Should I get Manufacturing Engineering Technician which is focused on CNC,Fabrication,CAM,Fabrication,Solid modelling,Process Engineering or just Go Mechanical Engineering. What do you think as a student does Mechanical Engineering a good course for some one who likes to design bikes or should I just go CNC Technician becuase it will put me on advantage on modelling
@@ROSE-by5su if youre abled to study mechanical engineering and you dont hate math, do that. if you want to design bikes you have to actually do the engineering, not just the manufacturing. youll learn to use cad-software in university too (although not as detailed -> the rest will come with practice: you dont need to do the technician for that)
@@HannyDart I listen to a podcast and Santacruz have Industrial Design which the one who design bikes and he just works with a Mechanical engineer and he still have like a little bit part on the engineering of the Bike which I like but still dont know which way to Go because I love to designing im on architect right now 1st semester planing to shift (cant find a School with this courses) and I love doing Mechanical stuff. So I love designing,creating and doing Mechanical things but this courses play big role on the things I want to do
@@HannyDart what do you think? Industrial Design,you could just design and ask a engineer to make it work or a Fully Mechanical Engineer but sad to say but some company prefer engineers to do just the engineering part not the designing or aesthetics part. Another question is it posible to self study Mechanical Engineering? I could just go on Technician which only 2 years course and study Engineering and Industrial Design in my own becuase I dont like to study like thermodynamics etc like I will not use it later
Thank you so much for bringing us along on the journey. I am excited to watch you race these bikes this season and hear more about your design project. Fantastic Video!
The transparency in the process is beyond appreciated. Coming from the product design industry, sounds like you have you're expectations set in just the right place. Looking forward to the next video
As a long time racer, engineer, and gear head it’s great to see such a straight forward perspective on equipment. I, for one, welcome these fireside chats.
"Its not very high production quality" is exactly why this is awesome. A dude chatting about something he clearly loves and has put his heart into. No fluff. This is what the world needs right now. That its Neko just make it all the more awesome. Look forward to seeing the bike in person at Fort William. Good luck with the season Mr Mulally!
Neko, really enjoyed this honest, in depth explanation. Sharing your thought process and explaining the issues you've been encountering and learning from enriches everyone's knowledge. As a bike builder myself, I appreciate what you're doing.
You’re a legend man. No questions, just so cool to see how the process went so far and how it’s going. Would love to see what Jordie has to say in the pits this year when you are puzzling. Good luck man!
Props on the long chainstays! They're one the most overlooked advantage of the mullet setup. You get the high speed stability, without requiring a ton of energy to pull the front end up as you would with a 29er rear. 435mm chainstays make zero sense on 27.5 rear bikes for size large/475mm reach and higher bikes. Hopefully the industry will keep pushing the people who think you can't manual long CS bikes into the sweet spot (455mm for dh, 445mm for enduro/freeride imo)
it's great that you share your experience in creating your own bike frame, I think many of us who like this have dreamed of doing the same and being able to create something of our own. keep it up and enjoy the bike
This is sick ! Looking Forward to the next one ! I'd be interested to know what the tolerances were on the bearings. I'd understand if you don't want to disclose that but as an engineering student I'd be interested. Construction is done in so many iterations you can never catch all the issues on the first Prototype !
Given I am doing my machine design homework currently... Probably a good couple thousandths undersized too many haha. shouldn't have notchy bearings after shrink fits
I'm a bicycle mechanic for 15 years and love engineering aswell as all the trickery that comes with it. What you do in DH (building your own parts/finding niche solutions to your vision) is standard in a lot of other (motor)sports and another step in the right direction imo. Finally people start becoming aware of geometry numbers instead of just "the 20inch frame" and how drastically it can affect their riding. I highly appreciate the deeper look into the technical abyss and can't wait to see where you and Frank take us!
Thanks for making this video and actually explaining how the design affects the mechanics of riding. Sometimes people talk about slack and headtube angles without actually describing their performance.
This is great. No one is going over the details like this. As someone trying to learn what designs affect the ride is nice to hear your thoughts on it.
Great videos! It’s refreshing and interesting to have a pro rider tell us how it is without brand influence rolling in the back ground. Thank you Neko!
