# Amp Research



## Preston67 (Mar 20, 2008)

A few times over the years I've searched for Amp bikes in this forum and have always been surprised I haven't seen any chatter about them. Back in the 90's my buddy showed up with the Mongoose version of this bike and his riding instantly improved 10% over the his old full rigid. I had one 2 weeks later ! I then owned a custom boutique version called a Dagger, and then bought a 1999 B5 (carbon stays and fork legs !) as a dream bike before realizing a year later it was hopelessly out of date for hucking large. Back in the day though we thought they were awesome and took them on rides that I still consider epic today. Hey, we were young !

I think in fact I may have bought one of the last ones available as a year later I called them up and they were no longer selling bikes at all.

I've been holding on to this for a long time but I'm finally tired of it taking space in the garage. I've realized I"m not a collector as I ended up trashing out my beloved 2001 Big Hit one day when the shock puked oil, although I'm still holding onto the vintage Monster T fork.

Anyway, I am selling this. I have no idea what its worth although there are is one on ebay with a buy it now price of $3500 ?????? WTF ?

I'll take a lot less than that ha ha.

Here is my MTBR classified
1999 Amp Research B5 with f4 fork - Buy and Sell Mountain Bikes and Accessories

hint: you can also find it on a worldwide popular auction site if you prefer to bid there.


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## ameybrook (Sep 9, 2006)

Here's a version of the AMP bike built by Ted Wojcik.



I think the AMP Research bikes get a bad rap as we look back on suspended MTBs. As the X-games generation became consumers, they wanted to go bigger, and the AMP bikes were just not designed to be huck machines. Everyone remembers them for weak pivots and being flexy when pushed, but no one remembers them for being one of the very first cross country suspension designs that actually worked as intended.


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## DoubleCentury (Nov 12, 2005)

ameybrook said:


> ...no one remembers them for being one of the very first cross country suspension designs that actually worked as intended.


All the more reason to cherish and keep yours.


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## singletrackmack (Oct 18, 2012)

ameybrook said:


> Here's a version of the AMP bike built by Ted Wojcik.


Man it looks like that fork is really close to the down tube. Guessing it is just the angle of the pic, but it looks like they are touching.


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## ameybrook (Sep 9, 2006)

singletrackmack said:


> Man it looks like that fork is really close to the down tube. Guessing it is just the angle of the pic, but it looks like they are touching.


It's really close. Had to use a spacer beneath the headset race.


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## drag_slick (Sep 24, 2004)

I always wanted a Dagger back in the day.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

I bought an AMP fork for my Salsa but had to sell it unridden for just that reason.


ameybrook said:


> It's really close. Had to use a spacer beneath the headset race.


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## Preston67 (Mar 20, 2008)

Yeah the forks were funky but I remember bragging back in the day that it was the only suspension fork that maintained your wheelbase and head angle under dive. And its true when I first started riding a telescoping fork it felt weird and a bit unsettling. But any weird kinematics were quickly forgotten once you realized the conventional fork actually had damping.


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## milehi (Nov 2, 1997)

drag_slick said:


> I always wanted a Dagger back in the day.


I know where a near new Dagger hardtail is. I bought the Amp F3 fork to flip but passed on the frame. I belive they used the brittle Easton tubing and a odd seat post diameter.


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## phattruth (Apr 22, 2012)

The Amp bikes were great if you were a lightweight XC rider, but if you were a big boy; sooner or later you'd be walking back from your ride with the bike in two pieces. The amp designers never got it right and as a result stopped making them. The rear shocks needed constant rebuilding on top of it. I do admire the design though and I wish they would have made them better as they were a very cool looking bike.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

phattruth said:


> The Amp bikes were great if you were a lightweight XC rider, but if you were a big boy; sooner or later you'd be walking back from your ride with the bike in two pieces. The amp designers never got it right and as a result stopped making them. The rear shocks needed constant rebuilding on top of it. I do admire the design though and I wish they would have made them better as they were a very cool looking bike.


A guy carried one across the finish line at the Vail World's in the Vet DH all tubes entirely sheared at the ht. I seem to remember it was a Mongoose version that had like four little tubes, two tt and two dt but that is a bit foggy and don't quote me on that, unless of course it's true. A photog tried to take pix of it but I vibed him off, seemed like a good idea at the time but would have made the perfect jpeg for this thread.

The first 29" wheeled FS bike was Willits built in 99' after some research in to current suspension design and in order to showcase the possibilities of the 29"er at IB that year, and was also Wes's first FS build btw, was based on the AMP design mainly because we could buy a crown and add the legs that were the right length which kept the bike from having a Manitou 700c on it. Other than being a bit noodly, but in a good way, was a great trail bike and provided many a memorable ride in CO and UT mainly.

It was speced with a Risse shock which worked great but the front fork needed maintenance on a regular basis but parts from AMP were readily available back then. To this day I still prefer a p fork actually but the one I have been using for the last 10 years has a better annular bearing setup and shock with at least an attempt at dampening that is easy to maintain.

View attachment 1095846


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## Procter (Feb 3, 2012)

Wow that's some great history


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## Preston67 (Mar 20, 2008)

Yeah thanks for sharing.


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## Stuartfleming (Dec 8, 2010)

The B4 was probably the best looking bike of its time. I would love to have one now but very few were ever sold in my country.


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## super_stein (Mar 2, 2004)

I crashed on an AMP fork at Mt. Snow in the mid-nineties. I came in too hot on a corner and landed in a bunch of trap rock. Post-crash, the fork legs were a tweaked about 20 degrees to one side.


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## DFA (Jan 26, 2004)

There were quite a few smaller companies that built bikes around the ZMP suspension. Rocky Mountain, Dekerf, American...

One of the 5 Best Euphorias built with the B3 system. There were another 5 made with the B4 rear end.


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## hud56 (Nov 9, 2008)

*Dagger" B3 Stealth Bomber"*

Traded a Wolf Crk. Ti frame for this in 1996 (Dave's Recycled Bikes in Santa Cruz,Ca.) Stolen for 1.5 Years in mid 2000's but pulled it out from underneath it's wrongful rider 3 blocks from my house after vowing to my kid's I'd get it back someday. Much sentimental value. I think it should be noted that the founder of Amp Design, Horst Leitner was way ahead of the curve from a design standpoint and if You were on the shy side of 150#'s , very relevant BITD. He also worked on the suspension development of early ATK M/C's when M/X bikes reached 10" of travel and arguably could have stopped. When I saw this thread, I was jazzed and this weekend am re-setting the cockpit w/new fr. shifter and some grips.


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## Preston67 (Mar 20, 2008)

My Amp B5 sold for $800 on ebay ! 

Wow !


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## gregclimbs (Sep 21, 2006)

phattruth said:


> ...and as a result stopped making them.


I think you are a little off...

...and as a result they sold their disc brake to rock shox and sold the patent to their suspension design to specialized.


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