Revisions, revisions and more revisions. That’s where I seem to be endlessly hovering with the Snakedriver project. But the good news is I think this latest prototype is just about as close as it gets to a pre-production prototype. I went back to the drawing board on a lot of details with this build try to mitigate several recurring time intensive steps. Namely the lower shock mount fit up as well as removing that last bit of unwanted wiggle from the rear triangle originating up at the clevis junction of the rocker. The kinematics and layout largely remain intact. I’ve been very happy with how the bikes been riding and performing. Maintenance has been well… sort of a non-issue. After 3 seasons of constant pounding, I’m still on the original bearings from this first iteration. It’s now just down the nitty gritty design details.
That little bit of wiggle I mention above isn’t all that much. Some riders may even like that springy feel but I wanted to eliminate as much of it as possible so the rear end is solid without being too stiff while retaining steel snappy feel. So that meant moving to a single bolt solution and eliminating any shims used from previous connections. The next iteration will use extended race bearings. I’ll see how this single bolt concept plays out in reality but I do have a backup plan if it poses an issue staying torqued which is basically in-house made hardware using shoulder bolts that are counter bored and tapped to accept M5 flat screws and countersunk washers. Here’s how the new configuration plays out:
And a close up of the boss little bolts Adam Prosise turned for me. On second thought, I should have had him anodize them clear so they match the rest of the silver hardware. Next time!
Next up was the rocker design. Having exclusively been testing a size large without issue, I only came across a possible issue when I built Lynn what would be a size small: Her knees come really close to the rocker hardware. I was able to narrow up the entire rocker profile by over 10mm’s in total so moving everything in-board but reconfiguring the clevis connections to regain tire clearance. Here’s a shot of that narrower 2 piece rocker assembly along with the new reduced hardware count:
Thanks to Thomas Hosford of Hosford & Co. for machining a pair of these for me and working around my timeline. Couldn’t have gotten to this point without his help! There’s a few small additional tweaks I’m going to perform with the switch over to extended race bearings as that will eliminate 6 spacers from the total parts count and assembly above and allow me to use stock hardware for just about everything here with the exception of the trunnion bolts and clevis bolts. Which may or may not go back to a previous configuration as mentioned above – just need to put this through real world testing. It works on paper and with assembly but we’ll see when it starts to see trail time.
This prototype carries the new water-jet cut and post machined rocker pivot assembly. This is a little fun assembly to turn, machine and weld:
Also adds a bit more elegance and “air” to the seat tube assembly I think.
Down to the main pivot and lower shock mount. This was a trouble spot because I was bending the tubes manually which are Reynolds 853 and those down tubes are incredibly stiff to bend. They can be bent but holy cow. With that comes a degree of unpredictable springback. So each lower shock mount had to be hand fitted. Fine for prototyping but NOT in a production environment. So to get around that I started to explore replacing the bend with a 3D printed part that puts the DT exactly where it should each and every time no matter the size of the frame. The tuning the laser cut lower shock mount to snap into place after being mitered and what was a laborious task now has been transformed into a repeatable endeavor that’s pretty painless and quick. Here’s close up of that assembly:
You’ll also note that the dropper port has been eliminated and now is integrated in the main pivot print. Here’s a closeup of how that all plays internally:
Everything is plug and play for the most part right down to the o-ring seals to keep much/dirt out from the Enduro MAX BOSL main pivot bearings. There’s no drag on these to speak of as the snap over the two interfaces and simply ride on top of a “V” between the main pivot and yoke assembly.
I’ve also added a 4th cable organizer to the DT just ahead of the DT bottle mounts. This was sort of a long run between points and although I use shrink tubing to organize cables, another for those who don’t want to take that extra step made sense. Plus that gives the option for the owner to move the bottle up or down as this is basically a Salsa anything mount (or run a big cage for example).
