# Stroke me, IRD style



## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

Just picked this one up in Asheville over the weekend. Always wanted one of these so it was a good pick-up. IRD parts include Ti Expedition fork, Rotary brakes, post, Bullseye keeper and stem. Missing bars and seat quick release? Might have an extra set of bars. Needs a little love and a few parts changed out but should be a good addition to the collection.

Still looking for a Stroker with the 220mm arms.


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## eastcoaststeve (Sep 19, 2007)

Holy cow Jeff...never would have thought you could dig up so many cool bikes out of the N. Carolina woods.

As a guy with a soft spot for the oddball stuff I really dig it:thumbsup:



Steve


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## bushpig (Nov 26, 2005)

I am so jealous about that one. One of the top 10 in your collection in my opinion.


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

Radical. Had a pair of Rotaries, but, lacking a frame with U-Brake mounts, never tried them out. Would be amazing to try a bike with the long crank arms, too.


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## datawhacker (Dec 23, 2004)

Not too many IRD bikes around these days with the full gruppo.

I haven't seen too many rotary brakes up front. The last one I tried was a bit iffy because of the short travel before the cam pops out.

My favorite comment from a guy racing a Stroker with 222mm cranks was that "his knees hit his chest when he was pedaling"


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

eastcoaststeve said:


> Holy cow Jeff...never would have thought you could dig up so many cool bikes out of the N. Carolina woods.
> Steve


Bike was actually from Atlanta but they were visiting relatives in NC.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

datawhacker said:


> I haven't seen too many rotary brakes up front. The last one I tried was a bit iffy because of the short travel before the cam pops out.


Rotary seems like a not-so-good idea on a flexy fork? Having the mounts so close to the crown might help some?


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## IF52 (Jan 10, 2004)

First Flight said:


> Bike was actually from Atlanta but they were visiting relatives in NC.


Original owner named Max by chance?


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

IF52 said:


> Original owner named Max by chance?


Not sure, we got it from Josh.


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## abaris (Feb 13, 2010)

So Why Isn't stuff like this on "American Pickers"?


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## unicrown junkie (Nov 12, 2009)

Was never fond of the Rotaries, but the Progressive U's, now that's a U-brake! Just pulled out my old Switchbacks last night to see if they can be converted easily into linear pulls, but doesn't look like it.

This is one nice bike indeed. Another fine job, First Flight. And many thanks for the great Mtn Goat T shirts you sell, I love mine!


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## WickedPhatChance (May 28, 2011)

I'm having a flashback on those brake pads...were they called Aztecs or something like that? Used to run those back in the day, but memory is fading...


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## MABman (Oct 5, 2008)

I believe they called the one like that with 190mm cranks the "Semi" Stroker. Super nice example but that rotary brake on that fork is definitely overkill, like send you over the bars and kill you. I had a "Full" Stroker but it now rests in the Rockies.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

WickedPhatChance said:


> I'm having a flashback on those brake pads...were they called Aztecs or something like that? Used to run those back in the day, but memory is fading...


Kool Stop pads on this one. We still sell Aztec pads here at the shop.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

MABman said:


> I believe they called the one like that with 190mm cranks the "Semi" Stroker. Super nice example but that rotary brake on that fork is definitely overkill, like send you over the bars and kill you. I had a "Full" Stroker but it now rests in the Rockies.


Would still love to find a full with the 220mm cranks to add to the collection.


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## rockychrysler (Aug 9, 2003)

Were all Strokers originally painted the same color? I've seen 3. All the same blue.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

since Rod seemed to be more of a machinist, did he hire someone to weld these up?


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## bushpig (Nov 26, 2005)

That was the standard color. Coral or something. Ray Baldwin was the torch man.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

rockychrysler said:


> Were all Strokers originally painted the same color? I've seen 3. All the same blue.


The magazine test bike was the same color as well. At least it is a neat color.


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## Allard (Nov 8, 2007)

Thats one nice bike! Before Ray joined IRD he welded his own brand of frames... Mombat has got much more info about that!


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## WickedPhatChance (May 28, 2011)

First Flight said:


> Kool Stop pads on this one.


