AMP Research

[Pauliemon]

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.

 

[Maxacceleration]

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.

 

[SKPC]

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..

 

[Maxacceleration]

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

 

[SKPC]

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.