patent 7815207 – Page 4

Feel the Burns and Fresh Drawlings

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Jul 242012

Anyone who gets a chance, please check out the new Stan’s NoTubes Featured Builders page and let me know if it’s displaying OK in whatever browser you’re using. It’s just a basic page, but Stan’s has supported small builders for so long, and the rims and wheels have been a staple of builders at NAHBS, so it only seemed right to give frame builders some space right on the NoTubes.com site.

In other news, I’m not blind to the fact that the Tour de France just happened. In fact, I’m keenly aware that history was made–and frankly, it’s about time somebody with Marty Feldman-inspired facial hair brought home the maillot jaune.

Long a fixture on the endurance MTB scene, ’70s comedian manscaping sensibilities have finally won the big one.

I’m also keenly aware of other things. I know, for instance, that I’m teetering dangerously on the verge of too much sleep. In an attempt to put an end to that nonsense, last night I dusted off my sorry Solidworks chops and began a major redraw of Danzig’s mainframe that accommodates the latest shock orientation. There’s a lot left to draw, extrude and carve holes through–and completely rework–but here’s the first draft. Slowly the latest 2D design is creeping on into 3D. Note the shock mount down there by the bottom bracket shell.

(“I’m way more vertical.”)

More as I draw it.

Going Vertical and Krampus Worship

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Jul 232012

Bike build area in the new house is starting to come together. Still plenty of work to go around, but I managed to make some progress this weekend. Also found some time to build a new upper link for the vertical shock placement on Project Danzig.

Last week I tried to explain what I was thinking in the development of Danzig’s instant center, which starts right at the intersection of the chain and middle ring and travels largely backward, along the path of the chain.

There’s also a set of reasons that went into the axle path and the final shock orientation of the frame. After endless hours trying to model exactly what I wanted out of the rear axle, I finally dialed it in using a few simple pieces of paper. In locating the instant center primarily behind the center of the bottom bracket, the swingarm rotates almost on its own center. This allows some pretty interesting shock placement options, but my favorite is the vertical shock. Because the swingarm nearly pivots on its own center, the upper link can drive the shock straight down. I hope to be able to redraw some of this over the coming weeks, but what I like about it is the inherent simplicity. Really short links mean less weight, but also economy of motion. Economy of motion was something I really hoped to build into the design. The vertical shock orientation also means the bottom of the shock anchors right beside the bottom bracket, an inherently strong area.

Really, it’ll take the prototype to see how all of this works out, but I suspect developing anything like this is a matter of balancing all the things you want, and I was really happy with the way all the characteristics seemed to work together on the design. The pivot placement that kept the instant center where I wanted it also led to the axle path; the axle path led to the economical upper link and shock motion and location.

Times like this I wish I were a much faster Solidworks user, instead of a self-taught hack. I’d love to be able to redraw Danzig from the ground up at this point, and I guess that’s what I’m doing while we work to put everything else in place.

In the meantime, I’ve been more than a little unhealthily fixated on Surly’s Krampus.

And how great that the first decent Krampus sightings seem to’ve come from Tae’s blog. (A finer gentleman, you will not find.)

Krampus is so much more than just a 29er with 3-inch wide tires. It’s a reassertion of Surly’s dominance in the realm of blowing minds. Once again, Surly has made the world a little better.

Wayward Watermelon, Simply Irresistible Clones and Danzig Rising

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Jul 202012

My body’s starting to ask some tough questions about this whole commuting thing. I’ve ridden a bike to work for years now, but that was all chickenshit. Chicago’s winter was no fun, but I was only a few miles from work. Same thing with my first months in Portland. But the new dozen miles one way thing is a whole different kettle of fish. And sometimes watermelons.

So far, this that watermelon is the weirdest thing I’ve seen thrown from the 205 bridge. So far.

I’m writing a lot of product copy right now, and my research seems to be teaching me more about web sites than products. I’ve noticed, for instance that every sites offering live chat pretty much use pictures of the same dozen women wearing phone headsets. In fact, I believe that the entire female cast from the “Simply Irresistible” video now does web chat support.

