According to the present invention, there is provided a suspension device for a bicycle comprising a center frame for supporting a saddle; a front frame for supporting a front wheel at a first end of the front frame, the front frame being secured to the center frame at a second end of the front frame so as to pivot about a first pivot axis; a rear frame for supporting a rear wheel at a first end of the rear frame, the rear frame being secured to the center frame at a second end of the rear frame so as to pivot about a second pivot axis different from and spaced from the first pivot axis; and a plate spring which is secured to the front frame at a first end of the plate spring, is secured to the rear frame at a second end of the plate spring, and is fixed to the center frame at an intermediate portion of the plate spring, whereby the front and rear frames are resiliently supported relative to the center frame by means of the plate spring.
A shock-absorbing frame for a bicycle includes a first body, a middle body, a shock-absorbing device, a second body, and two holders. Thus, the middle body and the second body are rotated on the opposite directions, and the drive chain wheel and the driven chain wheel are moved upward and forward simultaneously, so that the distance between the drive chain wheel and the driven chain wheel is kept at a constant, thereby preventing the chain mounted between the drive chain wheel and the driven chain wheel from becoming loosened or detached, so that the chain is mounted between the drive chain wheel and the driven chain wheel rigidly and stably without detachment so as to protect the rider's safety.
A bicycle rear suspension of the type where the crank set is mounted on the swingarm. The swingarm is connected to the main frame by a set of pivoting links that downwardly converge. The links produce an instant center of rotation for the swingarm that moves in a rearward path. The rearward path starts from horizontally forward of the crank center and moves to be approximately horizontally in line with the crank center. This reduces the vertical movement of the cranks as the suspension is compressed.
A suspension system for isolating a load (L) independently from two separate inputs (I.sub.A, I.sub.B), such as a pair of wheels. A slider (19) is slidably mounted to a frame member (11) supporting the load and pivotable supports a common swing-arm (23). Each end of the common swing-arm is coupled to corresponding input swing-arms by a linkage assembly (24) comprising a pair of link-arms (25A, 25B) in a manner that an input disturbance will be transferred by the corresponding input swing-arm to its link-arm which will cause a positive translation and rotation movement of the the common swing-arm relative to the the frame member, such that the common swing-arm will pivot a certain degree about the other link-arm but without substantially moving the latter, thereby maintaining the undisturbed input independent from the disturbed input. The suspension system may be applied to bicycles, motor-cycles, automobile axles and rolling vehicles in general.
A bicycle rear suspension system providing rearward relative motion of the rear axle includes a chain stay, seat stay, chain stay link, seat stay link and shock absorber, with those components being assembled to a main front frame. The frame includes a head tube for supporting a front steering fork, a seat tube for supporting a seat, and a bottom bracket for supporting a pedal crank and chain drive mechanism, the seat tube and bottom bracket being supported so that there is a vertical space between them. The components of the rear suspension system are assembled to the frame within the space between the seat tube and bottom bracket. The chain stay link is pivotally attached to the frame so that, upon upward movement of the chain stay, the chain stay link pivots to cause the chain stay and thus the rear axle supported thereon to move slightly rearwardly relative to the frame.
A variable reduction cross-linkage for a rear suspension bicycle includes a four-bar linkage comprised of a portion of the frame between a first pivot point and a second pivot point, a portion of the rear swing arm, a long link and a short link. The swing arm is pivotable relative to the frame about the first pivot point. The long link is pivotable relative to the frame about the second pivot point. A shock absorber is pivotally attached to the frame and long link. The four-bar linkage operates so that upward pivotal movement of the swing arm results in a forward movement of the long link to thereby compress the shock absorber.
