Neko Mulally's Frankenbikes

Professional racers and riders use social media as a tool to increase exposure, either for themselves or their sponsors, which is both understandable and expected... and boring. Scrolling through an athlete's Instagram feed reveals much less insight into their life than you'd get by rifling through their household trashcan at 2am in stalker-like fashion, and about the only tidbits of information that one can glean from looking at their posts is that their bike is the absolute best bike in the universe, that they're either partying hard or training hard (depending on their discipline), and a list of sponsors who've paid for such exposure.

But then there's GSTAAD-Scott's Neko Mulally. The Brevard, North Carolina, resident has made plenty of the usual pro racer-type updates on his personal Instagram feed, but he's also made a few interesting posts over the last while where he's shown off his wild franken-bike creations.

Four weeks ago it was a Scott Genius LT Plus (see below) that saw the wheels swapped from 29'' to 27.5'', a strange hub and axle end-cap combo to (sorta) make it work, and a Fox 36 that was reduced from 160mm to 140mm of travel. Neat, but what's even more interesting is what he said about his creation: ''The bike rode awesome and I managed to win the race against some fast dudes! Shorter chain stays would have been nice, and less travel in the rear end would have been better too, but the stiffness of a bike designed around 160mm travel was great and I ran enough air pressure in the shock that I stayed high in the travel anyway.'' So, rather than blind, nearly religious-like praise of products and sponsors that we're used to seeing on racer's feeds, Neko appeared to share some honest feedback with fans. But he wasn't done yet.

Sick little slalom bike I put together for the Cane Creek dual slalom challenge at the Oskar Blues reeb ranch yesterday. Started with my Genius LT plus trail bike which I had set up with 29" wheels and switched to standard 27.5" wheels to drop the BB. Managed to fit a 150mm DH wheel in the boost rear end with a 150 end cap on the non drive side and a 157 end cap on the drive side. Maybe it's 153.5 now... new standard?? Reduced my 160mm 36 to 140mm to make it turn quicker and put on a saint drivetrain. The bike rode awesome and I managed to win the race against some fast dudes! Shorter chain stays would have been nice, and less travel in the rear end would have been better too, but the stiffness of a bike designed around 160mm travel was great and I ran enough air pressure in the shock that I stayed high in the travel anyway. Stoked I was able to do it with parts I found in my garage on short notice. Thanks @bikeonscott @fox @rideshimano @schwalbetires @syncrosbike @deitycomponents @odigrips @canecreekusa @oskarblues #longliveslalom

A photo posted by nekomulally (@nekomulally) on Oct 2, 2016 at 6:20am PDT

Next up to get the frankenbike treatment was his Scott Gambler downhill rig, but not just any Gambler - this is the custom painted frame that the American raced at the 2016 World Championships. He swapped wheels again, this time going from 27.5'' to 29'', and then bolted on a shorter shock in an effort to correct the bike's geometry before realizing that the drop down from a 240mm length to 220mm was too much and that two offset bushings installed in the opposite way to how most people use them would help to compensate. And speaking of opposite, he also pushed in an offset headset to make the bike's head angle a degree steeper, again to compensate for the 220mm shock.

Perhaps most interesting is the altered fork arch to increase tire clearance for the 29'' front wheel and beefy rubber, a mod that Fox most definitely doesn't recommend. Don't do that, just in case you're thinking of copying Neko. ''The BB height is 340mm, head angle about 62.5 degrees, the wheelbase about 1260mm,'' Mulally said of his creation. He's even in the comment section answering questions from inquisitive fans about his unusual bike. God bless you, Neko.

Built this thing up with a few mods to the bike I've been riding all year. Started by fitting 29" wheels to the frame I raced at world champs. To get the BB low enough with the larger wheels I switched from a 240mm shock (9.5x3) to a 222mm shock (8.75x2.75). The difference in shock size was more than I was looking for, so I put offset bushings in both ends of the new shock to make it less of a change. The shorter shock made the bike too slack, so I put in a +1 degree headset. The front wheel fit into my standard 27.5 fork, but had very little clearance so I milled out the fork arch a few extra mm for a smooth fit. The rear wheel fit with plenty of clearance and has room away from the seat tube at bottom out. I had to run my seat post a little higher than normal and push my seat all the way forward on the rails. Other than that everything else fit perfectly. The BB height is 340mm, head angle about 62.5 degrees, the wheelbase about 1260mm. My first impression is that it makes all bumps feel smaller. The shorter shock cut off the top of my stroke so it feels less supple than riding my normal set up. Turning is not too bad, but feels kind of 2 dimensional. If you get late into a turn you really need to commit or you get stood up. It definitely is not as nimble with the big wheels, but when you ride smooth it's great. Then switching back to the 27.5 the front wheel seemed small after riding this thing! For a bike that I was able to build into another wheel size with all stock parts (aside from the linkage I've been using all year) it feels pretty good. I'm not sure better or worse yet, but it certainly has its sections and I'm excited to ride it more. I think there is huge potential for a downhill bike designed from the ground up around 29" wheels. It could be a great tool for certain tracks, maybe more than you would think.

A photo posted by nekomulally (@nekomulally) on Oct 31, 2016 at 3:55am PDT

Here's what Neko thought of his one-off Gambler: "My first impression is that it makes all bumps feel smaller. The shorter shock cut off the top of my stroke so it feels less supple than riding my normal set up. Turning is not too bad, but feels kind of 2 dimensional. If you get late into a turn you really need to commit or you get stood up. It definitely is not as nimble with the big wheels, but when you ride smooth it's great. Then switching back to the 27.5 the front wheel seemed small after riding this thing!

"For a bike that I was able to build into another wheel size with all stock parts (aside from the linkage I've been using all year) it feels pretty good. I'm not sure better or worse yet, but it certainly has its sections and I'm excited to ride it more. I think there is huge potential for a downhill bike designed from the ground up around 29" wheels. It could be a great tool for certain tracks, maybe more than you would think."

I can't imagine many other world class riders making social media posts like Neko does, which is a shame. Sure, I don't think that a lot of top racers and riders are experimenting like Mulally seems to love doing, and that's fine, but any sort of insight beyond blatant sponsor plugs is always greatly appreciated. Neko's transparent and insightful Instagram posts, while not the norm (even on his own feed) show how a racer with tens of thousands of fans should be using social media.