These are the last pictures of my own design / built bike, this is the
second bike I have built - I rode it for 5 years.
The last time I took it back for a bit of welding I realised I would need to
replace the frame. Due to difficulty in obtaining the correct grades of
aluminium in small quantities it was impossible to heat treat the frame and
fatigue cracks have reduced its usefull life.
I have really enjoyed riding it, with 100mm of travel front and rear it has
been a good day ride / x-country bike and I have done Innerleithen
(Scotland extreme downhill) with it too.
My design of front suspension was silky smooth with very good small bump
performance - better than my Fox or Marzocchi on my other bikes. It looks a
bit like a Whyte but it is not the same mechanically and I had tried the J
path (like Whyte)on my previous bike - I was not happy with it... I went for
a conventional wheel motion on this.
With this suspension design the trail remains fairly constant through the
wheel travel and the reduced friction with fewer sliding elements is also
good - the handling was sharp and consistent.
I have replaced this frame with a 2005 Enduro its OK but long travel
telescopic forks take some getting used to again........I may have to start
designing again....
Any other bike designers out there??
Max