OK, so yesterday I seem to’ve been typing something about Danzig’s instant center. To wrap that up, here’s the full migration of the IC from unladen to just under five inches of travel.

Not my best hasty animation, but should be good enough to give you the idea. It all comes down to this: the orientation of Danzig’s lower linkage tracks along the line of the chain as the rear wheel moves upward relative to the chain’s fixed point on the chainring. In other words, the instant center stays exactly along or very close to the line of torque (the chain) throughout most of the travel. What the hell does that do? Who knows until we actually ride prototypes, but it would stand to reason that maintaining an instant center that tracks along with the line of torque could be very desirable traits. Because the instant center stays so particularly focused right on a relatively small area throughout the entire first three inches of travel, and because it’s orientation is so particularly vertical, the system should be more consistent in all gear combinations, too–that’s just one of those obsessive details I tried to accommodate in the design.

That’s a pretty magnified look at only one tiny aspect of the system. Any suggestions or questions about other aspects, just let me know, and I’ll do my best to answer all questions. More next week.

2D Suspensions and Fun with Instant Centers

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Jul 182012

Hank Matheson from Bicycle Fabrications let Dirt Rag take the wraps off his wild new “2D” suspension system today, and bravo. It’s sufficiently bizarre to have warranted the cloak and dagger. I love that it’s part homage to the old Cannondale Gemini DH frame, and that it’s legitimately something completely different.

Matheson developed it with engineer John Heim, and the truly unique thing about it is the axle path–or really axle paths. The suspension moves vertically, but it also moves horizontally. Square-edged hits allow the rear triangle to kick backward up to 19mm. The whole thing pivots on a large eccentric, so essentially it’s a single pivot on a pivot. The large eccentric onto which the swingarm pivot mounts can rock backward, and that motion’s controlled by a giant elastomer.

I have to admit I’m always a little envious of DH frames because there’s just so much you can do with them. You just don’t have the same chain growth and gear combination concerns.

Today’s Danzig detail deals with instant centers and gear combinations. Draw a line through the pivots of each of your rockers, find the place where those two imaginary lines cross paths, and you have your instant center. Unlike a single-pivot frame that has a fixed instant center, frames with multiple pivots have instant centers that move around. Where that instant center is relative to the chain you’re pulling along between your chainring and whatever cog you’re in dictates how the suspension behaves. Here it gets a little hairy, but the bottom line is that it’s desirable to build a happy relationship between that instant center point and the “line of torque,” i.e. your chain.

A key aspect of the Danzig design is the position of the lower link and how it affects that moving instant center’s relationship with the chain. Danzig’s lower link is basically the mirror opposite of every other lower link orientation out there. This orientation doesn’t just put the instant center right on the line of torque. The way the pivot rotates actually tracks alone with the line of torque as your wheel raises.

Clear as mud, right? For now, here’s the resting point of the instant center (the red dot). Next, I’ll blow out some other drawings so we can look at where it goes when the suspension is compressed and why I worked hard to get it to do that.

Details on Danzig’s New Shock Position

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Jul 172012

Every day it’s looking more and more likely that Project Danzig is going to happen. No doubt there will be slow days, but there’s momentum now. Since leaving Speedgoat, I’ve worked my ass off to build a whole new me, and one big part of that is seeing this design turned into a rideable prototype. That this could not only happen, but that I might get to work with some incredible people, is pretty rewarding. Sure, it could all still go to hell. There is no coasting allowed here. But all the effort I’ve put into the design is starting to at least be appreciated.

As promised to the nerds out there, here are some details about the shock orientation.

Originally, I’d thought the only viable shock position for my suspension system would be the near-horizontal position you see in the drawing up top. Turns out, that was completely wrong. Given the position of my links and the nature of how the rear swingarm essentially pivots on itself, it turns out the absolute best position for the shock is vertical–like a walking beam bike, only without all the mess. The suspension system itself can drive the shock straight down without any longer, flexier rockers. One small lower link feeds out the swingarm while one small upper link reins in the suspension and directly compresses the shock.

