My engineering hobby - February 2017

Two-wheeled wonders.

Stuart Martin, who works in the brakes design team of Jaguar Land Rover, has had bicycles for as long as he can remember – but his enthusiasm for technically interesting bikes started when he bought his second mountain bike in 1994. 

“It was a 1992 Proflex with rear suspension and a suspended handlebar stem which was designed to take out some of the shocks from the front. Two years later I bought a 1996 Proflex which had fully-functioning front suspension,” he says.

His collection includes a Kirk Revolution, which has a frame made of cast magnesium, designed by Frank Kirk who had worked as a design engineer for Ford. The design made use of the CAD and casting methods being used in the motor industry in the mid-1980s. 

Martin also has a Raleigh M-Trax with titanium tubes bonded into steel lugs. His most prized bike is a 1998 Proflex K2 5500 which has a triangular thermoplastic main frame with a carbon-fibre trailing arm. The frame is made of two symmetrical mouldings bonded together down the centre line. 

Martin says: “All the bicycles have employed different innovative solutions. The lack of success of some is evident from the fact that many of them have been short-lived variations on the theme. They are interesting to me – whether they were a commercial success or not. The most important thing is the innovation in the design.” 

Do you have an interesting hobby? Email liz.wells@caspianmedia.com