# Bushido Racing



## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

The picture of the Monolith got me thinking about the first FS bike that caught my eye. I don't know anyone that has ever seen one of these in the flesh but the guy who owns the concept and the site was (is?) certainly a visionary. The bike, as I first saw it in a MBA in like 88', looked just like the one currently on this site.

http://home1.gte.net/racesale/n3_index.htm

Don't forget to check out the carbon seven also.


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Bigwheel said:


> The picture of the Monolith got me thinking about the first FS bike that caught my eye. I don't know anyone that has ever seen one of these in the flesh but the guy who owns the concept and the site was (is?) certainly a visionary. The bike, as I first saw it in a MBA in like 88', looked just like the one currently on this site.
> 
> http://home1.gte.net/racesale/n3_index.htm
> 
> Don't forget to check out the carbon seven also.


Yes, Brian Skinner's Bushido Racer was leaps ahead of anything that was to come (in the next 10 years) with it's gobs of travel. I reall the originals having essentially a motocycle shock mounted different than the current frame - pretty much straight up the "seat tube", but the swingarm is virtually the same.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

*that bushido site is 6 years old...*

and in reality, out of a single old MBA file magazine photo, nobody ever saw a real one.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

ssmike said:


> Yes, Brian Skinner's Bushido Racer was leaps ahead of anything that was to come (in the next 10 years) with it's gobs of travel. I reall the originals having essentially a motocycle shock mounted different than the current frame - pretty much straight up the "seat tube", but the swingarm is virtually the same.


Actually Skinners bike was called the Descender and was a whole different deal. There is one here in CB that I see once in awhile. 5" of rear travel with a rigid fork.....There is a spread of the Descender and Dan Hannebrinks Mtn. Shocker (also rigid fork) in the #1 issue of MBA actually.

I was in contact with Bushido last year through that site. Richard, I believe his name is, is a knowledgable type of guy. We ended up chatting more about where motorized vehicles are going fuel wise than bikes however.

The idea of a bike with suspension front and rear and disc brakes was pretty foreign in 1985 you have to admit.


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Bigwheel said:


> Actually Skinners bike was called the Descender and was a whole different deal. There is one here in CB that I see once in awhile. 5" of rear travel with a rigid fork.....There is a spread of the Descender and Dan Hannebrinks Mtn. Shocker (also rigid fork) in the #1 issue of MBA actually.


I confused those two back then and I confuse them to this day. My bad.


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Bigwheel said:


> The picture of the Monolith got me thinking about the first FS bike that caught my eye. I don't know anyone that has ever seen one of these in the flesh but the guy who owns the concept and the site was (is?) certainly a visionary. The bike, as I first saw it in a MBA in like 88', looked just like the one currently on this site.
> 
> http://home1.gte.net/racesale/n3_index.htm
> 
> Don't forget to check out the carbon seven also.


Here's a blurb on the Bushido and others from a Mountain Bike for the Adventure - remember this one by Hank Barlow? Of course you do. 1987.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

ssmike said:


> Here's a blurb on the Bushido and others from a Mountain Bike for the Adventure - remember this one by Hank Barlow? Of course you do. 1987.


Well, maybe not just like....  A ton of travel, disc brakes, and toe clips, not a popular combo these days! But 17 yrs ago it was I guess, mainly because clipless wasn't even a glimmer on the horizon. The first clipless I ever remember was the Scott system and that was a few years after, more like 89'?


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Bigwheel said:


> Well, maybe not just like....  A ton of travel, disc brakes, and toe clips, not a popular combo these days! But 17 yrs ago it was I guess, mainly because clipless wasn't even a glimmer on the horizon. The first clipless I ever remember was the Scott system and that was a few years after, more like 89'?


That was about the time for the Scott system - once in, you were in. Release was sketchy. Same for the Grafton system. Thanks to Shimano for the 737 - although my first ride resulted is several tip overs - not fun when you are 6'3", that's a long way to fall! I mistakenly tightened the release all that way because that's the way I had it set on my Look road clipless. Unintentional unclipping was a big worry in the early days.