Such a cool thing you’re doing. I love that fact about the tubing being Spooky leftovers. When you build something from scratch all these details make the project “come to life”. Best of luck this season! You are awesome!
Awesome video Neko. Love the low-key presentation. Super interesting and will make following your racing so cool this season atter all the background to the bike. That Spooky tube on there is so good!
This is really cool. Your transperancy is awesome. I'm considering a bike frame as my final year mechanical engineering project. Seeing your progress is really helpful. This also adds a heap of excitement for the upcoming season.
Always enjoyed watching you race the NW Cup and I’m pumped to see your progression within the sport and how much you give back. Best wishes on your current and future endeavors. Thanks again for bringing us along for the ride. 🤘🏻
Loved the deep dive and the transparency on everything, including where things could be improved. Can't wait for more videos and to see you ripping on the live feed come round 1 💪
Thanks for sharing Neko, I've fabricated two aluminium dh frame as a hobby, I can definetivly appreciate and understand your work. I totally know the frustration with the hardwear. Cool to see that Frank Is Still At it ! Good job ! Lache pas ! Geetings from Montreal Canada.
This is so awesome! It truly brings me back to building custom Manitou frames in Doug Bradbury’s garage in the late 80’s. I remember the heat treating process but I can’t recall if we put them in jigs to prevent the warping of the tubes. Those square stays are so familiar ;-). Well, I now must watch episode two. Cheers!
You’re a legend, Neko! Thanks for making this series! I really hope you score a couple of podiums this season Here’s my question: What about frame strength? Did you have any durability testing done? How did you arrive at those tube sizes and thicknesses? What was the maximum amount of force you anticipated the bike to withstand?
Honestly man, with my budget it was largely an educated guess. I let Frank choose the tubing based on other bikes he made and his experience working with metal for 30+ years. Lots of riding on these frames and no issues.
This project is so good! the production quality of this video is perfect. Love hearing all the insights. Keep it up! Looking forward to the next one. I think it would be interesting to talk a bit about cost of designing and having your own frame built. I know in one of the podcasts you did, you mentioned how much a world cup team budget would be. Would love to have insight into how much the bike part of that budget is.
Good point! I will mention that in the next one. Each frame is around 10K, but that is because they are one offs and you can't amortize design, tooling, or heat treat costs across a run of frames.
I dig the deeper dive into the tech side of things like this video. Looking forward to following how things progress for you this year and wish you the best of luck. Cheers!
Love seeing all the info, and can't wait to see you racing your creation this season. Interested in your comment about ochain to offset the pedal kick, I understand it is not specifically about your bike design, but it seems you took that into account with your design and I would find it interesting to hear more from you about it and how it works for you.
I really like the OChain and in general I think it makes the bike work better. You quickly get used to the delayed engagement, which isn't really an issue, and the free feeling of the drivetrain makes the bike feel smoother. I would recommend trying one out if you think it would help your style of riding.
This is awesome! Really love this stuff. I'm an engineer and rider myself. Neat to see such a unique project. Looking forward to the rest of the videos and best of luck this season!
This is what racing is all about! Not “the guy with the most money deserves to win”. Grassroots effort, and if this bike rides better than any big brand machine then Neko rocks and we suck for plunking down 10k for a bicycle.
Bearing housing tolerances can be pulled straight out of a table based on ISO standards. I guess I'm wondering if the bearing press fit issues was from the engineers spec being wrong or the machine shop couldn't hold tighter than .001 inch. Either way, the bike is awesome. For the broken bolts - I wonder if you could turn some shafts that fit tight in the bearings, and some spacers to set the right gap. Put the 2 sides together with the shafts and spacers so they are aligned, then weld some braces across from side to side to stiffen it up. Then heat treat it. Moderate amount of work, but might help you stop breaking bolts.
I also suspect bike manufacturers run looser bearing tolerances than a machinist handbook or Koyo and their ilk would deem correct. At least in my experience (like 5-6 mtb bearing jobs) bikes have more like a light press/transitional fit. Where as in industry, all the bearing presses I have designed typically require an arbor press with at least a little force behind it.
