I have seen several world cup guys do it including ben reid and sam hill. www.pinkbike.com/news/ben-reid-iron-horse-2008.html. I feel confident that if they have done this and it was fine , I don't ride nearly as hard as them so it should hold up. Only time will tell however. The mod does make accessing the shock much easier and mud will be easier to clean. All companies have a factor of safety to meet with extreme test standards so I figureninshould be good!

 Sams bike www.pinkbike.com/photo/2425908

 ^ well hell... if it's good enough for the pro's it's good enough for anyone

but me talking about weight saving and stuff is a little rich/hilarious considering a balfa bb7 which is already heavy as hell unbuilt without a shock on it

 used a dremel wheel to cut it then aluminum file to get everything smooth. id say it dropped maybe a 100g or so. nothing reallly noticable to me from before but all the other changes ive made all the little drops add up. hoping to lose 3-4 lbs when im done

 nice that will b sick when its all built up again and u c r new trail lol... but at least it looks fucking kool were u dremeled it lol

 Looks rad man should help with the mud abit to.

 ya matt i cant wait to see that trail! gonna be so sick! and yeah easier access to the shock for sure, how do you like your new phenoix!

 Its basically a more race orientated frame compared to the sunday. Alot slacker and the thing just stays planted with no kickback. I think Im gonna miss the poppiness of the sunday though

 true, i love the pedal platform and poppyness of the sunday, deff gonna be a park rat at silverstar this year haha

 if i came to school and first ride this breaks i am gonna have to drop out of engineering

 once i get back to school im gonna solidworks the frame and see what kind of stresses i will be having, Sam Hill Had cutouts on his in the WC so i know it is still safe but it would be interesting to see what difference the added material made.

 That'll be awesome! It'll be good to see why IronHorse had that extra material there instead of producing the exact same one Sam was riding?

 It was most likely to meet a factor of safety for the design.

 Probably. Plus to make them last a while instead of being good for only one season

 yep, sundays seem like some of the only downhill frames to last more than a couple of seasons!