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## jdub347 (Jan 29, 2004)

*Skinner Descender*

I am pretty much a lurker here, but the mention of the Skinner Descender got my attention. I remember a BMX Action magazine article from the mid-80's (mayber '87 or so) on the Descender. If I recall, it used motocross susp/linkage/forks and various other parts. The thing was pretty impressive. I don't remember the travel numbers, but I am pretty sure it was 5" + and that it was running disk brakes.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

*The Skinney on Skinner and a Skinnier Skinner*



jdub347 said:


> I am pretty much a lurker here, but the mention of the Skinner Descender got my attention. I remember a BMX Action magazine article from the mid-80's (mayber '87 or so) on the Descender. If I recall, it used motocross susp/linkage/forks and various other parts. The thing was pretty impressive. I don't remember the travel numbers, but I am pretty sure it was 5" + and that it was running disk brakes.












Sorry about the poor scan but I am having troubles getting a good scan at a kb that this site will accept. This is from MBA #1 BTW.

You will notice that both bikes have under the stay brakes.


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Bigwheel said:


> Sorry about the poor scan but I am having troubles getting a good scan at a kb that this site will accept. This is from MBA #1 BTW.


I just got my scanner and am also still getting used to it. One of the scans that I just posted originally came out to 50+ MB in size! I used Photoshop LE to resize the jpg and saved it as a smaller file. It came out to about 100kb in the end and pretty clear.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

You will notice that both bikes have under the stay brakes.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I dont think theyd work too good on those seat stays.


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## laffeaux (Jan 4, 2004)

ssmike said:


> I just got my scanner and am also still getting used to it. One of the scans that I just posted originally came out to 50+ MB in size! I used Photoshop LE to resize the jpg and saved it as a smaller file. It came out to about 100kb in the end and pretty clear.


I had the same problem when I scanned the article on the Yeti Ultimate. The original scan that I had was way too big - even after cutting off all of the unwanted surrounding articles. I had to reduce it down to where it was barely readable to post it.


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## Bigwheel (Jan 12, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> You will notice that both bikes have under the stay brakes.


Yeah, I dont think theyd work too good on those seat stays. [/QUOTE]

If you think about it I don't see how they worked all that well on the chainstays. Would the action of the stays movement put pressure on the cable, thereby activating the brake?

I have to do the same thing with my scanned material, reduce it in a photo program, but when I am done with it it sure doesn't come out as well as Mikess. Oh well. I can build a bike better than I can run a computer, there is hope.


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## cursivearmy (Jan 26, 2004)

*no kidding Bigwheel..*

I have to do the same thing with my scanned material, reduce it in a photo program, but when I am done with it it sure doesn't come out as well as Mikess. Oh well. I can build a bike better than I can run a computer, there is hope. [/QUOTE]

yeah, Mike's scanner does a good friggin job, i can always read the words and everything. course i'm looking at it on my buddy's Mac which is in my house cause i rent him a room, and man, Mac's have fantastic color and pixel resolution.

oh yeah, and you sure would think that that rollercam would be activated by all that movement. those bikes were crazy.

over and out
nate


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

cursivearmy said:


> I have to do the same thing with my scanned material, reduce it in a photo program, but when I am done with it it sure doesn't come out as well as Mikess. Oh well. I can build a bike better than I can run a computer, there is hope.


yeah, Mike's scanner does a good friggin job, i can always read the words and everything. course i'm looking at it on my buddy's Mac which is in my house cause i rent him a room, and man, Mac's have fantastic color and pixel resolution.

oh yeah, and you sure would think that that rollercam would be activated by all that movement. those bikes were crazy.

over and out
nate[/QUOTE]

It's an Epson CX3200 printer/scanner/copier. Free with my iMac! Beginner's luck. Although any pictures posted before today were taken with a Canon G4 digital camera. Just laid the photo down and took a picture of the picture.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

As long as the cable housing has a stop on the swingarm it would be fine.... It looks like with the travel they would need a decent amount of slack in that housing to keep it from affecting the cable.


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## jdub347 (Jan 29, 2004)

I did a little looking around on the net and found that the BMX Action magazine article on the Descender was from June '83. I would love to find that issue.


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## Williwoods (May 3, 2004)

looking for pics of the Bushido


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## badbushido (Jan 4, 2006)

Williwoods said:


> looking for pics of the Bushido


To be found here Thanks to Repack Finisher  
As soon as you will find one, please let me know


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## Williwoods (May 3, 2004)

that is farking awesome, the 80's were awesome for bikes..........damn


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

badbushido said:


> To be found here Thanks to Repack Finisher
> As soon as you will find one, please let me know


Those sure were amazing for their day... Has anyone ever seen one?


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## Williwoods (May 3, 2004)

Can someone please educate me about this company.....history the guy in charge etc.........that thing was way ahead of its time.