Thanks for the insight. Love the Redneck Engineer name. I'd like to get there myself one day! We figured out that the bolt was too long and the quality of the steel bolt wasn't good enough. In the past few weeks I've been having good luck with 12.9 steel bolts. On my next bike that uses the Cascade link, we will use a brace and a shorter shock bolt. I should have the new frame quicker than it would take to get new links for this one, and once I get the new frame I will probably not ride this first prototype anymore anyway. So, I think we'll just fix it on the next one!
@@NekoMulally On the current frame, if you have a stiffer rear axle or can increase the rear axle torque on the frame, that may also help reduce the rear wheel twisting in the frame which is what is likely causing shear force in the link and snapping bolts. On the bolts, if you can find a bolt with more unthreaded length that would also work in the link, it should last longer too as the threads are the weakest part. On design number 2 with cascade, if you're looking to avoid a link that's machined out of a huge block of aluminum, you could consider running a splined shaft though the main pivot on the link to tie both sides of the link together mechanically.
Good stuff Neko! Really enjoyed getting into the weeds with the details. I had heard you mention in podcasts that you would like a longer reach now that your running a 40mm stem. In this video you talked about how you had to run a 1 degree works headset and it made me wonder if your bike is actually 475mm reach or something shorter.
Good point! Looking at the angled cups, it probably reduces the reach by 2-3mm. Wish I could run a straight headset or reach adjust headset. We will fix this issue moving forward,
Neko, this is really interesting. I, personally, really like the style of this video. Production value isn't all it's cracked up to be. Thank you for putting this out there. I do have a question that you may get into later in the series, but I am wondering what your plan is for the season as for number of frames. Are you going to have Frank weld up a few identical frames (in case of failure either in a crash or just fatigue from hitting racing speed for a full season) or are you hoping to make the full season on a single frame?
Thanks for watching man! I am just testing these two frames to see what works best, and then I will have Frank make me around 4 frames for the season. 2 for US, 2 for EU including a race bike and a spare.
I’ve seen some 5 Dev products in your IG - it would be cool to go more in depth with what they’re custom building for your bikes (one piece link, cranks, etc) and if they hold up better than the current CNC parts.
It is interesting! I find that the Ochain makes the pedal kick equal on both frames, which is great because it then isolates the axle path. I think the Ochain is a great product and makes the bike feel smoother. It does add another point of complexity to your bike, but I think it is worth it if you are looking for what it offers.
I can definitely talk about my feelings on riding the bikes. I am hesitant to go as deep because I don't have exact kinematics on those bikes. Bike companies never publish them and I don't want to assume or use unconfirmed data.
Thank you….as someone that makes tubing for the military I like the idea of using different thicknesses as well as flex points…..definitely interested in geometry changes through the year due to stretching
Right now I am on some of the tunes that the Fox race department developed. They offer a few different tunes to their sponsored racers in each discipline. What I am using may be different from stock (some of the stock tunes are great though!) but it may not be specific to me or my bike. In general we have a lighter base valve on the VVC shock to give it a more supple feel and then use more high speed adjustment to control the bike on big impacts. That's what I have found to work for me.
Really cool idea, I like, but as you said, those who don't care will think it's too much, those interested will always want more :-) Have to say, very cool that you could design your first bike and get it so close to what you wanted straight off, speaks to your knowledge as a racer and how things work and what you like - there's a lot of racers who couldn't even give you any hint of an idea if something didn't feel right, what it was. Looking forward to the future videos. Kind of surprised that for a DH bike the tubing is only .85mm thick, somehow thought it would need to be thicker, especially since it's straight wall and not butted or maybe it can be that thin because it's straight wall - my knowledge doesn't go that far :-\
Oh man, no worries. OK, now that makes a lot more sense on the tubing thickness LOL. The whole metric/imperial thing didn't even enter the brain LOL. Actually I use both imperial and metric when thinking about bike measurements, just got accustomed to some dimensions in inches and others in MM.
Awesome Video Neko, I love this kind of content and look forward to the next video. I have a question as well. I am curious what your thoughts are on the trend of fork offsets getting lower over the past few years? I know this is not directly related to the frame but definitely affects the overall geometry and behavior of the bike. I have a set of the Mojo Morc 40 Crowns that have been seen on various World Cup riders bikes over the last few years and curious if you have ever tried them out or used custom crowns etc?
