, will be _very very _collectable down the line in the vintage mtb circles, as well as all the boutique brand component manufacturers of the day that the bmx crowd still seems to covet.  Why? Most of these bikes were ridden hard and eventually broken by hard-core riders and racers. Very few sat around unridden in garages...If you were committed enough to own one, you rode it hard until it broke! (can you say "aluminum"?    Battle, Dagger, Amp and all the others will be highly desirable if in top notch shape because most were actually ridden into oblivion..


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## Maxacceleration (Mar 8, 2021)

Nice SKPC! My Amp was rode hard, the PNW is wet & muddy. Came in 2nd in a Mtn bike race on it years ago lol. I maintaned it and its still together. Brilliant bike of the day. I hear you on the fake horst link on the seat stays lol - don't know if that cured chatter or not...
I will have to pick your brain sometime on the latest greatest suspension to have.
There are so many designs, I can hardly make sense of any of them. 
Really I am getting old enough, and had enough injury, single track is almost a thing of the past. I do it on a KTM 200 now, but I am fading on single track with it also. Tired roadie too, so Gravel Grinder or 'urban' neighborhood blasts are more fun.
This is where a Schwinn cantilever 26" bike comes in... 14 years old all over again!
Cheers


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## SKPC (Mar 8, 2021)

Yes, you are smart to have kept it intact.  Your twin-downtube Mongoose  has all the good stuff on it and set up just like a few of my race bikes of the day that I kept breaking over and over again.    Seat up, head down, hands over the front hub, steep angles and climbing aid bar-ends. Toe clips and bulletproof Shimano pedals.  I always bought frames and built them up back then.....it was a better time.    These early short-travel FS bikes when built up light to go fast were the cats meow...  At speed, you were living the vida loca.   They are even much lighter than most of the new carbon trail bikes with big wheels and droppers and close to the weight of todays race-specific fs rides that cost 5-10K!!!  Impressed on the condition of yours...you clearly took good care of it and love it so.  Ciao!  pete

Oh, almost forgot, the "fake horst link" did work, but only partially.  My Kona Dawg single pivot rocker bike had the fakie.... Putting the pivot above the axle on the seat stay avoided the patent of the HorstLink, but the brake squat and pedal bob was only somewhat lessened.


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