People's Choice Award:The Final Round!
The FINAL Round of The People’s Choice Award is HERE! This Round will determine the WINNER of an $8000 custom built bike and Drift Camera!!! Click here to see the prize bike build!
Students designed a bike component, suspension or frame for the Reality Redesigned contest. While the Judges are analyzing the top 9 designs, YOU judge on the People's Choice Award! Vote below for the design that you think deserves to win the prize bike! The winner with the highest number of votes will at 11:59PM ET on Friday April 13 will take home the bike!
Voting is located at the bottom of the page.
Click here to check out the specs of the All Mountain Gearbox Frame design!
Click here to check out the specs of the Derailleur-Guide design!
Click here to check out the specs of the Thomson to I-Beam Adapter design!
Click here to check out the specs of the Footsie design!
Click here to check out the specs of the DF-350 design!
Stay Tuned! On Tuesday April 17, the WINNER of the People's Choice Award will be announced! And in late April, The GAUNTLET launches!
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I dont know, ive been riding brakeless for a long time, and i stop by stomping my foot in the ground, so my soles dont slide and arent destroyed. I would never brake on my tires and thus damage them.
Looks like the DF-350 is the most popular design! This design shows that the creator has a lot of skills in CAD design, but all the bicycles companies claim that their bikes' characteristics are the bests for bumps absorption, cornering, pedal efficiency, braking efficiency, etc etc.
I understand the point of the designer: It is the only linkage so far that provides all of the three characteristics he mentioned, but still it is just another combination of different features like wheel path, chain growth, motion ratio, angles, etc. There is tons of other new combinations of these features anybody could make and claim that this is the best combination possible....
I see nothing new in there, as the contest was intended for new ideas. But still an impressive piece of work.
I personally like the gearbox design. Intergrated hubs are getting pretty common at the moment. I know its been done before but if it can be achieved at that size/design then great.
I'm torn between the derailleur guide and the gearbox.
The derailleur guide is probably a lot lighter and a lot simpler/versatile and it solves the exposed rear derailleur problem... but an effective gearbox would be sick. Not having to shift ever again could be nice (or not, like manual cars?).
I think I'll go with the derailleur guide as it's an original idea instead of a different take on something that already exists.
You could say the same about the gearbox frame too, just substitute 'increased confidence to the rider' for 'strong, lightweight and aesthetically beautiful'...
www.zerode.co.nz
Although the first gear box bike I saw at a race was a Lahar, so I'll give you that
allmountain gearbox, 18 gears, some small framebuilders already started to use them (nicolai for example: www.nicolai.net/159-0-Helius+Pinion+AM.html)
so i don't see the "woohoo" here....
edit: oh and alutech as well: fstatic1.mtb-news.de/img/photos/1/_/large/IMG_4126.jpg forgot about that...
Not sure if its in production yet.
there are only prototypes so far, but alutech will start sending out they're first "enduro fanes pinion" late spring/early summer. they were quickly sold out actually... hopefully next year there will be more bikes with that, really looking forward to that development.
and the chain tensioner at the alutech looks a bit better/cleaner. somewhere i read about the original chain tensioner looking something like that in the end, but so far that is an alutech prototype.
Do all submissions become property of whoever is running this contest?
Gearboxes have been tried, tested and in production for quite a while. This one is simply a black box without calculated gear ratios or materials let alone the actual engineering needed to incorporate that into a frame and make it shift effectively. It is far from even being considered for production. Same with the DF350. Unproven claims and fancy (really good) CAD work.
As for the derailleur guide I don't understand how it's supposed to work or be better than whats available? I mean I'd choose a Gamut 2 ring system with a front derailleur. It's proven and simple. Combined a front derailleur with a bottom guide roller and boom works perfect. No moving small moving parts like what would be needed on the Derailleur Guide here plus less clutter.