Will


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## YETIFIED (May 4, 2005)

And if you all recall what MBA said about the bike at the time was something like, "what would anyone do with that much unnessesary suspension". They basically said there was no application for a bike like that.


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## Williwoods (May 3, 2004)

Im not a fan of full suspension at all............but that being way ahead of its time by almost 10 years is really something. I love this thing.


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## Veloculture (Dec 18, 2005)

YETIFIED said:


> And if you all recall what MBA said about the bike at the time was something like, "what would anyone do with that much unnessesary suspension". They basically said there was no application for a bike like that.


quite a few years later that same author apologized for that comment. he said something to the effect of "when we first saw this bike it was just too crazy looking. little did we know this was the direction mountain bikes were going. now a bike like this looks normal". or something like that.


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## heeler (Feb 13, 2004)

The clip-on handlebar (ala sportbike) are still ahead of their time to this day....


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

On-One said:


> The clip-on handlebar (ala sportbike) are still ahead of their time to this day....


yeah. and those underbar shifters - a much superior place to have them. Not to mention all the other more obvious stuff...


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## heeler (Feb 13, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> yeah. and those underbar shifters - a much superior place to have them. Not to mention all the other more obvious stuff...


Ive just noticed the QR on the clip-ons...alot of custom stuff going on here. Wonder how many were sold, if any.


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

is there 2 rear shift levers?

drag brake?


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

On-One said:


> Ive just noticed the QR on the clip-ons...alot of custom stuff going on here. Wonder how many were sold, if any.


I actually called the guy 4-5 years ago just out of curiousity and he said there were some of these oldies out there... They were very pricey, not surprisingly. He will still make you a bike, or at least when I called he said he would.


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## heeler (Feb 13, 2004)

hollister said:


> is there 2 rear shift levers?
> 
> drag brake?


Most likely, looks like it is centered on the brake lever pivot.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

On-One said:


> Most likely, looks like it is centered on the brake lever pivot.


no, suspension compression damping. from open to locked out. I read the little brochure thing. Pretty cool.


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## heeler (Feb 13, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> no, suspension compression damping. from open to locked out. I read the little brochure thing. Pretty cool.


POP LOC! So what does this guy do now?


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## badbushido (Jan 4, 2006)

On-One said:


> POP LOC! So what does this guy do now?


He is doing some kind of product development.

These are fractures of a message he sent to me a couple of years ago.
Enjoy reading.
Correct wording would be
SE Shocker, MCR Descender

*"Literally hundreds of bicycle suspension designs appeared between 1880
and the 1970's.

Yamaha made the first modern suspension dirt bike circa 1976. It was a
thirty five+ pound BMX beast that didn't do anything very well, but it
was cute.

SE Racing in Long Beach built the aluminum rear suspension SE Descender
about 1984. Dan Hanebrink and Brian Skinner where the responsible
parties. Brian then sold his own version of the Descender (1985ish)
which were built by Champion Racing Frames. Both versions of the
Descender were heavy, used Kawasaki rear suspension components, and a
20" or 24" rear wheel. A short QR lever was used to "lock out" the rear
suspension. These were the first suspended mountain bikes.

My first drawings of the then unnamed full suspension Bushido Racer were
made in 1983. Roger Piper and I built the first Racers in 1984-85 and
showed the third prototype at Interbike in 1986. Attendees were
literally dragging people to our booth to see what had just happened to
the bicycle industry.

The Kestrel Nitro and Rockshocks first appeared at the Long Beach
Interbike trade show in 1987.

Everybody else followed. Many shouldn't have....
___________________________________

Bushido built 8 prototypes and 47 Racers between 1985 and 1994. An arson
fire in 1987 set us back. Three prototype bikes were stolen during a
break-in in late 1988 and never reappeared (nothing else was stolen).

We have been consultants to several manufacturers since
1986.

We planned to make a real production Racer, but we would have had to
sell 400 framesets a year just to break even and that would have been a
lot less fun that what we actually did.
___________________________________

The early
photos were lost in the 1987 fire although Mountain Bike Action, Bicycle
Guide(?), and some other magazines may still have photos."*


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## badbushido (Jan 4, 2006)

YETIFIED said:


> And if you all recall what MBA said about the bike at the time was something like, "what would anyone do with that much unnessesary suspension". They basically said there was no application for a bike like that.