The offset is a noticeable change for sure! I find the 52mm on the DH bike to be the sweet spot with the Fox 40. When we had the old version of the 40 that used 58mm offset, I had some custom crowns that brought it to 54mm. The general feeling is that longer offset has more responsive steering but is more twitchy and shorter offset has less responsive steering and is more stable. Too much or too little are not going to handle naturally as you lean the bike. There are other contributing factors like head angle, and I think mechanical trail is a more valuable thing to look at than offset alone, but it starts to get pretty complicated. If you are riding DH try 52mm offset, for trail or enduro try 46mm offset... that is what I found works for me.
Thanks man! In addition to improving the ride of the frame, we are trying to improve the process to make it more consistent and efficient to build as we go forward.
If you ever feel like crowd sourcing some bits of the bike, it would be pretty fun to have CAD for your bike, or even sketches, and see what people design for it. For example running some FEA, generative design, and common sense, you might be able to make the bike even heavier, more expensive, and less reliable.
Hello Neko, thank you for the interesting insights into your great project. Can you please say something more about your thoughts on your choice of head angle, Stem length and fork offset. Thank you very much!
Radical. Look forwards to the comparison videos. It would be cool to hear more about your shock setup. Are you doing anything custom tune wise? How do these kinds of considerations factor into the kinematics, or can fox just make it work for whatever?
Right now I am on some of the tunes that the Fox race department developed. They offer a few different tunes to their sponsored racers in each discipline. What I am using may be different from stock (some of the stock tunes are great though!) but it may not be specific to me or my bike. In general we have a lighter base valve on the VVC shock to give it a more supple feel and then use more high speed adjustment to control the bike on big impacts. That's what I have found to work for me.
As a bike enthusiast and mechnical engineering student this is such a cool insight!
i cant wait for the next episodes!
greetings from germany :)
Alda, dat will ich vlt auch machen! Find das ganze auch sehr interessant.
Should I get Manufacturing Engineering Technician which is focused on CNC,Fabrication,CAM,Fabrication,Solid modelling,Process Engineering or just Go Mechanical Engineering. What do you think as a student does Mechanical Engineering a good course for some one who likes to design bikes or should I just go CNC Technician becuase it will put me on advantage on modelling
@@ROSE-by5su if youre abled to study mechanical engineering and you dont hate math, do that.
if you want to design bikes you have to actually do the engineering, not just the manufacturing. youll learn to use cad-software in university too (although not as detailed -> the rest will come with practice: you dont need to do the technician for that)
@@HannyDart I listen to a podcast and Santacruz have Industrial Design which the one who design bikes and he just works with a Mechanical engineer and he still have like a little bit part on the engineering of the Bike which I like but still dont know which way to Go because I love to designing im on architect right now 1st semester planing to shift (cant find a School with this courses) and I love doing Mechanical stuff. So I love designing,creating and doing Mechanical things but this courses play big role on the things I want to do
@@HannyDart what do you think? Industrial Design,you could just design and ask a engineer to make it work or a Fully Mechanical Engineer but sad to say but some company prefer engineers to do just the engineering part not the designing or aesthetics part. Another question is it posible to self study Mechanical Engineering? I could just go on Technician which only 2 years course and study Engineering and Industrial Design in my own becuase I dont like to study like thermodynamics etc like I will not use it later
Thank you so much for bringing us along on the journey. I am excited to watch you race these bikes this season and hear more about your design project. Fantastic Video!
The transparency in the process is beyond appreciated. Coming from the product design industry, sounds like you have you're expectations set in just the right place. Looking forward to the next video
Thanks man! Appreciate that
As a long time racer, engineer, and gear head it’s great to see such a straight forward perspective on equipment. I, for one, welcome these fireside chats.
"Its not very high production quality" is exactly why this is awesome. A dude chatting about something he clearly loves and has put his heart into. No fluff. This is what the world needs right now. That its Neko just make it all the more awesome. Look forward to seeing the bike in person at Fort William. Good luck with the season Mr Mulally!
Sounds good! Come by our tent at Fort William.
Neko, really enjoyed this honest, in depth explanation. Sharing your thought process and explaining the issues you've been encountering and learning from enriches everyone's knowledge. As a bike builder myself, I appreciate what you're doing.
You’re a legend man. No questions, just so cool to see how the process went so far and how it’s going. Would love to see what Jordie has to say in the pits this year when you are puzzling. Good luck man!