Once I figured out that the shock really could fit in that area, everything began to fall into place. As long as we can position the shock as low and forward as we have it in this next drawing–and we should be able to without any problems–everything else becomes much easier.

Without further ado, then, he’s a small animation of the new shock position. Please ignore the background drawing and stay with the blue lines instead. Apologies for the blinky note bubble, but here’s how it works.

More soon. Stay tuned.

Something Old, Something New

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Jul 162012

I’m not much of a believer in signs and symbols, but I received some positive news over the weekend regarding Project Danzig. At around the same time, I happened to also see the rare and beautiful creature you see above. That’s right, the full-suspension mountain bike equivalent of an animal thought long extinct: a GT RTS-1, circa 1995. And while it didn’t have any sweet Spin wheels, it somehow, miraculously, had a Girven fork.

Those of you old enough to remember this stuff will realize this was a bit like walking through the woods and happening upon a living, breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex being ridden by a Bigfoot.

To be fair, this is Portland, and I tend to see all kinds of things I’d thought disappeared forever here. I came across the RTS while walking through Lloyd Park headed to the Max station with my wife and kids. Lloyd Park was hosting the end of the massive Seattle to Portland ride, so plenty of bikes were on hand. But still. Witnessing a functioning RTS-1 doesn’t happen every day, and I’m taking it as a positive sign for building some prototypes.

I’ve found some partners who’d like to help finance the development and fabrication of Project Danzig prototypes. As the kids say, shit’s about to get real.

I’m particularly excited because my last round of frame redesigns yielded the vertical shock position that appears in the most recent renderings I’d posted.

And I think this is going to make production much easier than I’d originally thought. The entire suspension–including the rockers–is so compact and minimal, that I think some good things can come from it. Even the movement has a simplicity to it. After searching for the optimal shock position for days, I realized that the movement of the swingarm and upper link wanted to drive a shock straight down. No big walking beam levers or anything required. Very, very compact–which was a major goal of the design. For anyone who nerds out on this sort of thing, I’ll try to post some development photos during the week, but for now I’m just very excited about the future. Danzig lives.

Carrying a Torch

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Jun 262012

I have no idea what that picture means (I found it on a blog called SentimentalMechanic.com), but I wish Jesus would teach me to weld. If Evel Knievel’s regret was that he never killed anybody (certainly not for lack of trying, if suicide counts), my great regret is that I never learned to weld. Also, that I don’t have my own CNC machines. Not that I have a lot of free time, but if I did, I would love to be a complete menace to the entire neighborhood with Tesla-grade mad scientist hardware in the garage. If I’d learned to weld and machine, at least some version of Project Danzig would already be done.

I was thinking about this over the weekend, when I thought I’d lost my trusty Pivot 429, a frame I’ve had almost as long as I’d been working on my own frame. I love it, but a part of me hoped I’d have a prototype of my own frame by now. For one terrifying moment, I thought I’d lost the 429, and a bunch of years have gone by without a prototype.

I’d run into Wal-Mart to drop off a Redbox movie this weekend–we have no TV right now, so we’re watching recent Nicolas Cage movies and seeing who cracks first. I hadn’t planned on stopping, so my Pivot 429 is on the back of the car, unlocked.

Off I scramble toward the Redbox kiosk inside the store, constantly looking over my shoulder. Still there. Still there. Still there. And then I’m inside the store, at the Redbox machine. I click “Return.” Nothing. Unresponsive. Again. Again nothing. The Redbox machine does not want Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance back, which I understand completely. Still, as the person who paid to watch a Nicolas Cage movie, I feel a Redbox representative should’ve already come to my house to pick it up and apologize. In fact, I’m thinking Nicolas Cage should be personally traveling across the country to check this movie out of every Redbox in America permanently, and Stan Lee should probably be driving the dumptruck.

This is what’s going through my mind when the machine finally, grudgingly, accepts Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance back into its bowels.

