Nerd Alert! Rare Structure SCW1 Prototype Bike for Sale

I mean, the frame & fork price is arguably a bit of a bargain (for someone else) for something so unique.

Weird - never heard of this brand until this week when my lad was watching a video about it on YouTube. Now there's one for sale here ?

Still don't want it!

I count At least 38? bearings and bushes assuming that the ones on the lower swingarm are singles and not double blinds or anything daft like that...

yeah, I'll pass thanks.

I like the colour

You could spend half the rest of your life looking for creeks!

That looks more like one of my whippets squatting for a jobbie than the very first Santa Cruz Nomad however many years ago...

I’m saving up for something else, sorry 😉

I'd be interested to know why being the UK Ambassador for the brand requires setting up a ltd company.

Did Simon mean he was going to be UK Distributor?

@woody2000 show it to Gareth, he loved his Whyte!

I kinda dig it, as said on rarity alone it seems a bargain! Remember spotting a PTRS1 on a ride in the lakes years ago and being fascinated/baffled by it.

Stealth ad ?

There have been so many attempts over the years to develop alternative front suspension for motorbikes and mountain bikes, yet we keep coming back to telescopic forks ...

Shaking my pitch fork. Anyone waxing lyrical about a Prst1 has never owned one! I did, worst bike ever!!

There have been so many attempts over the years to develop alternative front suspension for motorbikes and mountain bikes, yet we keep coming back to telescopic forks …

People like their bikes to look like bikes.

Here's the review I mentioned

People like their bikes to look like bikes.

And ride like bikes, too.

I mean, I've no interest in buying the thing but who wouldn't want to take it for a spin, eh?

ooh, my eyes hurt

Oooof, stealthy Addy ;d

And ride like bikes, too.

Interesting point.

It's clear that telescopic forks have some pretty huge disadvantages (and one huge advantage*) that riders have learned to ride around through successive generations of riders.  Also, fork manufacturers have tweaked the design relentlessly for 30 odd years to reduce these disadvantages as much as possible.

It's interesting that whenever someone comes up with a non-telescopic solution people's reactions are so positive.  These solutions are more or less the equivalent of the early elastomer forks and yet people often still feel these other solutions are at least as good. Or at least, the advantages and the disadvantages cancel each other out.

If these designs had 30 years of being optimised I suspect people would look at telescopic forks and wonder how we ever managed to ride those things.

But that's not going to happen, because people like their bikes to look like bikes.

*the huge advantage telescopic forks have is the direct connection from the handlebars to the axle.  Any non-telescopic fork solution is going to have to minimise that loss of connection.  If they'd have had 30 years of design iterations to do so I doubt it would be an issue.

Possibly, but going back 30 years to the examples of non-telescopic forks in those days makes me wonder if it's just a design cul-de-sac.
Telescopic forks work well enough, I suppose.

Every BMW GS owner I know absolutely raves about how good a magic carpet the front suspension is. I've one mate who went from a 1250GS to 5 years on an XR and then recently on to a Honda NT1100 and still complains that neither of the last two are as good at the front as the GS's telelever. We're used to forks as they're cheap, easy to design and you can cludge them, like a 911, to make them less inherently flawed, but fundamentally they're not the best technical solution.

As a former PRST (1 and 4) owner who didn't hate it - if this was a L or XL I'd be buying it in a heartbeat !

Non telescopic forks are probably more relevant now than ever.

Every step away from stabdards and the use of integrated bits and pieces, and the huge prices it kinda makes more sense that you buy a frame and forks as a unit.

Kinda... But then again, rigid single speed here so what do i know...

Telescopic forks work well enough, I suppose.

Yup, For most folks, they're predictable,  easy to service, don't have a gazillion bearing to get sloppy or seized, and will perform as well as most folks require, and in comparison to all the current alternatives; are cheaper. Sure telescopic forks have downsides in theory, but like other theoretical 'bad things' pedal kickback or brake jack, how much that effects the average Joe's enjoyment is debatable.

These things are always interesting, but like alternative drivetrains, they'll always be niche.