The GAUNTLET:Episode 6 of The GAUNTLET: A behind the scenes look at the Judges critiquing and analyzing the top 9 designs in the Reality Redesigned contest.
To win the
GRAND prize, each of the top 9
Reality Redesigned contestants come face to face with our 7 Judges in The GAUNTLET video series. The Armada design made it to the top 10 of the People's Choice Award and now this frame designer, Sasha is back to go through The GAUNTLET!
DESCRIPTION: The Armada is made with 3 things in mind, weight, adjustability, and cost; this frame design features lightweight plated construction, numerous shock positions and is made from 6 original parts be more affordable.
Lastly this frame presents linkage that reacts quickly for small bumps and then slows down for bigger drops and hits.
WE ALL NEED MORE CHEEPER DH BIKES!
I'm glad that some companies are introducing more budget oriented options, such as the Specialized Status. Give me 90% of the performance at 50% the cost. I will (probably) never podium at a major race, but I will NEVER even get to the starting line if I can't justify the cost of a frame...
i know its more fr orientated but it would work alrite as a dh bike
Sincerely Sasha D.
Uh, yea. Most likely.
At least he didn't say "this frame has to be at least.....twice as big! How do you expect people to ride this!" so credit to him for that.
Not everybody has a 3D Printer in his basement, you know
When have you made a prototype frame, and sent it in to be judged? What contributions have you made other than complaining about the current status?
Flex anyone?
I'm afraid there is a fundamental reason why all bikes use tubes, not sheetmetal (even Oranges made of sheetmetal are then welded into tubes), that is the torsional rigidity of closed sections.
The amount of raw material required to make the two plates and the cross braces between the plates certainly appears to require MORE material rather than less... and that amounts to higher weight than what has already been achieved with tubing.
Plus... the cost to produce all of those individual pieces and then weld them together is certainly more (in terms of manpower) than welding a single downtube in place.
I'm just not seeing any benefit for weight, strength, or cost... but that's just me.
hey kid f*ck what they said i know iron workers and metal shops that have made there own custome bikes and CNC billet parts using autodesk inventor pro as the CAD softwear. it was$ 3,000 and two mounths of work and one week of
TechShop SF has classes for everything you need to learn welding, cnc, CAD imaging, forge iron, prototyping all classes are 50$ and up to 80$
www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77419&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
he has power rangers bed sheets!!!!
Well I'm shocked. So it'll be lightweight, adjustable, cheap, unique-looking... but ride like crap.
Looking different is NOT the same thing as being an improvement. More complexity with no ride improvement is a waste of human ingenuity, time, effort, and money.
Aside from looking different compared to most other frames available now, what does this bizarrely ugly frame bring to the mix, aside from sweet papier-mache mockups?
I've never known anyone who owned an "adjustable" frame to spend any time adjusting their geometry. It's the most over-rated, impractical "feature" currently touted in frame design (or frame fantasizing, which is what this article is about).