Bear Take-down History......

[Falk]

Moooseran,
are you able to tell the age of a riser by serial-#? I always thought mine to be from the 1990th but was never sure of what excact year. The serial is written in gold to the left side and says TDH-265. Any idea?

   
   

The pics are showing my bow "Cabrón" with #3-limbs attached (Grayling, Fascor, red tips, 68#) and a pair of self-camoed #2B-limbs (Gainesville, green tips, 70#).

Thanks, Falk

[Moooseran]

That's what I call the newer style with thinner layers of wood.The pattern is tighter. It dosen't have the cheap compass so would I guess that it's 1998 or so.
I have two the same way, no compass and I think I bought them a year or 2 before "Anderson Archery"
in Michigan closed up around 96 or 97 can't remember exactly.
Very strong riser. One thing on these risers, the black facing and backing is fiberglass  where on the early Grayling and Gainesville it's some thing else not sure what but don't try to polish the stuff on a wheel you'll burn right through it. A friend tried it and ruined his riser...................

[Moooseran]

Dan, I can't tell any difference in the early 80's from the 3 I have. They all look and feel the same. Exception would be the quvier insert and the color of the wood.........Another thing  all the newer ones lack a stabilizer insert which is on the 80's risers.

Company spends money on a cheap compass and discards the stabilizer insert....????

[Moooseran]

Dan, I can't tell any difference in the early 80's from the 3 I have. They all look and feel the same. Exception would be the quvier insert and the color of the wood.........Another thing  all the newer ones lack a stabilizer insert which is on the 80's risers.

Company spends money on a cheap compass and discards the stabilizer insert....????

[Moooseran]

Sorry for the double post....Trigger happy tonight

[Falk]

Mooseran, thanks for your educated guess. I have thought 1998 myself. I got this riser in 2000 with very minor use to it. It has to be older then that - at least.
The overall quality of my riser is very good. Absolute nothing to complain about.  I wonder how they managed to lost their art in bowmaking with the even newer models (e.g. compass riser), with paint comig off and scratches below the finish etc.
Though the compass really works. Which was a big surprise to me when I checked one out. And I am used to work with compasses so am pretty sharp on errors in that case.

[Moooseran]

Falk:
I have two "B" risers from 1996 or 1997 the serial numbers are TDH 156 and TDH 205. I really think that TDH stands for "Take Down Handle". Maybe some here may have a newer “B” riser and would share his serial number with us.  

To show you how screwy this can be, I have three "A" risers that are mark like this

TDA-01
3RA-040   (I think this means 3 Rivers Archery because that's where it came from) and I believe that is the year when Bear came out with the "A" riser .

TDA-02
0-17

TDA-06
0-2

My thinking is that in these risers the TDA stands for Take Down A  and the number 01 stands for the year. So the three "A" are from 01,02.06

The first one I did get in 2001 the other two were recent buys. Very confusing but I would venture that your riser is and early version like my two “B”s because of the TDH-156 marking.

Limbs are a different animal. Before the introduction  of the “A” and the number 3 limbs the limbs were only marked for the “B” riser then along came number #3 limbs and then the “A” risers and now you’ll find limbs with markings for both risers or only one and you have to guess the rest.

I have trouble typing because I use 2 fingers and I forget my thoughts before I can type them , so if I sound confusing  it’s not old age……………It’s nice to discuss stuff like this but  none of these newer  risers will  become collectables in our life time. ……………….Hello Droptine

[Moooseran]

Falk:
 I have five "A" risers  that I've had for years. They are complete with limbs and the black cases...
......Three of them are the so called "Type One" and two are the so called "Type Two".

In order to complete a group of the Grayling risers I need a "B" riser RH  without any cut outs for sight window or adjustable side plate. Some day I'll find one in mint condition.

I also have some "One of a Kind Risers" a few   are on my web site.   www.mooseran.com

I still have two more to photograph and put them on the site.

Take care ...my email address is

[email protected]

[Falk]

Moose, you've got mail!

[stagetek]

TomI, I've shot a Predator for years. They not only look like the Kodiaks, but, if you've ever seen a photo of Fred Bears personal bow, the arrow shelf looks to be identical. They shoot great too.

[bowalaska]

Top picture is suppose to be one of Fred's bows, note the very small arrow shelf.  
   