One of my favorites


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## Fillet Brazed Forever (May 11, 2008)

Hey, nice photo of the one and only Bushido ever made. Those two guys were the most anti social liars in the bicycle business. They suffered from post traumatic syndrome, and had a filthy failing bike shop here in L.A during the 80's and 90's. They made one prototype, and left it in their window. It could never be ridden since the shocks were not functional, and the thing would have exploded on contact. They strung people out for years saying that they were going in to production "any day now". I think they may have made two total!! Innovation is great if you can make the real thing. Otherwise, it is like saying you have a space ship in your back yard that can go to Mars in a matter of minutes. Great concept, but just try to make it happen.


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## Fillet Brazed Forever (May 11, 2008)

*Bushido B.S.*

By the way, those two con men from Bushido were so messed up from the war in the 70's, that they told me they named the bike the Bushido to insult the Japanese. On more than one of my many depressing visits to their trash strewn "shop", they told me they "hated all Asians". Of course they used a derogatory word for the Asian race. I would not believe a word they say on this forum. Once a liar, always a liar. Hey, Fillet Brazed, if they said they would still make you a bike, you can say goodbye to your deposit, and expect what everyone else in the early mtn. bike community got from them.....NOTHING!!!


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Fillet Brazed Forever said:


> Hey, Fillet Brazed, if they said they would still make you a bike, you can say goodbye to your deposit, and expect what everyone else in the early mtn. bike community got from them.....NOTHING!!!


No deposit sent.


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## Fillet Brazed Forever (May 11, 2008)

Good. Stay away from those guys. I have already gotten a bunch of emails from other users who said they were scammed by Bushido.


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## BikeSATORI (Mar 20, 2004)

Fillet Brazed Forever said:


> Good. Stay away from those guys. I have already gotten a bunch of emails from other users who said they were scammed by Bushido.


wow.... crazy stuff. Not too sure how naming a proto bike "bushido" could be in any way insulting to Japanese people... But from what you speak, they sure had no knowledge of what the way of a samurai has to do with anything.

Regardless, the clip-on bars are full-on SWEET! As well as the "QR" lock-out, at least in concept, even if it wasn't functional at that time.
I also thought those were QR clip-on bars though, hahaha... at least until I read further into the second page of this thread.


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## Fillet Brazed Forever (May 11, 2008)

Those turkeys used to think that by naming an American product after an honorable Japanese samurai tradition, that it would upset them. Stupid, huh? These guys were not only shell shocked, but they were hermits who lived off of an illusion they had created. They stole all of the ideas from motorcycle designs, and could not competently implement any of them into a functional product. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how many bikes today have a similar look.


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## racesales (Jun 26, 2011)

*Bushido libel*

Wow. So, "fillet brazed forever", if you're still lying here, you got a name? I may be a few years late to this forum but your libelous Bushido Racing statements still stand.

If this forum were under my control I'd probably want to edit or remove the libelous statements of "fillet brazed forever".
__________________________________________

So, sorry folks but wrongs must be righted. "Fillet brazed forever" has written false and misleading statements on this forum for unknown reasons.

I'm Bill Townsend (Wm.J.). I'm the co-founder and creator of the Bushido Racing off-road racers. Saw my first un-named mountain bike in northern California about 1980. Cool. A beefed up cruiser with bad knobbies. It looked like fun, but being a motorcycle guy I knew I'd want more.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1983 (automotive industry) I met Roger Piper at his "filthy failing bike shop" in Santa Monica (the old shop) since I had an apartment around the corner. Roger and I discussed the potential for full suspension on a mountain bike. Heavy and silly.

Saw the SE Racing and Descender bikes soon afterward. Neither fit my needs. I drew up the first pre-Bushido frameset in 1983/4 and made a cardboard cutout to see just how huge and silly it was. Taped that cutout to a new Stumpjumper in the storefront. It wasn't that huge after all. Just a couple of inches taller up front 'cause of the double triple-clamped front fork. A steel frame and swingarm was tossed together just to see if everything would fit. This could work.

A steel frame with aluminum swingarm, with a rigid fork was made to work out the geometry of the rear suspension. The third bike was for the show circuits in 1986~1988. Titanium frame and inner fork legs. It was very wobbly but looked good for the Interbike shows and photo opportunities. We built a few (better) customer bikes but were faced with the reality of supplying replacement parts for individually built very custom bikes. Time to explore real production.

We met with existing bicycle companies. If we went ahead and made full production spec Bushidos, set up the supply and repair chain, and provided the customers, said bicycles companies would be glad to step in and take over with minimal effort and cost. We met with liaisons from the overseas manufacturers who would be glad to produce zillions of Bushido Racers if we could design the final product for a $750USD retail price.

