This was the bike that got me into Proflex (BEAST)

[jeffgothro]

I've been looking all over online for picture of a Beast that still had the OM rims on it but no dice, seems everyone changes them out for something else.

Anyway, when I first saw this in the LBS showroom I started drooling like an idiot, it was the rims and brakes that finally suduced me.

If anyone has better pictures of a Beast with the OM stuff still on it please post up, would love to see it.



[Edit] Anyone know what this rims were called (I think H.E.D?) but not sure? I looked on ebay, were the wheels on the beast "road" wheels, what size were they, all I can find are 700c and 650c?

[keith]

That's a new one on me,never come across those wheels before

[orange]

Yes HED is right.

[The Mont]

What year Beast ?

[jeffgothro]

Not sure the year, 96 - 97 perhaps...oh guess what I came across, its a bad pic, but here is a pic of my old 856 I was forced to sell [I was hungry ]

It had half flattened elasomers (notice they about as half as thick as they should be) and a rock shox judy...best part was the seat...OMG I loved that seat, was like having a couch on there.

This bike was alot more comfortable then my current Proflex, still trying to find my sweet spot on my new one.

[rapiddescent]

my first proflex was the 856 that I saw hanging up in Embankment Cycles, nest tot he river Thames in London UK.  It was October 1995 and the bike had just come out in the UK (not many x55's were sold here).  I had just finished working in Boston, Ft Lauderdale and NYC (USA) so had some money left over from working abroad.  I also had come back from the USA with V-brakes - which no one had ever seen in the UK at the time!

However, the bike was a bit of a handful to keep it going - so joined the fledging 855Heads mailling list on the web that comprised of about 50 riders and quite a few of the techies at Girving (including bob girvin himself).  I decided to create a website to keep track of all the things we figured out in 1995 - which was in the very early days of web sites!

I first retired the proflex 856 around 1998; but then built it up again and put 20,000 miles riding it through london as a street bike with skinny tyres and the frame all taped up (it was a courier craze at the time).

Since then I've had a few hardtails, a proflex 97 beast, a 01 razorback (currently being built up again) and I've got an Oz bought recently second hand for a project.  To be honest, I ride an Orange 5 3x a week - it is truly the better bike and is what the proflex brand should have become.

callum
rds

[jeffgothro]

Not sure the year of the one pictured, I think a 97 mabie, I picked it up at a pawn shop for around 400.00 - I put quite a few miles on it before I was forced to sell it, was an awsome bike, loved it. As crappy as the elastomers were (if you liftd the rear of the bike up there was about an inch gap from the elastomers being squished) I kinda actually liked it better in some respects, it rode like a hard tail with very little suspention travel, mabie like 1/2 inch at most.

[The Mont]

I'm no expert but I'm sure that's a picture of an Animal.
98 Beast was the 'Y' frame with Sun rims and LX hubs
97 was an x57 frame with Pipe-Line Chubby fork, LX hubs and WTB SpeedMaster hubs
97 Beast GDT ( the one I have ) was an x56 frame with LX hubs and Mavic 221 rims
96 Beast was x56 also with Mavic rims, I'm not aware of a Beast before this one, there may have been I suppose.

However the 95 animal, listed as red in colour on BikePedia had LX hubs with HED CX aero rims and 26" tyres according to BikePedia, there is one for sale on US E-Bay at the moment
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320321665671
The 96 animal is listed as Blue and Yellow as per your pic and had Mavic 221 rims.
Could be they still did some of the blue ones with the HED wheels.

I bought my Beast new and used it exclusively until 2003 when I broke a few bones, then upgraded to a Santa Cruz Blur as this was supposed to be a monster climber, it was only marginally better than the Beast and cost 4 times the money, but overall like Callum says the later design produces a better ride overall and I ride the Blur 5 times a week now.
However the Beast is such a good bike that I'm currently rebuilding it, I've found many NOS parts and hope to have it back together for next summer, just need to find a solution to a problem I have with the pivot bearing / frame interface.

[Willie_B]

One up on eBay at the moment. May even be close to you.
http://cgi.ebay.com/PROFLEX-ANIMAL-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-FULL-SUSPENSION-XTR-DEORE_W0QQitemZ320321665671QQihZ011QQcategoryZ98083QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[jeffgothro]

I'm no expert but I'm sure that's a picture of an Animal.
98 Beast was the 'Y' frame with Sun rims and LX hubs
97 was an x57 frame with Pipe-Line Chubby fork, LX hubs and WTB SpeedMaster hubs
97 Beast GDT ( the one I have ) was an x56 frame with LX hubs and Mavic 221 rims
96 Beast was x56 also with Mavic rims, I'm not aware of a Beast before this one, there may have been I suppose.

However the 95 animal, listed as red in colour on BikePedia had LX hubs with HED CX aero rims and 26" tyres according to BikePedia, there is one for sale on US E-Bay at the moment
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320321665671
The 96 animal is listed as Blue and Yellow as per your pic and had Mavic 221 rims.
Could be they still did some of the blue ones with the HED wheels.

I bought my Beast new and used it exclusively until 2003 when I broke a few bones, then upgraded to a Santa Cruz Blur as this was supposed to be a monster climber, it was only marginally better than the Beast and cost 4 times the money, but overall like Callum says the later design produces a better ride overall and I ride the Blur 5 times a week now.
However the Beast is such a good bike that I'm currently rebuilding it, I've found many NOS parts and hope to have it back together for next summer, just need to find a solution to a problem I have with the pivot bearing / frame interface.

I'm talking about the second picture - its definatly an 856, thats the stickers that were on it - the first picture could be an animal, not sure, I know the first beast I saw with those wheels was red.

[jeffgothro]

To bad I dont have money for the ebay bike...that bike is less then or about 100 miles from me. Anyway, its on my watch list, we'll see what happens.

[cudacharger]

I've been looking all over online for picture of a Beast that still had the OM rims on it but no dice, seems everyone changes them out for something else.

Anyway, when I first saw this in the LBS showroom I started drooling like an idiot, it was the rims and brakes that finally suduced me.

If anyone has better pictures of a Beast with the OM stuff still on it please post up, would love to see it.



[Edit] Anyone know what this rims were called (I think H.E.D?) but not sure? I looked on ebay, were the wheels on the beast "road" wheels, what size were they, all I can find are 700c and 650c?

New to this site!  Love your post.  I purchased the first animal in 95.....I still have the bike today..... in the process of restoring back to the picture below.  I upgraded to the carbon fork and few other items....currently looking for a Girvin fork and the Magura brakes....any help is greatly appreciated.

[orange]

that's a nice looking bike