...that's right...KoolStops...it's slowly coming back to me. thanks for clarification.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

Cleaned the bike up and made a few of the parts a little more "correct". The Ti Dye spokes are a little too new but they just matched the frame color too well not to use.
MOMBAT: 1990 IRD Stroker


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

Go to the web page for all 15 pictures, but here are a couple of teasers:


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

That is a "semi-stroker" it had 191mm arms and "only" if I remember a 75* ST angle. the "full stroker" had 221mm arms & a 78* ST angle. 
I talked to Rod Moses last year & he said only five "full strokers" were ever made.
I know Absolute Bikes in Salida has one.......

Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.


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## datawhacker (Dec 23, 2004)

here is Rod's bike with 225mm cranks. My favorite comment from a guy I met who was racing a Stroker back in the day was "your knees hit your chest when pedaling"


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

datawhacker said:


> here is Rod's bike with 225mm cranks. My favorite comment from a guy I met who was racing a Stroker back in the day was "your knees hit your chest when pedaling"


Oh Yeah - BB "rise" instead of BB "drop" as well - got a detail shot of the dropouts? are they Paragon on ones they made?

Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.


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## datawhacker (Dec 23, 2004)

All the IRDS that I've seen had track-style dropouts because of the sub 16" chainstays

here is a semi-stroker


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

datawhacker said:


> All the IRDS that I've seen had track-style dropouts because of the sub 16" chainstays
> 
> here is a semi-stroker


Nope. those are not paragons. I thought they were these: www.paragonmachineworks.com - RearHorizontalRelieved70DegreeOpenerHanger
Which I use often.
I talked to Rod last year as he was looking to get his old F'building jig back together, but the parts were scattered in between Mountain Bike Heaven in Sedona which closed doors after 20yrs a few mths ago, and Joe Murray and Me, but I only have one piece from the original IRD jig, a 1 3/8" downtube block.........

Steve Garro. Coconino Cycles.


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

Thanks for posting this!
I really love the spirit of experimentation in these bikes, the way they Rod had an open mind about everything that people just took for granted. "Bikes have 175mm cranks, a 72-ish seat angle and 70-ish head, and 18" chainstays (at the time)." "You have a choice of cantilevers, U-Brakes, or maybe rollercams. There are no other types of brakes." "Bikes do not have rear suspension." "A seatpost is a piece of tubing that you bolt a seat onto. If you need to put the seat down, get off the bike and adjust it." "Suspension forks have brake dive." Apart from materials, all of his stuff was totally out there. I would love to ride one of the long-crank bikes.
Apparently Zinn makes super-long cranks with external bearings. Maybe somebody would like to do a modern incarnation of one of these machines...


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

uphiller said:


> Maybe somebody would like to do a modern incarnation of one of these machines...


A 29er one would be cool!

Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Steve,
Did you ever have any saddle time on one?


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

coconinocycles said:


> A 29er one would be cool!
> 
> Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.


I thought of that- 15.75" stays, a shifted-forward seat tube, and a big rear wheel. Chainline is a serious issue, though. Back when drivetrains were only 6 or 7 speeds out back, more was possible.
Also, with the very high bb coupled with a 29er, your center of gravity would be HIGH.


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

jeff said:


> Steve,
> Did you ever have any saddle time on one?


 Just riding one around - Sean Gillis who owns Absolute Bikes in Salida, Co. was big into IRD back then & he had a full-stroker and a full suspention one and Wade from Vulture Cycles worked for Sean in Flagstaff at the time and was my roomate as well, we worked at competing bike shops. Wade really liked the stroker and rode it allot so I would pick it up from time to time to check it out but it seemed like you needed to ride it all the time to be eeerrr........ "safe" on it - not that it was sketchy - it was just *that* different from whatever else was out there, and at the time I was way into my Ibis bikes with different sized wheels (20x24, 24x26) or my Yo-Eddy so I was into a totally different vein..........it seemed like a better one speed then a geared bike to me, not much for high cadence.

Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

uphiller said:


> I thought of that- 15.75" stays, a shifted-forward seat tube, and a big rear wheel. Chainline is a serious issue, though. Back when drivetrains were only 6 or 7 speeds out back, more was possible.
> Also, with the very high bb coupled with a 29er, your center of gravity would be HIGH.


Oh, it would take more then just swapping wheels - it would be 0 bb drop rather then BB rise, for example.......I would stretch the CS lenght to at least 16.75".......likely best as a one-speed.

Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles.


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

Or something like this with an 80mm wide bb, 15.25" stays, 16 bb height and 160mm rear hub.