Fire and theft in 1987 and 1988. Not very productive. Moved to "the new shop".

A re-design for 1989 for real production. Standard bottom bracket, hubs and next years new disk brakes. Eight inch front and rear travel. 3.5 inches of droop, 4.5 of compression. Inverted front fork (stiffer and lighter). Rear shock mounted on a bellcrank to give it a rising-rate progressive tail.

We needed $3M (million) to go into full frameset production. Investment cash was available. Retail price was set at $2350. Everything was just fine till the numbers were explored. We'd have to build and sell 387 framesets every year just to break even. 7.75 racers per week. Every week, and no profit - ever. $2350 was top dollar twelve years ago. The market was very limited for high-end race bikes. Even if we had been able to farm out everything (hard to find job shops that will produce in low numbers), it would still be very few people doing the same repetitious task all week long. That wouldn't be fun. Making a few bikes now and then was.

The dream ended at the end of 1999 when our shop lease wasn't re-newed. We looked at other properties, but the project had reached the end of it's life. Go big, or go home. We went home.

__________

"Hey, nice photo of the one and only Bushido ever made. ... They made one prototype, and left it in their window. It could never be ridden since the shocks were not functional, and the thing would have exploded on contact."

* * *

That was [BRD 0003]. The display prototype that went to Interbike three times. It was mounted to a hurriedly and badly built display stand with a hand crank that spun two off-center wooden rollers to simulate a rolling Bushido Racer with both wheels bouncing up and down at different rates. It had no damping at either end, just low air pressure to keep the wheels in contact with the "rolling roadway." Had you actually spent time in our messy shop you'd probably know that. This bike was stolen during a break-in in 1988 along with two other non-suspended prototype test-beds.
__________

"Those two guys were the most anti social liars in the bicycle business. They suffered from post traumatic syndrome, and had a filthy failing bike shop here in L.A during the 80's and 90's. ... They strung people out for years saying that they were going in to production "any day now". I think they may have made two total!! Innovation is great if you can make the real thing. Otherwise, it is like saying you have a space ship in your back yard that can go to Mars in a matter of minutes. Great concept, but just try to make it happen."

* * *

Again, you may want to look-up libel. That "filthy failing bike shop" existed at two different addresses from 1967~2000. It "failed" when our lease wasn't renewed, but other adventures awaited. If we had had customers who sounded like you, "anti-social" would be kind. Never tolerate fools.
__________

"By the way, those two con men from Bushido were so messed up from the war in the 70's, that they told me they named the bike the Bushido to insult the Japanese."

* * *

War in the 70's? Would that be the Viet-Nam conflict in which neither Roger nor I, nor Japan participated?

Factually, what was said was that we named the Bushido Racer to piss-off the Japanese engineers we worked with now and then. Using one of their honored terms for a toy. It backfired. They (those with whom we had close contact) were thrilled with our decision and gave full approval. I don't know how the rest of Japan or greater Asia reacted. Nothing was ever mentioned.
__________

"On more than one of my many depressing visits to their trash strewn "shop", they told me they "hated all Asians". Of course they used a derogatory word for the Asian race."

* * *

Why, whoever you are, would you visit our messy shop more than once, if ever? And why would you fabricate a completely libelous extension to add to that statement?
__________

"I would not believe a word they say on this forum. Once a liar, always a liar."

* * *

Please point out where I've written anything on this forum before June 26th, 2011. Please list all of these "lies" in chronological order. No? How about one single statement? No? Should I anticipate your apology?
__________

"Hey, Fillet Brazed, if they said they would still make you a bike, you can say goodbye to your deposit, and expect what everyone else in the early mtn. bike community got from them.....NOTHING!!! "

* * *

The few deposits we received in the late 1980's were either returned to customers or destroyed as per their instructions. Not a single cent was kept, not even to cover return postage. Please present somebody who can say otherwise.
__________

"Good. Stay away from those guys. I have already gotten a bunch of emails from other users who said they were scammed by Bushido."

* * *

Name one. Please forward a single one of these alleged eMails to racesales_at_t3-c.com. Please show me that you're not a liar. Please show anything to backup your libelous statements.
__________

"Those turkeys used to think that by naming an American product after an honorable Japanese samurai tradition, that it would upset them. Stupid, huh?"