And I’m off. Boom, out the Wal-Mart doors and moving across the parking lot toward my unlocked Pivot, which is no longer on the back of my car.

Um.

Oh.

Temporarily, I’m not sure if one continues walking toward the car in this case, turns around, or starts hopping up and down, hands on cheeks, screaming. I go with walking toward the car. And then I notice my car, and my bike. In just the time it took me to return the movie, another white Subaru Outback pulled in only a car away from mine. In the Northwest, only VW vans outnumber Subaru Outbacks.

I’m not good at interpreting dreams–particularly when they happen in broad daylight in a Wal-Mart parking lot and aren’t dreams–but I think I need to find a way to build myself a prototype. So many things are still going on with the patent license, but more than anything, I just want to ride one of these bikes.

No Asylum

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Mar 142012

It occurred to me this morning that I need some sort of top secret code name for the suspension project, which continues to inch ever closer to reality. Mentioning that you’re looking for a top secret product development code name in a public forum is either some clever-ass reverse psychological marketing, or just plain stupid, but after a whole lot of years spent hunched over my test paper and scribbling frantically without letting anyone else in the class see my work, I’m all about sharing. If this bike ever does get made, it will probably be because of good friends and people just like you, whoever the hell you are, so why bother with the cloak and dagger bit.

Yes, the last time I started a little bike company, I chose the name myself, and I’d like to think I’ve learned enough from that experience to see the benefits of doing the complete opposite of almost everything I did back then.

So once upon a time I started this company called Asylum Cycles, and we sold what was basically a Titus Racer-X with 29’er wheels. It was a pretty popular frame–so popular, in fact, that Titus went ahead and started selling the Racer-X 29 based on exactly what they’d built for me. Well, maybe not exactly. I think they offered different colors. To be fair, they gave me advance notice–that is, if you count me seeing photos of the new bike in an issue of Mountain Bike Action. Other than that, it was a total bindside. If anyone out there knows the players involved, for the record, Cocalis wasn’t the one responsible for the shenanigans, and the ownership certainly had a right to do whatever they wanted with a frame they were producing. Even really sleazy shit like shipping me a bunch of frames and then putting their own version on the market. This is call “capitalism,” and lots of dicks do it.

Before imploding, Titus went on to rename that bike the “Rockstar,” which is the kind of self-inflicted wound I’ll go ahead and count as my payback. “Rockstar”?

But I still have the original prototype frame, for which I created a special Marzocchi Shiver SC fork with chopped stroke (Marzocchi was an Italian company that used to make suspension forks people occasionally purchased, before Fox entered the market and SRAM bought Rockshox.) Inverted forks convert pretty easily for use with bigger wheels, and the old silver Shiver tended to look about as “prototype” as possible, partly because Marzocchi themselves didn’t seem to know what the hell it was supposed to be.

I modded the older one on the left, not the newer model with fancy "painted legs" and stickers that didn't arrive with oil already underneath them.

Originally based on way steeper geometry, my frame absolutely came alive with the taller fork and slacked out head tube angle. It was seriously shocking, how much better what turned out to be about a 70.5-degree head tube angle was with big wheels. I couldn’t stop riding that bike.

That was a long time ago, when Gary Fisher’s first hybridy sort of 29ers were just entering the market and baffling people left and right. I dissolved the Asylum Cycles name years ago, so we definitely won’t be using that name for any new company, even if it would make some of my old t-shirts and jerseys almost relevant again. Fact is that even after I shut Asylum down, the design process kept rolling on behind the scenes, eventually evolving into the creature at the top of the page, a design I’d like to think is more than a few lifetimes better than old Horst-link designs, and something deserving of all new names.

“Rockstar” being taken, I’m really at a loss for what to call the project at this point. For now, I’m leaning toward “Project Danzig.”

Friday’s Vaporware Update

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Feb 242012

Some readers have let me know I’ve accidentally released images of my next project, the pedal-powered AT-AT microbus in this post. To that all I can say is “shit!”–if you’re seeing that accidentally leaked image above, please cover your eyes and disregard it until the patent comes through. But yes, it is pretty bitchin’.