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## vulture (Jan 13, 2004)

It has been fun to read this thread and look at the pictures of the Strokers. Like Steve said, I rode one of these a lot, in many forms. It totally sucked to ride until I put some rise bars on it, the bb was super high like 14.5" and with long legs you have to imagine the seat height was in low earth orbit. I rode it mostly with 222's but they broke and i went to 202's after that. The bullseye BB sucked and required constant work, even with the IRD keeper kit. I had IRD ti forks and they were so flexy that I broke axles in front hubs until I went to a wide flange WTB hub. The rotary brake was cool in the desert(mostly) but once when riding in Colorado on(something) gulch outside of fort collins I had to disconnect the damn thing because small pebbles from stream crossings would get stuck in the cable groove in the brake and bind it up. When I moved to Bend I had it set up as a singlespeed with the 202's and the IRD remote seat QR, so it was funny to have a shifter on the bars but only as a singlespeed. The Stroker is why I started to build frames, I was talking to Rod about the bike in 95ish and he offered to sell me his framebuilding stuff. I wasn't in a position to buy it, but I had a friend who was and it all came to flag and I built my first four frames on the IRD jig. Because of the stroker, I will pass on super long cranks thanks, no bullseye stuff for me, Forks that bolt together don't interest me, but it did make me interested in building frames and experimenting. A great museum piece, but bikes ride so much better now.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Youngs Gulch or Hewlets Gulch. Both have dozens of crossings.


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## rockychrysler (Aug 9, 2003)

vulture said:


> It has been fun to read this thread and look at the pictures of the Strokers. Like Steve said, I rode one of these a lot, in many forms. It totally sucked to ride until I put some rise bars on it, the bb was super high like 14.5" and with long legs you have to imagine the seat height was in low earth orbit. I rode it mostly with 222's but they broke and i went to 202's after that. The bullseye BB sucked and required constant work, even with the IRD keeper kit. I had IRD ti forks and they were so flexy that I broke axles in front hubs until I went to a wide flange WTB hub. The rotary brake was cool in the desert(mostly) but once when riding in Colorado on(something) gulch outside of fort collins I had to disconnect the damn thing because small pebbles from stream crossings would get stuck in the cable groove in the brake and bind it up. When I moved to Bend I had it set up as a singlespeed with the 202's and the IRD remote seat QR, so it was funny to have a shifter on the bars but only as a singlespeed. The Stroker is why I started to build frames, I was talking to Rod about the bike in 95ish and he offered to sell me his framebuilding stuff. I wasn't in a position to buy it, but I had a friend who was and it all came to flag and I built my first four frames on the IRD jig. Because of the stroker, I will pass on super long cranks thanks, no bullseye stuff for me, Forks that bolt together don't interest me, but it did make me interested in building frames and experimenting. A great museum piece, but bikes ride so much better now.


the first image is cross-posted from 'vintage helmets'


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## vulture (Jan 13, 2004)

Here is a pic of an old IRD catalog I found in the shop. Super funny and cool. First Flight, do you want it?


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## coconinocycles (Sep 23, 2006)

vulture said:


> Here is a pic of an old IRD catalog I found in the shop. Super funny and cool. First Flight, do you want it?


I have a 1983 one-off titanium one & a 1984 stumpjumper one as well & you can have those, too.
- Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

Always looking for old literature to add to the archives. We can scan them in and post them to the appropriate web pages.
First Flight Bicycles
216 S. Center St.
Statesville, NC 28677

Thanks!


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

Found an IRD Remote Quick Release mechanism and decided to install it on the Semi Stroker. Added a Hite Rite and actually found a Suntour thumb shifter that had already been modified (shortened) as per the original instructions so we put it all together. Never work on one before but finally got it tweaked to where it actually works:thumbsup: Couple of new pictures:


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## First Flight (Jan 25, 2004)

.....an yes, Rod's original instructions called for three wraps on tape on the top tube so we aren't 100% correct


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## IF52 (Jan 10, 2004)

So, I'm pretty sure that bike originally belonged to a customer of mine named Max, as I suggested in an earlier post. Not many if any other IRDs floating around ATL back in the day so I am pretty certain that is Max's bike. Anyway, he sold me the remote QR off of it in 1990, which is why you didn't get that bike with one, and I then sold it to somebody on this forum, I think Pinguwin maybe??? The Hite Rite that came with it was the short version, and the shifter was not like that one. It was more like a later 80s XCD maybe, and was left full size, not trimmed off. Whoever I sold it to could tell you.

And zip ties held the housing to the top tube, not tape.

Oh, and as built new the shifter was on the left.


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