Cool we will get his opinion in one of them. He doesn't like anything but he seems to like my bike.
This is the best bike tech related video I've seen in...ever.
Nemo this video series is AWESOME. KEEP BRINGING THESE OUT!
Dammit I love this! I am pulling for you so much and thank you for documenting your journey.... Mad respect!!
Props on the long chainstays! They're one the most overlooked advantage of the mullet setup. You get the high speed stability, without requiring a ton of energy to pull the front end up as you would with a 29er rear. 435mm chainstays make zero sense on 27.5 rear bikes for size large/475mm reach and higher bikes. Hopefully the industry will keep pushing the people who think you can't manual long CS bikes into the sweet spot (455mm for dh, 445mm for enduro/freeride imo)
Yes, yes , yes!! Loving the process. Keep it honest. It’s refreshing.
it's great that you share your experience in creating your own bike frame, I think many of us who like this have dreamed of doing the same and being able to create something of our own. keep it up and enjoy the bike
As an engineer I really appreciated this style of video. Thank you!
This is sick ! Looking Forward to the next one !
I'd be interested to know what the tolerances were on the bearings. I'd understand if you don't want to disclose that but as an engineering student I'd be interested. Construction is done in so many iterations you can never catch all the issues on the first Prototype !
Given I am doing my machine design homework currently... Probably a good couple thousandths undersized too many haha. shouldn't have notchy bearings after shrink fits
Dude sick. Thx to everyone supporting neko this is amazing.
I love what you're doing! You could be an engineer in your retirement with your systematic thought process and testing and problem solving haha
I'm a bicycle mechanic for 15 years and love engineering aswell as all the trickery that comes with it.
What you do in DH (building your own parts/finding niche solutions to your vision) is standard in a lot of other (motor)sports and another step in the right direction imo.
Finally people start becoming aware of geometry numbers instead of just "the 20inch frame" and how drastically it can affect their riding.
I highly appreciate the deeper look into the technical abyss and can't wait to see where you and Frank take us!
Thanks man! I hope to find the best performance and durability for racing, don't really care about much else.
Im glad Fox had you on their video. Now I can follow your progress. Great stuff and good luck this year!
Thank you Neko!
I totally appreciate this type of content!!
Helps me understand why i bended my top boot on my new bike….
Mint watch 👍 Looking forward to the next one..
Fascinating!
This was the best 15 minutes of my day dude :)
The anti-braking numbers was surprising to hear about. Spare us no details please!
Thanks for making this video and actually explaining how the design affects the mechanics of riding. Sometimes people talk about slack and headtube angles without actually describing their performance.
That was SUCH a cool walktrough. How cool is this?!? Can't believe it. Super interesting. More of this please!
This is fascinating!
On to the next episode...
This is great. No one is going over the details like this. As someone trying to learn what designs affect the ride is nice to hear your thoughts on it.
Great videos! It’s refreshing and interesting to have a pro rider tell us how it is without brand influence rolling in the back ground. Thank you Neko!
Big thanks for a straight forward, very interesting and pleasant video to watch! Good luck racing, will follow!
Oh man, haven't heard "Project X" in a long time! That's too cool to have parts from that on your bike
Such a cool thing you’re doing. I love that fact about the tubing being Spooky leftovers. When you build something from scratch all these details make the project “come to life”. Best of luck this season! You are awesome!
Awesome video Neko. Love the low-key presentation. Super interesting and will make following your racing so cool this season atter all the background to the bike. That Spooky tube on there is so good!
This is really cool. Your transperancy is awesome. I'm considering a bike frame as my final year mechanical engineering project. Seeing your progress is really helpful. This also adds a heap of excitement for the upcoming season.
Cool man! If you make one out of steel it is cheaper and easier to get started.
I really enjoy this braked down. Super cool that you are doing this and sharing it!
I really like what you are doing. Can’t wait to see how your season goes
Always enjoyed watching you race the NW Cup and I’m pumped to see your progression within the sport and how much you give back. Best wishes on your current and future endeavors. Thanks again for bringing us along for the ride. 🤘🏻
Thanks! Hope to get back up there soon
This was a great video I really enjoyed it. We're all sure you're gonna kick ass this season.