In fact, here’s the rough sketch of what should be the final version of my suspension system. Ain’t much, but all the bones are in there–all the key pivot locations and shock orientation.

And here, in no particular order, are the priorities behind the design:

Both rockers as short as possible while still being able to fit decent sized bearings
Shape of each rocker is as simple as possible
No wasted material and the shortest distances between points everywhere possible
Clean, open design with many fabrication possibilities–no structural gymnastics that inevitably mean “heavier”
Potential for cartoonishly low standover–that drawing would be of a size “Large,” and the smaller models should allow the seat tube to be lower than the rear tire
Stupid short chainstays without excessive chain growth during compression (it’s an axle path that took three years to develop)
Sensible and flexible options for front derailleur mounting
Bottom bracket system options (leaning toward Press-fit 30 or something proprietary that doesn’t work with anything–kidding!)
A “shit-ton” of mud clearance
Tight and simple rear triangle
Absolutely perfect shock location–out of the way for low standover and decent water bottle placement
Optimized stress points–points on a frame that always need beefed up anyway handle all the load, meaning no super-heavy straight gauge downtube necessary because a shock is t-boning it, and no extra struts and beams just to orient the shock or rocker

That’s it for now. Next step is, hopefully, a prototype.

Acronymonious

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Feb 232012

Like starting a band, the only real reason to start a bike company is that you get to name stuff. And the best thing about creating a full-suspension frame is that you get to come up with acronyms. Acronyms, otherwise known as “those abbreviation things like M.A.S.H.,” are key to marketing a suspension system because they take something somebody spent years figuring out, working and reworking, and distill that thought and energy down into a few “hot” letters people seem to like. You should really try to have an “X” in there, if possible, and “Z” and “V” are also pretty cool. Riding a mountain bike is still pretty male-dominated, so bonus points if, like “XTR” it sounds vaguely related to extending something.

Acronyms are in the back of my mind right now, which is probably the best time to be thinking of them. When you need to come up with a name in a hurry, things usually go wrong. But for now I don’t yet have a real bike company, so this is all just Dead Milkmen naming, and that’s the best way to do it.

So feel free to send me suggestions for acronyms for this suspension system. If I really like one–and it turns out we made a bike company after all–I’ll owe you something bitchin’ like a sweet t-shirt with an animal on it or something. The company is also going to need a potent and ferocious mascot, or several.

While I’m hoping as many of you as possible will just wing it and e-mail me crazy-ass names, taking this seriously and offering serious acronym suggestions is also acceptable. To that end, I figured I should mention some of what the suspension system is designed to actually do, and some of what makes it unique, just in case that sort of thing inspires anybody. There’s actually a lot going on here, so I’ll only focus on a few details.

One of the key features I was going for in designing the lower rocker was mechanical efficiency, and in my head I could see this weird scenario where the tension of the chain–the force that’s trying to pull your rear wheel forward into your crankset–helps cancel out any bobbing, but without compromising small bump response. (Damn, I’ve always wanted to type “compromising small bump response”–also a great band name.)

Explaining this gets a bit hairy, but here goes: because my swingarm attaches to my rocker at the front of the rocker (opposite everyone else’s design I’ve ever seen, except Yeti’s new one), chain forces want to keep the rocker stretched out and horizontal with the ground–basically as extended as possible. This slight underside shot might help clarify, but probably not:

Basically pedaling the bike makes the lower rocker want to stay horizontal, and when it stays horizontal, you don’t bob.

So that’s how that part of the system is supposed to work. If I can get a prototype made, and it works, suddenly all of this matters a lot more, and I’m definitely going to need an acronym, or several. Remember, great marketing acronyms seem to need the letters “X” and “V” and it helps to have an “S” or “T” in there, too, but right now, I’m leaning toward “N.I.B.,” which has nothing to do with the suspension system, but is a pretty kickass song.

Hope to have a little sketch of the new shock orientation tomorrow.

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