Interview with Allen Millyard
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2020
- We took a road trip down to the Forest of Dean to meet up with Allen Millyard and his sons Stephen and Sam and check out their latest creation, the Hyper Ride Suspension system.
It was a baking hot day in the midst of a heatwave when we rolled up to Pedalabikeaway in the Forest of Dean to meet up with the Millyards. Hot as hell, humid like a jungle, but dusty dry on the trails, it hardly seemed the ideal conditions for riding mountain bikes or motor bikes. A float down the river Wye seemed much more inviting. But since they’d made the hour and a half trip - Allen on a motorbike, his sons in their pickup truck - we were committed. Some obligatory mechanical faffing later, and we sweated our way up the fire road in the Forest of Dean for a quick descent down before catching up with Allen for a chat.
It was a hairy ride down for our US rider Fahzure as he borrowed Stephen’s bike - brakes still in UK orientation - and followed Sam blind down trails that might have been called Sheepskull and Ski Run, but on the tail of Sam went by in such a blur that it’s hard to be sure. Drops, ruts, turns and enough roots to make us glad of the dry conditions, we emerged at the bottom to find Allen and sit down for a chat in the shade before he headed home to cool off. As well as making things in his shed (oh how we wish we had arranged to see in there) he’s busy shooting a series of ‘Find It Fix It Flog It’ so this was his second day out in the heatwave in a row. Maybe he really was tired, or maybe he had a plan for whipping up some super efficient new cooling system and he was eager to get home to the lathe?
Quietly spoken, with his reading glasses on his head, he looks more like a sound engineer at a Stones gig than he does a mad inventor. And while he might not set much store by technical drawings, elaborate plans and mathematics, he’s no madman. He turns the idea that he has in his head into a finished creation using his hands rather than any computer model, but there’s plenty of thought going on in that head. With his sons riding the suspension systems he’s created, he’s safety conscious and has built them to withstand all the pressure that their construction - and the riding they’re out through - can throw at them. Watch the video to learn all about how Allen made the system and what he’s planning to do next.
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Allen Millyard is a genius of our time
Allen handle that condescending interviewee very well 👍🇬🇧
guy on the right has no forking clue ,love the Millyards true visionaries.
It's amusing how this guy doesn't get what Allen Millyard is about. 🤣
"Any desire to learn CNC stuff?" Yeah that's like asking Hendrix if he ever though of learning to play the triangle... Where did they find this bloke?
Unfortunately this interview was painful, Allen deserves an interviewer that understands the passion and thoughts behind his projects, not some random interview in a park. Also Allen is right about weight not being a big deal, very keen to explore his designs!!
He didn't get that EVERY thing is manufactured in Allen's shed and bbq!!!!!
Been in engineering and design for 35 years. Its a long term fascination when to cut metal and when to stop the CAD? Ill make prototypes direct on lathe and/or manual mill. In many instances the final outcome is better/faster/different to that envisioned by CAD.
Not going to lie... the interviewer needs to take an enthusiasm pill 🤣🤣
Millyard has got to be the coolest dude out there and he seemed fed up with this interview
I love this guy, never seen true genius like him before. I love how he just builds his own engines, shocks and whatever else he wants and is totally casual about it
Allen is a human genius. His channel is brilliant. His ideas are brilliant. I have air fox floaters and Rockshox on my giant anthem and I am over the cost, the unavailability of getting a “complete” seal kit not just the basic seal kit. I don’t want to return my shock to the manufacturer when I can easily do it at home because they won’t supply the unobtainium damper/lockout seals.
I love Allen Millyard. Proper expert geek craftsman doing it for fun. ❤️
Interviewer,
Dude just doesn't get it that Allen isn't it for the money. Just marches to a different beat. Thank God for that.
Amazing!!!! I am afraid to change the oil in my fork and this guy is making his own suspension....
It leaked because you used a Landrover part for the shaft :P
Wait... so it has 6 parts total all of which are dirt cheap, the only one that might wear out is a 20 pence seal so it will last effectively forever, it's indestructible in any survivable landing, it outperforms the market leading high tech solution, you adjust it by changing the weight of the oil you fill it with & its performance is stable from one year to the next, & it's old tech that probably isn't patentable, just being applied in a way nobody previously tried.
Just love the way Allen stays so humble when being pushed on the possibility of taking the shocks to production. Just goes to show that all the boffins at RockShox etc can't compete with a true engineering genius.
I hope I'm not reaching, I just feel that this interviewer did not know who he is interviewing and probably didn't bother to research at all.