Time's caught up with Mick!
By TMX Archives on 7th Jan 10
JD remembers time spent with Mick Mills, a man so far ahead in his field...then listens to tales of old at the Crooklands Hotel...
SAD news greeted me, and many other enthusiasts when they learnt the news I imagine, the other day as I arrived at work between Christmas and the New Year when I was told of the death of Mick Mills. Now, to our younger readers, this might not mean anything at all, but whether you have heard of Mick Mills or not, if you ride a modern off-road bike you unknowingly owe a lot to the man.
Mick was a remarkable engineer, whose forte was suspension. Now I am not going to rashly claim that he actually invented' the modern linkage type of rear suspension, or Upside Down Forks, because as we all know there is nothing new under the sun, but he most definitely led the way in their development and thus to their almost universal adaptation.
Mick was the man behind the Swindon Swing-link, which was the first linkage type rear suspension system most of us had seen or heard of. It was so far ahead of its time in the days of twin-shock and linkless single shock systems that it enjoyed a tremendous run of success in British motocross with riders Paul Hunt and Gary Dunn. T+MX ran out of headlines as the duo relentlessly clocked-up success after success on the National circuit. The major MX manufacturers then ran riot with the idea and suddenly everyone was running a single-shock link system. Kawasaki Uni-Trak, Suzuki Full-Floater, Honda Pro-Link, all different but all basically a four-bar' system as Mick described it to me one day.
I was fortunate to be invited down to Armstrong Motorcycles, formerly CCM, in the early 1980s by Alan Clews to meet and talk to both his talented designers who just happened to be Mick Mills and Mike Eatough and who were absolutely chalk and cheese in every aspect as I quickly learnt.
I met Mills first and in his drawing office found him to be a quiet, friendly, softly-spoken man who patiently talked myself and fellow T+MX staffman at the time, Mike Sweeney, through the theory of the four-bar rear suspension system, aided by the beautiful technical drawings on his draughtsman's board, of his latest system due to be fitted to the next generation Armstrong. All the time, Mike Eatough was standing impatiently in the doorway, waiting for Mills to finish his explanations. As we thanked Mick and made our exit, Eatough grabbed us and whisked us off to his workshop saying something along the lines of, All that theory is all very well but THIS is how you really do it, in the workshop. Mike proceeded to show us how he converted his own ideas in hard metal with saws, tools and welders. Two totally different approaches yet each worked for the individual.
Mick Mills then went on to work for Ohlins, one of the most respected of suspension companies, becoming their chief designer where he did pioneering work with USD forks, working with the factory Yamaha MotoGP team and their famous rider Kenny Roberts.
I occasionally met Mick down the years and he was unbelievably modest regarding his life's work but was always willing to sit and chat with an interested amateur engineer such as myself and carefully explain why he did this or why such and such works and something else doesn't. I always enjoyed our encounters and am sure I gained far more from them than Mick did but he was always happy to talk. The USD forks idea came from us looking for the stiffest possible triple-clamp structure... he told me one day when I encountered him in a Gloucestershire pub following one of Mark Kemp's BVM trials test days.
I even once built a trials bike that Mick had designed, the Jerred Honda. Again, this was the early 1980s and again Mick was years ahead of his time, having come up with a long-travel twin-shock chassis for the TL 125 Honda engine. Out of the blue he rang me up just a couple of years ago and joked: If you fancy building another I've just found my original drawings for the Jerred so we can knock one up if you like!
ENJOYED an afternoon over the holiday period which was basically a get-together of old gits' from the northern centre who gathered at the Crooklands Hotel, near Kendal, for a pint of Black Sheep, a plate of chips and a listen to well-known northern character Tony Bingley. Bing', who has enjoyed an enviably varied life in motorcycle sport, kept us amused for several hours, which just flew by.
It wasn't just entertaining, I learned a few things as well and eventually came away determined as Tony urged us to attend as many similar get-togethers and reunions as possible. There are a lot of characters out there with a tale to tell so get them to tell it and make sure you listen...