Loved the deep dive and the transparency on everything, including where things could be improved. Can't wait for more videos and to see you ripping on the live feed come round 1 💪
Love the video, so keen for more. Looking fwd to seeing you race your own bike. Thanks for bring us along for the ride.
Thanks for sharing Neko,
I've fabricated two aluminium dh frame as a hobby, I can definetivly appreciate and understand your work.
I totally know the frustration with the hardwear.
Cool to see that Frank Is Still At it !
Good job !
Lache pas !
Geetings from Montreal Canada.
This is so awesome! It truly brings me back to building custom Manitou frames in Doug Bradbury’s garage in the late 80’s. I remember the heat treating process but I can’t recall if we put them in jigs to prevent the warping of the tubes. Those square stays are so familiar ;-). Well, I now must watch episode two. Cheers!
You’re a legend, Neko! Thanks for making this series! I really hope you score a couple of podiums this season
Here’s my question: What about frame strength? Did you have any durability testing done? How did you arrive at those tube sizes and thicknesses? What was the maximum amount of force you anticipated the bike to withstand?
Honestly man, with my budget it was largely an educated guess. I let Frank choose the tubing based on other bikes he made and his experience working with metal for 30+ years. Lots of riding on these frames and no issues.
Nice work. As the bloke on the bike said, good luck for the season. See you at Fort William, looking forward to seeing the bike for real.
Loving the videos, I really enjoy hearing you openly discuss mistakes that were made and how you plan to fix them in the future!
This project is so good! the production quality of this video is perfect. Love hearing all the insights. Keep it up! Looking forward to the next one. I think it would be interesting to talk a bit about cost of designing and having your own frame built. I know in one of the podcasts you did, you mentioned how much a world cup team budget would be. Would love to have insight into how much the bike part of that budget is.
Good point! I will mention that in the next one. Each frame is around 10K, but that is because they are one offs and you can't amortize design, tooling, or heat treat costs across a run of frames.
Awesome video. Love the transparency and respect your process! Can’t wait to see more!
I dig the deeper dive into the tech side of things like this video. Looking forward to following how things progress for you this year and wish you the best of luck. Cheers!
Thanks Foye! Hope to see you at the local races this year!
I love it. This may be my favorite video you have ever produced.
Love seeing all the info, and can't wait to see you racing your creation this season. Interested in your comment about ochain to offset the pedal kick, I understand it is not specifically about your bike design, but it seems you took that into account with your design and I would find it interesting to hear more from you about it and how it works for you.
I really like the OChain and in general I think it makes the bike work better. You quickly get used to the delayed engagement, which isn't really an issue, and the free feeling of the drivetrain makes the bike feel smoother. I would recommend trying one out if you think it would help your style of riding.
@@NekoMulally Thanks for your insight. I’m just a casual rider, but I may try it on my sons bikes, they likely will benefit.
Very cool breakdown of the frame. Tried to new concept, Keep it simple and fast. Pro level prototype IMO.
a legend... can't wait to see you NM racing in your masterpiece... ride safe
Very nice insight in frame development and what you can run into. Can’t wait for more videos.
Very cool! Thanks for bringing us along .
This is awesome! Really love this stuff. I'm an engineer and rider myself. Neat to see such a unique project. Looking forward to the rest of the videos and best of luck this season!
Thanks very much!
This is really interesting, keep it going Neko!
This is a brilliant approach to racing, in any sport.
This is what racing is all about! Not “the guy with the most money deserves to win”.
Grassroots effort, and if this bike rides better than any big brand machine then Neko rocks and we suck for plunking down 10k for a bicycle.
Bearing housing tolerances can be pulled straight out of a table based on ISO standards. I guess I'm wondering if the bearing press fit issues was from the engineers spec being wrong or the machine shop couldn't hold tighter than .001 inch. Either way, the bike is awesome. For the broken bolts - I wonder if you could turn some shafts that fit tight in the bearings, and some spacers to set the right gap. Put the 2 sides together with the shafts and spacers so they are aligned, then weld some braces across from side to side to stiffen it up. Then heat treat it. Moderate amount of work, but might help you stop breaking bolts.
I also suspect bike manufacturers run looser bearing tolerances than a machinist handbook or Koyo and their ilk would deem correct. At least in my experience (like 5-6 mtb bearing jobs) bikes have more like a light press/transitional fit. Where as in industry, all the bearing presses I have designed typically require an arbor press with at least a little force behind it.
