What do you do with the suspension at 20 below? I can't picture an elastomer squishing or oil flowing. Or is it all in the tires?


The Amp is one of the few bikes around here where the suspension still works at 20 below (and colder).

Conventional oil telescopic forks do not work much below zero -- at least, not until you hit a pretty good bump and blow the seals out of them, then they actually work pretty well, due to the cold-induced viscosity of the little bit of remaining oil in them creating a damping action through friction on the moving parts. Some riders keep a set of winter forks just for that purpose -- blown seals, just enough oil in them to keep them from grinding themselves to bits.

Elastomer forks just stay completely rigid until the weather warms up.

The Amp front suspension is different -- it is all linkages and springs, with two very small damping shocks mounted externally. These dampers are of the air/oil type (don't know exactly how they work, but it is not through restricting oil flow through a small orifice, they make a hissing sound as the air does the damping) and they work in the cold.

The rear suspension is more of the same -- lots of linkages, pivot pins, and bushings, controlled by an air-damped shock. The shock that came with the bike is worthless -- knowledgeable AMP buyers generally remove it and drop it in the trash as they're wheeling their new bike out the door of the bike shop and replace it with the Risse shock that is on my bike. It is a $200 shock, and the difference in performance and reliability is amazing. It is adjustable in damping, rebound, and spring rate. In three years I have not even had to adust the air pressure in it (abut 160 PSI if memory serves).

The downside to al this high-tech is that it is all high-maintenance. It probably costs me $200-$250 a year to keep the bike running. All those pivot pins and bushings wear quickly and expensively, and have to be replaced. The brakes cost me about $35 a year for brake pads and occasional caliper overhauls at $40. (Hydraulic, remember?) The front dampers have to be sent off to AMP for rebuild every other year when the seals fail (possibly cold weather contributes to that) at $40 each. Then there's normal wear and tear -- tires, tubes, chains, cables, chainrings, the occasional bottom bracket assembly, wheel bearings, etc.

I'm not the kind of maintenance freak who thinks that all the bearings have to be removed, cleaned and re-greased every time the bike is ridden in the rain. In fact, just the opposite: Ride it 'til it breaks, and then fix only what's broken. It doesn't make sense to me to spend an hour of my time doing preventative maintenance on 80 cents worth of wheel bearings. Bike parts are cheap -- it's just that on this bike, there are so damn many of them that it does add up in the end.

tanstaafl.