Softride?
 

These softride bikes seem very innovative.

Anyone got one? why are they not racing legal?

i think khuon got 1

there are rules that say bike frames must be of a traditional double triangle shape, etc. they are apparantly legal in many races, though - check out the following link.

http://www.softride.com/bike/uci.asp

They're not race legal because they do not meed the UCI, nor the USCF definition of a bicycle. As per USCF rule 1.3.020 "For massed start road and cyclocross events, the frame of the bicycle shall be of the traditional pattern, i.e. built around a main triangle." It goes on further in this definition to talk about the seat tube connecting to the bottom bracket.

It is legal in TTs until Jan. 1, 2007, in USCF TT events, at that point the USCF will move to the UCI definition of a bicycle for TTs also.

Hope this helps.

Actually the SOFTRIDE bike in khoun's photos belongs to ngateguy.

I have three pretty close personal friends who have had Softride equipped bikes. They vote one strongly in favor and two strongly opposed.

The first is a single road bike. The guy who owns it absolutely loves it and can't understand why anyone still rides a conventional bike.

The other two were fitted to the rear of tandems. One was an aftermarket beam, the other was a custom framed bike that was designed around the beam. After one year, the couple who owned the custom had the rear of the tandem cut off and replaced with a conventional design. The aftermarket beam was destined for a garage sale until the stoker exclaimed that she didn't want to be responsible for somebody else having to put up with that thinng.

I guess this would be a good place to add YMMV.

Wow those are some freaky bikes! How do they ride? They sure look different...

I just bought a Softride Rocket TT7 in April. It's tremendous bike, smooth as glass.
The Rocket models have the straight beam as opposed to the original curved beam. The curved beam bounces but not the Rocket's beam. It has very little bounce and delivers a very comfortable ride. It's plenty fast for me. I recommend Softride to everyone.

Have you test rode one?