A Short History of Bruni Bicycles
I spent the 70's and 80's rebuilding industrial machines and suspension tuning Japanese motorcycles. The Hondas and Yamahas of that time had more power than they could effectively apply to the ground. I upgraded pivots, stiffened swingarms, improved springing and damping, reduced unsprung weight, added better wheels and tires, more braking power, and the speeds became scary.
I had started cycling more and motoring less. Then as fate would have, a speeding ticket/licence suspension cemented the trend. Cycling to day classes/night shift at the factory was tough, but good; and 40 m.p.h. fun on a bicycle probably saved me any more 100+ m.p.h. tickets.
How to make cycles faster? Light weight and aero dynamics were SOP, but I noticed that around Baltimore town at least, every 45 m.p.h. downhill had a host of obstacles like expansion strips, wood paving of bridges, patches, etc. that limited safe speeds. SUSPENSION! No better way to go fast than not having to brake. 1989 was the year of my first century and with long distance comfort added to the list of reasons for bicycling suspension, the maiden voyage occurred in December 1989. The conceptual prototype was a complete success and the production version went to Bicycling magazine in November 1990, published in May 1991 (elsewhere).
Though two RAAM riders tried my machines, I felt that a small company could not change the perception that comfort and speed are polar opposites, at least not with a frontal assault, so I made a point of incorporating roadholding and comfort into more conventional designs (see Bicycle Guide article). In 1993, I introduced curved seatstays to modern tandems. In 1995, seeing the desperate search for comfort that drove tandem stokers toward bounce posts, I designed the current concentric URT in production today.
-Tom Bruni