Thanks for the insight. Love the Redneck Engineer name. I'd like to get there myself one day! We figured out that the bolt was too long and the quality of the steel bolt wasn't good enough. In the past few weeks I've been having good luck with 12.9 steel bolts. On my next bike that uses the Cascade link, we will use a brace and a shorter shock bolt. I should have the new frame quicker than it would take to get new links for this one, and once I get the new frame I will probably not ride this first prototype anymore anyway. So, I think we'll just fix it on the next one!
@@NekoMulally On the current frame, if you have a stiffer rear axle or can increase the rear axle torque on the frame, that may also help reduce the rear wheel twisting in the frame which is what is likely causing shear force in the link and snapping bolts. On the bolts, if you can find a bolt with more unthreaded length that would also work in the link, it should last longer too as the threads are the weakest part.
On design number 2 with cascade, if you're looking to avoid a link that's machined out of a huge block of aluminum, you could consider running a splined shaft though the main pivot on the link to tie both sides of the link together mechanically.
I love it when you talk nerdy to me! More please!
So cool! Keep up and good luck this season. Can't wait for the HP frame talk
Stoked to have a second series of vid, great surprise and great insights! Thanks Neko and the crew!
Love these technical videos. Please keep them coming and good luck on this wild venture you’re on
Good stuff Neko! Really enjoyed getting into the weeds with the details. I had heard you mention in podcasts that you would like a longer reach now that your running a 40mm stem. In this video you talked about how you had to run a 1 degree works headset and it made me wonder if your bike is actually 475mm reach or something shorter.
Good point! Looking at the angled cups, it probably reduces the reach by 2-3mm. Wish I could run a straight headset or reach adjust headset. We will fix this issue moving forward,
Neko, this is really interesting. I, personally, really like the style of this video. Production value isn't all it's cracked up to be. Thank you for putting this out there. I do have a question that you may get into later in the series, but I am wondering what your plan is for the season as for number of frames. Are you going to have Frank weld up a few identical frames (in case of failure either in a crash or just fatigue from hitting racing speed for a full season) or are you hoping to make the full season on a single frame?
Thanks for watching man! I am just testing these two frames to see what works best, and then I will have Frank make me around 4 frames for the season. 2 for US, 2 for EU including a race bike and a spare.
Great video! 🤘
love what ur doing bro
I’ve seen some 5 Dev products in your IG - it would be cool to go more in depth with what they’re custom building for your bikes (one piece link, cranks, etc) and if they hold up better than the current CNC parts.
I am excited to get the frame parts from 5 Dev on the next bike! I am riding the cranks now and they are working great!
Would love to hear more about the ochain performance and how it compares to the dedicated high pivot frame.
It is interesting! I find that the Ochain makes the pedal kick equal on both frames, which is great because it then isolates the axle path. I think the Ochain is a great product and makes the bike feel smoother. It does add another point of complexity to your bike, but I think it is worth it if you are looking for what it offers.
Thanks Neko for the transparency. No BS!
So good! Cheers
You take your eyes off that for one second and it's mine, Mr Neko boy.
Would love to see a comparison between the Intense race bikes from last season, the S Works Enduro you posted recently, and the custom bikes.
I can definitely talk about my feelings on riding the bikes. I am hesitant to go as deep because I don't have exact kinematics on those bikes. Bike companies never publish them and I don't want to assume or use unconfirmed data.
So sick! Love these videos,, keep them coming 🙌🏽
This is so good! I really appreciate the in-depth insight into your project. Keep up the good work!
Sick project dude good luck this year 🤟🏻🔥🏴
Thank you….as someone that makes tubing for the military I like the idea of using different thicknesses as well as flex points…..definitely interested in geometry changes through the year due to stretching
Keep them coming, touch of pure class.
Respect! It will be interesting to hear about any suspension valving (digressive/progressive) you may have experienced
Right now I am on some of the tunes that the Fox race department developed. They offer a few different tunes to their sponsored racers in each discipline. What I am using may be different from stock (some of the stock tunes are great though!) but it may not be specific to me or my bike. In general we have a lighter base valve on the VVC shock to give it a more supple feel and then use more high speed adjustment to control the bike on big impacts. That's what I have found to work for me.
