latest bike:zephyr 2!

Have finalized my new design in auto cad, and got it modelled in inventor. A different take on the previous design, as it will have a gear box carried below the TT and in front of the main pivot.

It was fun making all the other bits like the drop outs and the plates from scratch.
Hopefully I can run a stress analysis on these bits through the programme and make sure they are up to the task and export the files and have them machined in a cnc workshop some where.

Anyways here is a jpeg of it......



Catch you soon...

Its been a while eh?!

Well I was just looking at the date on my last post and it was Feb the 8 of this year! Classic! Time flies when your having fun.
Been a lot going on in my world, I have spent the last 8 months studying at CPIT doing a CAD certificate which is fun, learning heaps of cool programme's that will cross over to this stuff in particular. Haven't been doing a lot of riding, last winter was pretty nasty for illness and bugs so have stayed off my bike all winter and have been a lot better for it but its spring now and will be dusting off the bikes soon.
Have been pretty quiet in frame building land as living on a John Key student allowance with 4 people is just hard enough let alone trying to buy new tube sets for the mad ideas that are flowing from my head!
But have just about completed another little project which was one of my practice donor bikes.
It was a 1993 Kona xplosive frame that had been crashed and buckled in two ( i'll post some pics of the original down tube soon). So I was down in the work shop one night having a clean up (that rarely happens) and was wondering what I was going to do with the left over rear tri's, I was holding the HT in one hand and the rear tri in the other and thought why not put it back together, but with newer geometry so it could run a 120-140mm fork and braze on a disc tab?!
I made a call the next day to aircraft logistics and ordered some tubing and set it all out.
This is the result, a new skool kona xplosive with proper geometry for trail riding.
I'll do another post some time soon as there is another project in the wings that is being designed at school as my end of year tech project, more on that and the geometry of this frame later. Ponder this for a bit and see what you think. Rossco.



Looks fairly standard from here


This is where things get a bit wierd


Shot of the head tube junctions


Catch you soon............

Been giving it some testing

Well its been a little while since the last post. I have been out giving the new bike some stick around Chch and the Canterbury foot hills. Its past all the goals I set out to achieve so I'm pretty stoked.



It works really well on square hits, like the rocks and roots we commonly ride on here and I have been cleaning some of the bits that I have not been able to on previous bikes.


It pedals/climbs really well and when you flick the propedal lever open on the shock and head down it hauls. It has a really good "point and shoot" character about it, being a single pivot the brake jack is reasonably evident so if you line things up and let the brakes go it just sucks everything up on the way through.
The first big day out started with a shuttle up to Scotts saddle on the Mt Hutt rd and a techy ride back down the ridge to the doc reserve at the bottom. Then 2 more shuttles riding on the DH tracks that have been built just off the access road inc a 10ft step down in the middle of the top section that we hit up. Was kinda peaky rolling into that on a bike that I have joined together my self! but it passed that small test-sweet. Had a great day out with the boys.

On Waitangi day Daryl, Chris, Bob and myself headed up to Mt Oxford for the day. This is a great day trip.



Daryl, Chris and Bob overtaking some trampers on the way up.


Bob heading up the steepest part of the hike-a-bike section.


Looking out from about half way up - southerly direction.

It has a reasonably brutal 2hr hike-a-bike to the summit 1000m above, and my lack of pyhsical activity was showing and was feeling worked when I reached the top plus it was blowing about 80km/h from the NW so we didn't hang out long.
The Dh on this ride is sick has some nice tech moves scattered through it and a sustained section that has your arms pumped, brakes on the fade and almost reaching for two fingers on the lever! It was super slick in the dry so there was some nice leaf litter drifting going on into some of the off camber corners! Then bamm you hit the wharfdale and on down to coopers creek where the car is parked. Coopers creek is a great little track to finish the ride on - a bit up, a bit down and nice flowing sections.
So i'm pretty happy with the ride so far and it hasn't snapped in two yet which is quite good for the confidence!
Next one, Hmmm dunno may a sweet light weight roadie or bamboo 29'er ??!! Pretty keen to build a jump HT even though I don't really ride trails I'm sure some one will ride it. I'll keep you posted, Rossco.

Finally got colour

Well have finally got my act together and got the final brazing jobs done. I had Rich turn up some rings for the head tube, and I brazed some of the vent holes over that were there from the main pivot tube etc.


It looks pretty crisp and sharp in "refrigerator" white also courtesy of Rich and the boys at Skope, thank you again, it would have been a longer process without his help!
It rides very well and I am quite stoked and surprised, it does what I originally set out to achieve which is sweet, just have to take it to the beech forest for a true kiwi test!
Here it is, i'll get some better pics up soon but thought I would post these now as I have them.

I built it!!!!and rode it!!!!

Well the time came, my Trek fuel has cracked, and in the weekend I brazed on the guides and stops.Richie came round also and I ran the reamer down the St till the post fitted. So I was standing in the work shop as it ticked over in my head, then in a 2hr strip and build frenzy it was pretty much ready to ride!


The plan for the E type front derailleur didn't work, there was more sticking out the back of the derailleur (the parallelogram parts) than I worked out, so there wasn't enough room for it.
Damn! On to the single ring programme!Which made life pretty easy on the build up as I just bolted up my spare Balfa pulley wheel and put a Black spire tensioner under the BB cup.


Pressed my FSA pig pro that I bought especially for the job, when I thought that I brazed in the HT to high!Damn! So I needed something that had a reasonable amount of stack at the bottom. It also will support the HT being a Dh headset.


It all went together really well with no major alignment/interference isses.
Then I pushed it out the door, got on and rolled down the street. It passed the curb test and the out of the seat climb test, so all is good.
The next day I bought a 28.6mm QR collar for the post, and the next morning I rode it to and from work.
The ride is really good being a high pivot it rides real nice through the rocks here, and maintains alot of momentum through the rough.It climbed really well up Rapaki which is cool.
Only thing is it had the 190mm shock from my fuel in there and I built around the 200mm/2.25" shock so it was very low and slack! I mashed quite a few rocks with my cranks! But it railled round the turns. The rear suspension is very efficient it was "pushing" the bike forward as the fork was pushing backwards strange feeling?! I think theres a little to much air in the fork and I need to valve the shock properly.
So I'm stoked to ride it, I'll give it a few weeks make sure its all good (no more naked flames required!) and then get some color on it.Will keep you posted.Rossco.

Other bits I forgot.......

Hmmm I am getting ahead of myself here! Before heading to Wanaka I also put some face plates on the tube that connects the BB to the DT, and the end of the TT.
I had to put a little relief on the end of the TT as the swing arm is very close and actually hit at full travel, so now it has a little cut away there for that purpose, here's the bits......
It was funny sealing up that tube as the gases built up and was blowing molten brass back at me!The OSH man would have been stoked to see that in action! I had to drill a little hole in the middle to vent it then fill that over after.

Small lathe job

We had a small holiday down in Wanaka last week, that gave me a change to catch up with Al and Rick and to use the lathe at Als place, so I made the tube that spaces the linkage plates apart. Turned it down to 12.40mm and then shaped the end at 45 degrees, faced it off to 100.50mm then drilled and tapped it to M8.This was number 2 as I screwed the first one up by tapping it M9 DOH!!was trying to get it done to quick!!Any ways here it is, don't get to excited!!
Its the little alloy part in the middle, pretty exciting!
While I was down I also dropped in on Doug and used his HT facer and reamer to finish the HT up so I could put the PIG Pro in.
It also soaked in a bath for 36hrs to dissolve the residual flux inside the tubing before it does any permanent damage.