This invention relates to a bicycle shock-absorbing apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus that utilizes elastomer polymers instead of springs or the like to absorb a shock from a uneven terrain.
A conventional bicycle does not have any shock-absorbing apparatus attached to either the front or rear wheel axle. Therefore, a biker will feel discomfort when passing over an uneven terrain. In addition, long term use on an uneven terrain will damage the bicycle. With the above drawbacks, the bicycle needs to be improved to have better performance.
An off-road bicycle (or a mountain bicycle) is popularly used for sport and leisure. Therefore, a safe and trouble-free bicycle is a basic requirement for off- road use. A number of front fork designs have been disclosed for off-road motorcycles. However, a bicycle is quite different to a motorcycle in many ways, such as the momentum of a motorcycle is much greater than that of a bicycle under normal use, as a motorcycle has a greater mass and is used at higher speeds than those of a bicycle. Therefore, simply adapting a current motorcycle shock-absorbing apparatus onto a bicycle is not feasible.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,344, teaches a bicycle with a front fork wheel suspension that utilizes a pair of telescoping tubes and a spring-loaded valve, so that the latter can regulate the flow of fluid between the pair of telescoping tubes and thus absorb shock from an impact.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,324, which belongs to the present inventor, also discloses a bicycle shock-absorbing apparatus comprising an inner tube, a valve device, and an outer tube cooperating with a pair of springs and damping oil loops therein for absorbing the shock impact from an uneven terrain.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,705, which also belongs to the present inventor, discloses a bicycle shock-absorbing apparatus comprising an inner tube and an outer tube. An upper spring socket and an lower spring socket are disposed in the inner tube and the outer tube separately. A compression spring is disposed between the spring sockets, oil being filled between the spring sockets. The inner tube is fixedly attached to the upper spring socket and corelatedly actuated with the spring to achieve a shock absorbing effect.
However, the above disclosures utilize springs which are apt to loose elasticity in use over a long time. The change of the spring(s) is cumbersome because the spring has to be linked with corelated socket(s) and the damping oil will cause trouble when changing the spring.