[Tom I.]

Stagetek, Predators are beautiful bows and someday I'll have one of them too...so many bows...so little time and money.

Bowalaska, I've seen that photo of Fred's bow that Charlie Lamb took.  In fact, I saved a copy and have printed it out for friends.  your collection is fantastic.  Beautiful bows..
Now that I have limbs for mine, Thanks to Larry,
I'm a little surprised at the physical weight.
They're a little on the stout side. Certainly not the lightness of my Super Kodiak or other Bears.
Tom I.

[Horney Toad]

I have a Mag "C" riser and #3 limbs making a 70" amo bow. I haven't shot it yet, trying to get it set up with the right string.

What kind of brace height will this 70 inch bow require?

[Falk]

Don't know if recommended brace height would change with bow lenght at all?! I like my B-riser at 8 3/16", with #-3 or #-2 limbs.

Some observation from the picture above:
Mr. Bear obviously liked his bow braced quite high!?! I used the picture above and measured the distance between two fixpoints on the latch system in relation to brace height. I measured the same fixpoints on my riser and could so calculate this bows brace height to be 8.97", say 9 inches! Quite interesting ...

[bkupris]

Just wondering, are the Bear takedowns known for making any creaking or other sort of noises at the limb pocket when first drawn back after being put together? Or more specifically on frosty mornings after a few hours strung up?

[PAPALAPIN]

As far as patents go, I have something that I have been curious about.  I have ariser made by Jim Brackenbury.  It uses the Bear clamps to accept the Bear limbs.  Jim only made two, and the other one is in a private collection in Montana or Idaho.

With this riser I use a pair of Shaffer limbs that were made to be used with the Bear risers.  I purchased the limbs separately.  They make a beautiful combination, and a great shooting bow.

bkupris

I have two Gainseville risers, one original '70 Greyling riser, and then the Brackenbury Riser.  I can mix and match these with several sets of limbs I have from Greyling, Gainseville, and the Shaffer limbs ranging in weights from 43# to 70#, all Number two limbs making a 60" bow.  I have never heard any groaning, creaking, or other noises when drawing the bow.  the latch system is quite solid and quiet.  I can't speak for others that may have experience noises, but I have not.

My curiosity is, how could Shaffer and Brackenbury produce these items without violating the Bear patents.  Unless of course they paid a royalty for the right to make them.  I understand thatShaffer made many sets of limbs like this, but Brackenbury only made two risers.

Anyone got any ideas.

[bowalaska]

I have a set of red tip #2s, 50lb on B, that creak no matter which of the wood or metal risers I put them on.  Very close inspection shows no stress, chips or cracks and I would not hunt with them.  Just noisy in the first couple inches of draw.

Bear patent- kind of neat reading and shows the internals of the riser latches
 
 http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&S1=3502063.PN.&OS=PN/3502063&RS=PN/3502063

[bkupris]

That's interesting bowalaska. I have a Herters wooden handle takedown, different limb pockets than the Bear's obviously, but the top limb creaks a little bit. Very annoying and like you I would be hard pressed to use it hunting...

[Morebows]

I have a number of magnesium handles that have never given me a problem.  However, I bought a Custom Kodiak T/D from 3Rivers back in the late 90's (not sure of date, however) when they closed out their stock of them and it did have a creak for a while.  I can't remember exactly what I did to fix it. I think I slightly adjusted the big set screw that aligns the limbs as it was too high and was rubbing on the top of the matching alignment hole in the limb.  There was  a thread a bit back either on here or on another site that rhymns with "heatherwall" (are we allowed to say other sites on here?) that talked about this and things to try.  If I remember, putting moleskin on the bottom of the limb pocket seemed to cure many of the creaks.  I have a buddy who bought one of the new "A" handles from 3rivers and he is still battling with a creak.

Regarding patents, I am not an expert by a long shot, but don't they have a limited time frame (7 or 17 years) and then they expire and it is open season for copycats?

Here is another question for Bear T/D's.  Gainsville limbs (at least the few I've tried) don't seem to fit (base is too wide) well on my mag risers.  Anybody have that problem?

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

I work with patents a little, the time use to be 17 years from date of issue. They have changed that to 20 years from date of application. Those patents in affect when the change was made it is 20 years from application or 17 years from issue, which ever is longer