Firebird Freestyler

The Firebird wasn't exactly new to the freestyle market, in fact it was initially designed last October and went on sale to the trade last December. Prototype after prototype were made up in an attempt to find that balance between man and machine, essential for any successful frame. The proof that the Firebird has reached that point is that the last modification went through in January and since then not a thing has needed to be changed. After all five thousand customers can't be wrong. Despite the fact that it is among the first of the British freestylers to be seen, it still carries that look of clean and simple superiority that it did then.

One of the most noticeable features about the Firebird package is the forks, their shape is a little out of the ordinary to say the least . Instead of the straight legged fork on most frames it has a waisted shape, spreading out towards the dropouts. Such a design with it's triangular influence distibutes the great stress of freestyleing more evenly. It was due to their shape that the dropouts had to be altered accordingly, being directly underneath the fork leg, rather than being axle leading. One point that Dave Park stressed was the fact that the welding on the forks, and indeed the rest of the frame is strong, and does he mean strong. He told us that down at the factory one of their guys, one of the heftier guys that is, took a sledge hammer to a pair of forks. "He'd make mincemeat out of them", you're thinking, well he did. By the time he'd finished they looked like tin foil on a Christmas turkey, but there wasn't a crack in the welds anywhere.

DP believe in practicing what they preach, every good freestyle frame worth it's salt should have a double top tube. Therefore the DP freestyler had a double top tube. Tricks involve a lot of stress on the frame and unlike racers they require more give and take. What better way of doing it. The top tubes differ from the norm in the fact that they have gussetting in between them, rather than between the top and down tubes. The small triangular plate near the headset adds sitffness and fights unwanted flex. The gussetting is also featured at the seat tube where instead of tubing supporting the mast it is the gussetting which it partially pierces. This helped to form a foot platform as well as being the brake anchor and giving ridgidity to another high stress area. The stress distribution was essential if full control over the bike is to be experienced, although the platform did enhance the design as well.
Ultra beefy rear dropouts and a coaster mount were other features on the frame which were both simple but essential to a freestylers way of life.

At DP the chrome quality was quintessential and nothing below par was allowed to slip out. A case in point is earlier this year the chroming dropped below standard and so no more frames were finished off for six weeks until the quality had improved. If you didn't like the look of chrome, then you could always opt for their white finish, it's persil pureness really stood out. In both finishes the clean look of the frame is helped by the smooth welds, and the addition of the redesigned decals which are the business.

The looks are all very well but could the frame stand up to the rigours of handling. The answer was yes. It was wondorous in the air, and ground tricks were performed with no effort at all, and it's ability to turn on a sixpence had to be seen to be appreciated. The perfect freestyle frame or as near as possible seems to have arrived, it perfromed like a frame costing twice as much and looks just as slick, but for a mere £74.95 it was econqual at it's best.

It was in short made by people who cared not only about the quality but also the fact that you got value for money, something many couldn't boast. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that DP held around seventy percent of the frame sales at that time.
All that must have truely made it a frame to contend with.