I found an unusual bow today, nicely made, with a conventional recurve limb on top, but with a compound limb on the bottom. Lefty. The guy wants $65. Anybody have info? I didn't take photos. Go or No? Richard

Something like this?

Wow, that's unusual. Does the bottom limb flex? JF

Lefty you say?

Buy it, sell it too me later : )

If it was a righty, I'd buy it just because! Heck I'd probably buy the Lefty just because!

Just looked on eBay and there's a prototype one that actually still has the lower recurve limb on it with no string attached to it!

Wow, I remember those!!

A boyer by the name of Graham Invented the concept back in the 70s. Called the Dynabo. The top limb did all the work the bottom was for the cam system. The original single cam bow it had an adjustable draw stop. I had one and hunted with it several years. They weren't the fastest compound of the time but they were quit and could be taken down easily for traveling. Martin acquired the patents rights later.

They are called Dynabows.I have 2 made by Phil Grable

Coyote.....that's it! Thanks for the photo. It 's in good shape,....maybe needs a little refinish work. RKK

My old dead hunting partner used one. Killed many a deer with it.

They were weird to look at when being shot. Everything else used both limbs equally so to look at a dynabow being drawn with the Nock moving way down was alot different than we'd ever seen. We had a few guy shooting Graham Dynabows in our club.

Forgot to mention the bottom rail doesnt flex at all.

Not really Patrick, the top limb and cam were timed together by adjustment on the cam. Just like setting tiller. John Graham invented the bow itself, and Martin was the only other entity that put them out to the public. They never really caught on though. Martin also had a pro staff member, Jim Cox, who hunted with one in the 1970's, so the bow worked fine in that area as well.

So what was the down fall... Sure don't see them on the market.

Some states wanted 2 working limbs so you couldn't hit with them at first. Here the biggest thing was tuning the Nick. Some guys never got the hang of it.

It was much simpler to make a bow with two limbs with eccentric pulleys, and also the asymmetrical look turned off a lot of folks. People are funny when it comes to things like that.

Wow never seen anything like this before!!!

Here's a page from 1976 magazine, C.R. Learn testing the Dynabo.

Hunt with them, sorry on phone auto correct.

Yeah that was Grahams 2 limb version for states that wanted 2 working limbs for hunting. The bottom limb still barely bent.

Had one too! Seems I remember their was tuning issues. Bow was hard to stay consistent with. I wonder if the newer string materials would've helped?

Really neat piece of history there. But since it is only half traditional I suggest that half of this thread be whacked...LOL

legal for hunting and not legal.

The Dynabow nock point traveled about an inch during the draw, and was difficult to tune. The original bottom limb did not flex, and therfore was deemed not legal for NFAA competition. The makers changed the bottom limb so it had a small amount of flex to make it eligible.

Shooting buddy (now out of action again) has several of these, claims one of them is 110#...is that likely? He was a weight lifter who hurt himself too badly to continue archery, tho did come back to recurve about ten years later...then went away, came back with a light compound.

Wow, talk about memories, that bow was the hot ticket for awhile. Martin even made a riser with a forward grip so you could use it as an overdraw. We had a number of club members with the Martin version as well as Dynabow version. I just could not get into them. Right on the heels of this bow came the 2 cam bows, of which Martin was one of the first. Looking more like the wheel bow it took over from the Dynabow in popularity.

John Graham did not invent it! Martin sold parts to Graham tough. I killed many a animal with some and I had over 30 of them at one time. Martin "B" Handles were the best .... more meat in the wood than the "A" showed in the first picture. ....Graham's back in the early 70' were $65.00 dealer cost and with a metal riser. I used and sold many Graham's also. Jim Cox got many of his parts from Gail Martin @ Martin Archery also since he worked for them also. Martin's bows were great, they just never caught on. I learned 'many a trick' when I used and shot them .... changing string lengths and adjusting bottom cam and I even had one that was about 100# draw with a 33% break over. .....Do NOT Dry-Fire one .... they will come apart & break! ...The last pro to-types Gail Martin did, The Versa Cam, about 10 years ago we had 3 ....I killed 2 big caribou with 2 of them .... I wish I had them back or remembered who has them .... I got 2 NEW limbs for them and signed by Gail Martin personally ... they should be with them bows!!! All I remember is the guy was from Texas that got the 2 I hunted with! At one time my personalized license plates in Illinois was DynaBo 1 ........(I still have the plates too)

My buddy still uses his he has two jeffw

Here is a leftie on the big auction site:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-COLLECTIBLE-Martin-Archery-DYNABO-Prototype- 1977-LH-Rare-Lower-Limb-/372015830015? hash=item569ddf13ff:g:gIQAAOSwf~ZZbO16

Two for the price of 1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Vintage-Martin-DynaBos-Cheetah-for-Jim-Cox- /122601176120?hash=item1c8b997c38:g:F0kAAOSwEUVZasxH

I'd buy it just for the history! Lance.

"Here's a page from 1976 magazine, C.R. Learn testing the Dynabo."

FAKE NEWS!!! Sites & Carbon Aros? NEVER HAPPENED - BELIEVE ME!!!

So, I just got back from the pawn shop where I saw the Dynabow a few days ago. At that time, the price was $65, but today it was $129.95. It's still in the pawn shop. RKK

Somebody at shop watching Sticbow?

Next year it goes up more than this year Dan.The Dynabo I had had a magnesium riser and was labeled as a Graham I believe.

That figures! Lance.

It's a transgender version of a bow! Kinda like a "spork".

I shot and hunted with one in the early 1979-1980. 70 pounds and the top limb broke. They sent two replacement limbs in case it broke again. I had that one limb laying around for decades. Don't know what I ever did with it.

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