That leaves the footsie and I-beam adapter. One I could see both being marketable. Two they're completed, thought through, and useful designs. The footsie while not necessarily being actually "useful" it's objective is clear and it completes it. Not to mention it doubles as a fender and nut protector regardless of it you ride brakeless or not. Ps with the right material, it wouldn't be more abrasive than a shoe. Finally the I-beam adapter. It's clearly been through the design process and is a (maybe) finished product. I didn't buy an I-beam because the posts aren't the lightest compared to a Woodman, Thompson, or other. While not necessarily the most marketable it is a well designed, real, useful product.
As for the competition. Show (/require?) more evidence of a design process not just a finished product. My preconception about the designs shown might be cleared up if I could see the design process.
and whether it wins or not - make the footsie anyways. i'd buy that f'sho.
the adapter and the "footsie" make most sense here, simple and cheap to make and also have little to go wrong. i'd love to see the df350 get built but it's just too complex to be a success.
the Derailleur-Guide is a good idea but there are options out there that allow you to run 2 gears up front with a beefy bash guard and never have your chain fall off, Truvativ had something at one point for $40 that worked great, I ran it for a few months until I went singe speed cause i never used gears. not to mention you can keep any derailleur of your choice.
thomas to ibeam adapter... really another seat design to complicate bikes, if weight is that big of a deal ditch the seats all together...
the footsie i see alot of hate for this... i agree the name is pretty gay to offence to any, but... i can see it being a good product, it does need some tweaks like the mount, but it has a good idea it doesn't look that bad and you can still stop with out brakes. yes theres tire wear issue but brakes do that when you skid and fish tailing to lose speed does the same.
the df 350 frame design its hard to say yes but by the looks it could be a really good design. my vote goes to the badly named footsie
And sounds pretty cool about your design, have any pictures you might be willing to share?
Cheers
Dan
While the designer of the DF-350 has looked at the linkage aspect of things it seems like the functionality and durability of the linkages and lack of bearing specs has been overlooked.
Its great to design a new system but you always have to think of the implementation of existing parts or manufacturing new parts, (bearings and bushings in this case) to have a complete design that works as advertized.
Do you design around existing hardware or make your own as you go. (what is more cost effective, and or design and maintenance friendly)
In my 23 minute video I submitted for the judges I go over just about all the details over looked in my submission and explain my plans for them.
Also besides time constraints I was not fully satisfied with the geometry and characteristics of the suspension so was trying dial that in maybe a bit to much for the contest and ran out of time for the details.
One huge detail which will change is the way the connecting rode mounts to the chainstays and the seatstays.
Hope that answers some of your questions.
Oh and on a side note, it is always best to use off the shelf product where ever possible without compromising the product and for that reason I hope to use some standard sealed bearing with minimal mountain hard wear as ion my experience any sort of dust cap over top of a sealed bearing tend to force the dirt into the bearing rather than keep it out... this would however lead to tighter tolerances though, so we will see.
Cheers
Dan
In my 23 minute video I submitted for the judges I go over just about all the details over looked in my submission and explain my plans for them.
Also besides time constraints I was not fully satisfied with the geometry and characteristics of the suspension so was trying dial that in maybe a bit to much for the contest and ran out of time for the details.
One huge detail which will change is the way the connecting rode mounts to the chainstays and the seatstays.
Hope that answers some of your questions.
Oh and on a side note, it is always best to use off the shelf product where ever possible without compromising the product and for that reason I hope to use some standard sealed bearing with minimal mountain hard wear as ion my experience any sort of dust cap over top of a sealed bearing tend to force the dirt into the bearing rather than keep it out... this would however lead to tighter tolerances though, so we will see.
Cheers
Dan
Only thing really original here is the "footsie" which i dont see being very popular anyway.
what's innovative about the gearbox frame?
the derailleur guide seems a bit redundant with options like the MRP 2X and E13's new guide coming out
- Mondraker
- Santa Cruz (changes travel from 10 to 8.5 inches on the V10c)
- Trek
and those are just off the top of my head!
Cheers,
Dan
www.pinkbike.com/photo/7964959