* * *

I think I've already covered the true and actual facts behind Bushido Racing's naming.
__________

"These guys were not only shell shocked, but they were hermits who lived off of an illusion they had created."

* * *

Still curious how I may have become shell-shocked. Can you please relate the true story? Since either I don't know it, or it's so deeply repressed that I'll never remember on my own. Once again, please?

* * *

Hermits? Lived off of an illusion? You'd be amazed at what it cost me, personally - out of pocket, to build bicycles from 1985~2000. I know it amazes me. That might just be my hermit-like thought process.
__________

"They stole all of the ideas from motorcycle designs, and could not competently implement any of them into a functional product."

* * *

All of those designs of which you don't know the origin? Are you writing of those motorcycle designs that didn't exist in 1985 like carbon-fiber brake rotors, air sprung forks with sealed damping cartridges, CO2 sprung shock absorbers with remotely adjustable damping overrides, automatic shock damping controlled by the inertia of the internal oil flow path and speed, air sprung seatpost for easy on-the-fly adjustability, swingarm bottom bracket pivot to prevent drive-chain suspension influence? Or are you talking about the radical changes introduced with the 1989 STR? You should know since you spent so much time in our filthy failing little shop. By the way, which shop did you allegedly visit?
__________

"Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how many bikes today have a similar look."

* * *

What's amazing is how corporations with huge funding are now producing the design decisions we abandoned as under-performing way back in 1988.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Welcome to the forum and thanks for piping in. Cool bikes. I'll tend to believe your version of the Bushido history over what's his names. FBF has not posted on MTBR in almost 2 years and to some, me included, is persona non grata. 

Jeff


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

badbushido said:


> To be found here Thanks to Repack Finisher
> As soon as you will find one, please let me know


Apparently not found there any more. And it's Repack RIDER.

Once again, from the world's most complete file of VRC, here are the company publicity stills.


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Hey Bill, nice to get your perspective and your story behind the company. The internet is full of bloggers and writers making all sorts of statements and while some may be untrue, we mostly have to move on and not take it personally. If we decide to correct every false or misleading statement, we'd be a bitter bunch. It would never end.

Just present your story and let the readers be the judge. Cool down the personal attacks guys or sadly, this thread gets locked or thrown in the recycle bin.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Just in case there was any confusion, Fillet Brazed Forever and me are two different people. 

I always thought those bikes were interesting.


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## kb11 (Mar 29, 2004)

Maybe you have multiple personalities :skep:


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

kb11 said:


> Maybe you have multiple personalities :skep:


Have you been talking to my wife?


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## kb11 (Mar 29, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Have you been talking to my wife?


Yes, both of them


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## Williwoods (May 3, 2004)

kb11 said:


> Yes, both of them


LOL

And welcome to the site! I have been an admirer of the Bushido for ages. Very radical and way ahead of anything at the time.

As a side note I ran into a guy the other day that has one of the Road bikes you guys used to make. Very nice Bike, top notch workmanship. He was telling me about how knowledgeable you guys were and what a loss it was once you guys closed doors.

anyway that's all I got for the moment.


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## racesales (Jun 26, 2011)

*Thanks folks*

I was searching for some color STR photos from a German bike mag in the mid 90's. Can't find my copies. Stumbled across this forum and -- Sorry if any toes were squished.

We also made a lot of "ReCycle"s - old frameset, new paint and components. Powder paint and the bits you wanted for the real world type of riding you'd do. Some came out really nice.

As for me, mine is a '74 Teledyne Titan (#428) in desert camo powder paint, TA 185 cranks, Sturmey-Archer steel 5-speed, aluminum Nitto bullmose bars with our under the bar thumb shifters, and beefy Modolo side-pulls squeezing 27x1-3/8 IRC touring tires on Campy aeros. Lotta skinny tracks from Malibu to Riverside. I never got a Bushido Racer either... -Bill


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## Joe Steel (Dec 30, 2003)

racesales said:


> We also made a lot of "ReCycle"s - old frameset, new paint and components. Powder paint and the bits you wanted for the real world type of riding you'd do. Some came out really nice.
> 
> As for me, mine is a '74 Teledyne Titan (#428) in desert camo powder paint, TA 185 cranks, Sturmey-Archer steel 5-speed, aluminum Nitto bullmose bars with our under the bar thumb shifters, and beefy Modolo side-pulls squeezing 27x1-3/8 IRC touring tires on Campy aeros. Lotta skinny tracks from Malibu to Riverside. I never got a Bushido Racer either... -Bill


Bill, Glad you made it to this forum and thanks for sharing some history with us. Would be really cool to see some pictures of the bikes you mention or other pics you may have collected over the years.
Thanks again,
Joe


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## racesales (Jun 26, 2011)

*Wait, there's more:*

Thanks for the warm thoughts folks. And thanks to that special someone, my posts were noticed by an un-named manufacturer who happened to be passing by. The have expressed interest in resurrecting the Bushido Racer under their own corporate banner. After a quarter of a century, they feel that our ten-year-old designs are still ten years ahead of the pack and would like to leverage that advantage. Okay by me. This won't happen overnight.

