Do-It Yourself - Millyard Style!

Do-It-Yourself, DIY, were all at it, you can’t get a space in an IKEA car park let alone a set of Belkin Shelves! What about your bike though, could you build one? Well I know a man who has, here’s one he prepared earlier..

Allen Millyard has been tinkering around with his son's bikes for a while here on the UK race scene. We first saw his son Steve running two discs upfront on the same pads all year long and then he went onto produce a magical rear brake lever adapter. Basically another pivoted lever was attached like that of a SRAM shifter meaning you could brake on the rear with either your fingers or thumbs or perhaps both. Ideal at Fort William or Mega Avalanche!

*Have a look at the dual rotor set up on Sam's 222*

Later in the season Steve Millyard, his son won the English Champs though his Dad was still not happy with the bike. Allen, Steve and myself sat down and we discussed what would make the perfect DH bike? As the winter months rolled in Allen continued the discussions of what was possible, what wasn't possible, weight verses strength etc. He had a vision of what the bike should look like and with Stephen's and Si Paton's input from a racers viewpoint and many hours working out complex engineering problems, the Millyard Racing Bike evolved from sheet and tube aluminium alloy into a race ready machine in just over 3 months working only in the evenings and week ends.


The swing arm was heat treated in the family oven of all things and incorporates a fully sealed internal drive system incorporating Truvativ Holzfeller cranks and bottom bracket and a modified Shimano 8 speed epicyclical gearbox. Drive ratios have been selected to give a high top end speed and optimum acceleration at the start. The drive chains are routed within the swing arm, and is fitted with an internal tensioner that requires no adjustment. No chain cleaning, no lubrication at the track, seamless gear changes both up and down while pedalling flat out, coasting, braking into a corner with the rear wheel locked up, or even back pedalling! If you crash its easy to shift from 8th to 1st while picking up the bike for a quick getaway, the whole assembly is designed to be virtually maintenance free. The effort required to operate the thumb shifter remains constant, making for a relaxed stress free gear shift.


The rear swing arm is very narrow, being only 130mm across the outside with nothing to catch on rocks or tree stumps is ideal for any racer out there. The usual clatter of rear mech and chain has been eliminated, making the bike virtually silent on the track which is a dream to watch. The rear wheel is quite different from the normal MTB wheels, the hub has no ratchet, sprocket or disc mount, the disk is attached to the hollow stub axle in the swing arm which makes for quick and easy wheel changes. Loosen one screw and pull out the dual diameter rear axle and the wheel drops out leaving the disc attached to the bike! This makes for F1 Lewis Hamilton like wheel changes for the unpredictable weather.


The weight of the bike has been centralised and lowered, making it easy to turn in corners and control in the air. The bike has been designed to be quickly and easily folded up to fit into a small car boot by simply removing the front wheel and the rear shock bolt. The swing arm pivots on the bottom bracket and allows the rear wheel to swing round into the front forks. Once removed from the car, the bike can be ready to race in under a minute. All conventional parts were supplied by www.Descent-Gear.com.

The geometry of the suspension and new design of rear shock provides a self pumping action which propels the bike forwards with every bump. The rear shock is made by Millyard Racing especially for this bike and has a gas spring which provides a very smooth ride over any terrain keeping that back wheel glued to the floor.


The workings and technical details of this shock are currently classified with technology information that has arisen from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) workings on Chieftan tanks, if I told you I’d have to kill you all! The shock becomes incredibly hot during riding so a “Do not touch” sticker should be applied!


Every father wants to look after their kids, Allen’s no different. This frame was built way oversized and strengthened so, after all he doesn’t want the frame snapping and his little lad binning it does he? That said he believes the frame is still incredibly over built and Mark II will be even more stream lined along with the shocking news that he’s working on a single arm rear chain stay bike, he’s got faith!

We showed the bike to the Team G-Cross Honda Mechanics at the British NPS in Scotland and they nearly had kittens when they saw it, grabbing their digi cameras. Turning the cards on them they were not allowed to ride, pick it up or even touch it!


Mark II will be all sorted for the start of the 2008 season so watch this space!

-Si Paton

Editor's Note-Allen Millyard can be reached at kawafives@ntlworld.com if you'd like to learn more.


All photos by Adam Piper