@@NekoMulally thanks for the details.
absolutely killing it. keep this content going!
Oh dope this was exactly what I thought was missing from the other stuff. Right on.
Really cool idea, I like, but as you said, those who don't care will think it's too much, those interested will always want more :-) Have to say, very cool that you could design your first bike and get it so close to what you wanted straight off, speaks to your knowledge as a racer and how things work and what you like - there's a lot of racers who couldn't even give you any hint of an idea if something didn't feel right, what it was.
Looking forward to the future videos. Kind of surprised that for a DH bike the tubing is only .85mm thick, somehow thought it would need to be thicker, especially since it's straight wall and not butted or maybe it can be that thin because it's straight wall - my knowledge doesn't go that far :-\
Thanks man! I'm sorry if it was confusing with a mix of metric and standard size tubing, but most of the tubes are .083" which is about 2.1mm thick,
Oh man, no worries. OK, now that makes a lot more sense on the tubing thickness LOL. The whole metric/imperial thing didn't even enter the brain LOL. Actually I use both imperial and metric when thinking about bike measurements, just got accustomed to some dimensions in inches and others in MM.
This video is amazing! Awesome to get so much insight into the design!
Nice bike!! Ride safe!
Ride loose!
I really like this stuff. Thank you and good luck for the season!👊
Great stuff
Awesome Video Neko, I love this kind of content and look forward to the next video. I have a question as well. I am curious what your thoughts are on the trend of fork offsets getting lower over the past few years? I know this is not directly related to the frame but definitely affects the overall geometry and behavior of the bike. I have a set of the Mojo Morc 40 Crowns that have been seen on various World Cup riders bikes over the last few years and curious if you have ever tried them out or used custom crowns etc?
The offset is a noticeable change for sure! I find the 52mm on the DH bike to be the sweet spot with the Fox 40. When we had the old version of the 40 that used 58mm offset, I had some custom crowns that brought it to 54mm. The general feeling is that longer offset has more responsive steering but is more twitchy and shorter offset has less responsive steering and is more stable. Too much or too little are not going to handle naturally as you lean the bike. There are other contributing factors like head angle, and I think mechanical trail is a more valuable thing to look at than offset alone, but it starts to get pretty complicated. If you are riding DH try 52mm offset, for trail or enduro try 46mm offset... that is what I found works for me.
Im a trained welder. Thats a super complicated project. a lot of hours in that frame and aluminum is super tricky to heat treat properly. Pretty cool.
Thanks man! In addition to improving the ride of the frame, we are trying to improve the process to make it more consistent and efficient to build as we go forward.
@14:36 easy future win on weight saving with the simple link design to eventually get it done in carbon
Totally awesome vid! Fear no Tech!! Bring it.
Awesome video! I hope you crush it this year!
If you ever feel like crowd sourcing some bits of the bike, it would be pretty fun to have CAD for your bike, or even sketches, and see what people design for it. For example running some FEA, generative design, and common sense, you might be able to make the bike even heavier, more expensive, and less reliable.
Haha you get what you pay for!
A treat for the geeks! Much appreciated!
Hello Neko, thank you for the interesting insights into your great project. Can you please say something more about your thoughts on your choice of head angle, Stem length and fork offset. Thank you very much!
some close up shots of the bike would be amazing for the next episode
Will do!
Bro this is the coolest project for a tech nerd like me
Thanks. The tech is very interesting. Really enjoying your journey with this.
Radical. Look forwards to the comparison videos. It would be cool to hear more about your shock setup. Are you doing anything custom tune wise? How do these kinds of considerations factor into the kinematics, or can fox just make it work for whatever?
Right now I am on some of the tunes that the Fox race department developed. They offer a few different tunes to their sponsored racers in each discipline. What I am using may be different from stock (some of the stock tunes are great though!) but it may not be specific to me or my bike. In general we have a lighter base valve on the VVC shock to give it a more supple feel and then use more high speed adjustment to control the bike on big impacts. That's what I have found to work for me.
Absolutely love this. Really interesting stuff.
This is gonna be great series
LOVE IT!! Can't wait for more.
Tks vm Neko for sharing so much information. Loving your videos!