Since folks appear to be reading this old thread, I thought I'd share three items that nobody outside the BRD family ever saw. Hadn't thought about this stuff for awhile...

Magnetic springs: Yep, about half the weight of coiled steel fork springs - we stacked neodymium "washers" back to back to make a repelling column of frictionless extremely progressive springs. Problem was that space limitations only allowed riders under 130ish pounds access. Cool idea but too limited. And lots heavier than air.

Sequential shifter: Made a small Ø22 mm box/can with a rotating drum inside. A push or pull of the twist grip or thumb lever advanced the gears up or down one step at a time. With (old) 24 speed gearing we were able to provide up to 15 actual usable linear gears. Flick, flick, flick up through the first five lowest rear cogs while the front deraileur was continuously nudged into a rub-free position, hitting sixth moved it to the middle chainring and dropped two cogs on the rear cluster. Flick, flick, flick through the middle cogs, and then up to the big chainring and back three cogs to flick, flick, flick the final top cogs all the while keeping the front deraileur centered. The rotating drum had two hand-cut radial cam slots, and enclosed two aluminum chunks (bar stock cut in half lengthwise) with hardened pins that rode in the cam slots, that manipulated the front and rear deraileurs with short normal cables. Criss-cross slots on the outside of the drum were "hit" by hardened pins attached to two spring loaded rods that were pulled by the shifter itself, rotating the drum. It confused people. Couldn't grab or drop three gears at a time. Small size meant that it took a serious tug to advance the gears. It got to sit on a shelf.

Hydraulic drive: Too wide, too far advanced. Too expensive, and I never made one so this is more SciFi than real. Aluminum housing attached to the bottom bracket. The special spindle rode on big needle bearings, a 50 tooth helical steel gear (10 mm wide) sat on the left side of the BB, and drove a 24 tooth gear that ran the hydraulic pump below the down tube - 7x8 mm pistons in a Ø34 mm rotary barrel that pushed against an attached rotating plate that could pivot up to 20° from flat - that was the shifter - 0° was neutral - no go, and 20° was top gear (internally 1:1). A locking adjuster allowed you to select the lowest actual gear. Click, click, click with the twist grip gave 21 indented selections as it pivoted that plate through it's 20° range. A 104 inch top gear gave 21 x 5.6 gear inch increments. Okay, the rotating barrel pump pushed automatic transmission fluid through an internal Ø8 mm passage to the motor which was identical to the Ø34 mm pump with the exception that the rotating plate thingy was locked at 20° off axis. Just like huge forklifts, earthmoving equipment and other huge hauler things. A 48 tooth gear was attached to the pump's output (all gears rode on ball bearings) and drove a 40 tooth gear that rode/spun on the right hand side of the BB spindle. An aluminum spider exited the RH cover that mounted a Ø74 mm inner chainring. Two aluminum castings for the pump housing and internal reservoir that attached to the BB shell with the BB bearing cups. Two more castings covered the gear drives on both sides. Everything ran in a sealed oil bath. 16 mm was added to the LH side, and 23 mm on the right. The idea was to have a single BMX freewheel on the rear hub, and whatever front chainring gave you happy gears. a 32/16 rear gearset with the 50/24 & 48/40 internals gave you the equivalent of a 55/11 top gear. The hydraulic - hydrostatic drive would get you all the way down to a zero inch low gear, and everything in between. Pretty cool. About 100 grams more that the components it replaced. A twisty valve could be added to the motor's outlet port to provide rear brakes that would rely on the reliability of the chain for rear whoa.

Yeah, we did some weird stuff in that filthy failing little shop... -Bill


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

Great stuff Bill. Some of that is well beyond my comprehension. I need pretty pictures to help me wrap my mind around it. Keep us posted on the Bushido rebirth.


