Bike Check: The 'Boostmonster' Has a 300mm Marzocchi Super Monster T Fork
Inspired in part by the exploits of the Ukranian vintage freeride scene, Jordan 'Boostmaster' Olthuis recently managed to track down a functioning Marzocchi Super Monster fork T and install it on a 2005 Norco A-Line. In keeping with the more-travel-is-better theme, Jordan also swapped out the original shock for one with a longer eye-to-eye and stroke length, bumping up the rear travel to 279mm.
Rather than hunting down vintage parts to complete the build, Jordan installed his preferred components to create a sort of hybrid retro / modern machine. As a full-time YouTube personality with a sizeable fan base, the project has provided plenty of fodder for content. I mean, who wouldn't click on a video titled, “We Are Building a Franken Monster Bike”?
Hope Pro4 hubs laced to 26" DT Swiss FR 560 rims and a Shimano Saint 7-speed drivetrain.
Thirteen pounds and 300mm of travel ready for smashing. I can almost smell that bath oil from here.
Adjustable travel used to be a much more common feature than it is today.
Truvativ cranks with a Straitline chainguide.
Chromag OSX bars, Hope Tech V4 brakes, and a Chris King headset.
Jordan even hired Andextr to do a suspension analysis on the bike in its current configuration.
The geometry numbers are a good reminder of why current bikes have gotten longer, lower, and slacker – the reach of the A-Line is scant 365mm, and that's on a size medium. How about that bottom bracket height? At 423mm it's much higher than any modern bike, although there also aren't any modern bikes with this much travel.
Even with that 300mm Super Monster up front the A-Line's head angle is still a not-that-slack 64.5-degrees. That's a figure we're seeing on trail and enduro bikes these days – DH bikes are typically a degree or two slacker.
Even with that 300mm Super Monster up front the A-Line's head angle is still a not-that-slack 64.5-degrees. That's a figure we're seeing on trail and enduro bikes these days – DH bikes are typically a degree or two slacker.
Geometry
Travel: 300mm / 279mm
BB height: 423mm
Wheelbase: 1228mm
Chainstay length: 435mm
Reach: 365mm
Stack: 637mm
64.5 degree headtube angle
Weight: 49 lb / 22.2 kg
Travel: 300mm / 279mm
BB height: 423mm
Wheelbase: 1228mm
Chainstay length: 435mm
Reach: 365mm
Stack: 637mm
64.5 degree headtube angle
Weight: 49 lb / 22.2 kg
I was around for the heyday of the Monster T era, back when everyone was sporting Dainese body armor from head to toe and hucking off absolutely anything. As fond as my memories are of that time, I'm also glad that things have progressed – I'm really happy I don't need a step stool to get on my bike, and that it doesn't weigh 50 pounds.
Still, it's great to see people like Jordan out there experimenting and trying different things. At the end of the day, it's all about having fun and goofing off in the woods, and this Boostmonster bike is certainly one way to accomplish that goal.
For more on this bike follow Jordan on Instagram and Facebook.
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Member since Feb 1, 2009
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There’s a reason you never see 300mm forks any longer and this video hilariously showed why.
1) On 90%+ of the riding he was realistically using no more than 200-250mm travel.
2) The kinematics (and frame) of the A-line are historically awful...maybe go with an old Canfield Jedi (high pivot idler) to have a huck bike that can still kinda pedal/trail ride/is reliable construction wise.
3) An incredible missed opportunity to mullet the thing, run a rissie racing inverted ‘Big Foot’ 300mm suspension fork with a custom made/tuned avalanche rear shock....I mean drown this project in money the proper way my dude
4) Old Saint cranks (165mm), my bro. What are you thinking
5) The entire tune of that bike was built for Hucks..575/600lb call it a day. You were so dang fiddly with the rear shock performing well...you need an old high pivot bike designed for quality shock tunes>>Canfield Jedi (all ‘em) if you want your valiant suspension efforts to come alive while riding mixed terrain.
Real deal
Okay okay..get the old 26Jedi, inverted 27.5” Dorado fork/wheel and somehow someway get someone to make it pedal assist electric/throttle, go fly to Colchester, England and have Sam pilgrim ride it till it falls apart. Pay him for a guest domination presentation ...something funny
oh and P.S. my dude...way to brush off how much dogshit your buddy ate. Head injury looked like and a severely busted up wrist? Nothing short of life changing...but here’s shots of us measuring stuff//It’s like your unremorse, monotone style has been what’s primarily earned you a fanbase>>how modern chić of you.
Tell him to look into Comfrey leaf&root and hydroxyapatite. Healing bone supplements.
Love ya
All of you
I’ll show ya a proper dualcrown trail bike that can actually ride
I nit-picked your nit-pick project. And you wonder if I’m fun at parties? Nice catchphrase
Now go custom order that 300mm Rissie Bigfoot inverted fork you f*cking YouTube glamour girl...I love you sweet boost bby
Good luck reasoning with the unreasonable.
The Karpiel Super Monster was much better. Actually handled okay, you could actually ride it. Very heavy, very tall.
It was fun to play around on. Biggest issue is finding a frame to run it on. I will be surprised if this Norco lasts with the punishment he is putting it through. So much leverage on the head tube. Lots of guys ended up with Chris King steelsets with the longer cups to try to keep their headtubes from ovalizing.
Absurdly short reach, high bottom brackets and generally, much steeper head angles than this bike (sometimes 70 degrees)
High center of mass, tiny wheelbase. = Completely and utterly kinematically unstable!
Incredible that people used to race these things...
so all those geo numbers you are spitting out here is just a marketing dept that got in your head
Speaking of, what the hell ever happened to that guy?
www.pinkbike.com/news/freeride-pioneer-josh-bender-launches-guiding-and-shuttle-company-shredding-with-bender.html
He also was a ride guide with California Expeditions, a shuttle company out of Georgetown, California, back in 2019. @BCpov rode with him:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYhm06pcDBM
More isn’t always more!
this is a good video on how much is enough by Vorsprung.
youtu.be/Inrf0MD8vHI
Gotta love the sound though - squish squish!
c1.staticflickr.com/9/8045/8413803947_c31665c599_z.jpg
Josh Bender
From one to another
#2: It's a great build jordan and yay to PB for giving us some slightly more entertaining things to read about but I think Jordan needs to give hella credit to @bipolarexpress and the lads in Ukraine for building monster trucks like these years ago and then writing three awesome articles afterword (and sharing the numbers/frames that can take a Supermonster, longer shock/ etcetera) and sharing with us the history of these fabulous builds.
I'll just leave a picture of the OG right here:
www.pinkbike.com/photo/9988384