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## onlyoyster99 (Jul 14, 2011)

racesales said:


> Thanks for the warm thoughts folks. And thanks to that special someone, my posts were noticed by an un-named manufacturer who happened to be passing by. The have expressed interest in resurrecting the Bushido Racer under their own corporate banner. After a quarter of a century, they feel that our ten-year-old designs are still ten years ahead of the pack and would like to leverage that advantage. Okay by me. This won't happen overnight.
> 
> Since folks appear to be reading this old thread, I thought I'd share three items that nobody outside the BRD family ever saw. Hadn't thought about this stuff for awhile...
> 
> ...


Wow.... just... wow. Those ideas are awesome. The last ones a little crazy and the first one is too heavy but that shifter is amazing. You may want to patent that if you havent already because that would revolutionize the way we shift our bikes. No more overlapping ratios!


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## Arran (Jan 27, 2006)

Hi Bill,

Firstly, let me say that the Bushido Racer has been on my 'wanted list' ever since I first saw it in MBA back in '89 (?). I knew it was the future of MTB's as a overly enthusiastic 14 year old. I've always had a nagging thought about the rear suspension though (& please don't consider this an attack or derogatory comment). Can you please clarify something for me?

It seems physically impossible to achieve the claimed 10" of rear wheel travel using a 26" rear wheel, considering the length & (static) orientation of the swingarm. By my factoring, you'd only achieve ~ 4-5" of travel before your rear tyre contacted the seat tube. Please see my (poor) mock-up of a rotated swingarm below:


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## racesales (Jun 26, 2011)

*Long time gone*



onlyoyster99 said:


> Wow.... just... wow. Those ideas are awesome. The last ones a little crazy and the first one is too heavy but that shifter is amazing. You may want to patent that if you havent already because that would revolutionize the way we shift our bikes. No more overlapping ratios!


The shifter died away a quarter of a century ago... We were talking to Suntour about our components back then. Our stuff was to expensive to produce (for the minimal return) even in the upper groupos. Suntour, Shimano, and Campy's high-end dirt groups were sharing a 50K worldwide market in the mid-eighties.
I think a shifter photo (not sure) was stuck onto one of our European articles way back when. We established prior art so it'd be really hard from somebody else to come along and try to patent it now. I learned the hard way that expensive to establish and maintain patents are only a ticket to Federal court where you face six professional jurors who must vote unanimously(sp?) and where you don't get to collect damages. Then, if you prevail, you get to take the infringer to civil court after they've sold the offending company five or six times, shed themselves of all the old employee co-conspirators, and just have to sit it out. Even if you win, you already lost. Kinda sucks the fun out from under you...


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## racesales (Jun 26, 2011)

*Happy birthday now old guy*



Arran said:


> It seems physically impossible to achieve the claimed 10" of rear wheel travel using a 26" rear wheel, considering the length & (static) orientation of the swingarm. By my factoring, you'd only achieve ~ 4-5" of travel before your rear tyre contacted the seat tube. Please see my (poor) mock-up of a rotated swingarm below:


It would be. That bike was designed for maximum travel. I think it had a full 10½" in the back. That's the maximum. It was designed to have a 12" BB at ride height. So when it was (CO2 pressure in the shock) set-up for your weight/style it retained 5" of compressive travel and used up the other 5½" of rebound in sag/jounce/slack. Same in the front. Bumps were universal, but all that negative travel meant you could ride over holes, the far side of thumps, unicorn droppings, and the light fast wheels fell into the darkness and you got a nice soft smooth ride with a lot less drama. The wheel dropped into the void and was already on its way back by the time your body mass and the rest of the bike had time to follow. I'd guess it reduced felt impact by about half. The later series bikes had "only" 9" of travel at both ends. Even fat guys like me only used about four inches of bump travel on average, so the bonus inches were wasted weight. The nine inch bikes (STR - Short Travel Racer) were set-up for 5"/4" with that surplus bump inch for the surprises. It drove good. Felt like a hard-tail with really big cushy tires - twenty-two years ago...


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## racesales (Jun 26, 2011)

*Photo oops*



Arran said:


> It seems physically impossible to achieve the claimed 10" of rear wheel travel using a 26" rear wheel, considering the length & (static) orientation of the swingarm.


And I forgot to add that that enclosed photo was taken on a warm day. I forgot to bleed the extra pressure out of the forks so the bike would appear at ride height. The forks are extended about 3~4 inches too far. The front end should be a lot lower. The "kickstand" was an allen bolt in the crank's one-key release (Sugino) that knew about the 12" height. Silly me.


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