And now for one of my favorite little details: the tucked brake mount. This was sort of a running design feature and part of the language I’d already established and although I had some proprietary mount options in CAD along with a concentric post mount option as well, I settled on a good old fashioned ISO mount as that allows everyone to spec 160 or 180mm rotors (200 will fit but I wouldn’t recommend it on this build honestly) and use any existing ISO to Post Mount adapter readily available from Shimano, Sram, Paul, Hope etc. And it keeps the caliper tucked inside the rear triangle and out of harms way in addition to putting all the braking forces through the chainstay vs the seat stay.
And another view..
A funny little exercise was weighing all the parts post weld and face/chase. All the hardware comes to 0.13 lbs. The front triangle is 4.13lbs while the swing arm clocks in at 2.07lbs. So a total of 6.33lbs without shock. Not too bad I think and there’s A LOT of material in those parts I could probably carve out over time and testing. But for now, that’s where everything stands. Here’s a few shots of the finished assembly with Cerakote which really showcases welds nicely I may add!
And the assembly shots with a worst case scenario Fox Float X mounted. (It will initially be run with a Fox DHX2 coil shock for the record.)
Snakedriver Revisions
Revisions, revisions and more revisions. That’s where I seem to be endlessly hovering with the Snakedriver project. But the good news is I think this latest prototype is just about as close as it gets to a pre-production prototype. I went back to the drawing board on a lot of details with this build try to mitigate several recurring time intensive steps. Namely the lower shock mount fit up as well as removing that last bit of unwanted wiggle from the rear triangle originating up at the clevis junction of the rocker. The kinematics and layout largely remain intact. I’ve been very happy with how the bikes been riding and performing. Maintenance has been well… sort of a non-issue. After 3 seasons of constant pounding, I’m still on the original bearings from this first iteration. It’s now just down the nitty gritty design details.
That little bit of wiggle I mention above isn’t all that much. Some riders may even like that springy feel but I wanted to eliminate as much of it as possible so the rear end is solid without being too stiff while retaining steel snappy feel. So that meant moving to a single bolt solution and eliminating any shims used from previous connections. The next iteration will use extended race bearings. I’ll see how this single bolt concept plays out in reality but I do have a backup plan if it poses an issue staying torqued which is basically in-house made hardware using shoulder bolts that are counter bored and tapped to accept M5 flat screws and countersunk washers. Here’s how the new configuration plays out:
And a close up of the boss little bolts Adam Prosise turned for me. On second thought, I should have had him anodize them clear so they match the rest of the silver hardware. Next time!
Next up was the rocker design. Having exclusively been testing a size large without issue, I only came across a possible issue when I built Lynn what would be a size small: Her knees come really close to the rocker hardware. I was able to narrow up the entire rocker profile by over 10mm’s in total so moving everything in-board but reconfiguring the clevis connections to regain tire clearance. Here’s a shot of that narrower 2 piece rocker assembly along with the new reduced hardware count:
Thanks to Thomas Hosford of Hosford & Co. for machining a pair of these for me and working around my timeline. Couldn’t have gotten to this point without his help! There’s a few small additional tweaks I’m going to perform with the switch over to extended race bearings as that will eliminate 6 spacers from the total parts count and assembly above and allow me to use stock hardware for just about everything here with the exception of the trunnion bolts and clevis bolts. Which may or may not go back to a previous configuration as mentioned above – just need to put this through real world testing. It works on paper and with assembly but we’ll see when it starts to see trail time.
This prototype carries the new water-jet cut and post machined rocker pivot assembly. This is a little fun assembly to turn, machine and weld:
Also adds a bit more elegance and “air” to the seat tube assembly I think.
Down to the main pivot and lower shock mount. This was a trouble spot because I was bending the tubes manually which are Reynolds 853 and those down tubes are incredibly stiff to bend. They can be bent but holy cow. With that comes a degree of unpredictable springback. So each lower shock mount had to be hand fitted. Fine for prototyping but NOT in a production environment. So to get around that I started to explore replacing the bend with a 3D printed part that puts the DT exactly where it should each and every time no matter the size of the frame. The tuning the laser cut lower shock mount to snap into place after being mitered and what was a laborious task now has been transformed into a repeatable endeavor that’s pretty painless and quick. Here’s close up of that assembly:
You’ll also note that the dropper port has been eliminated and now is integrated in the main pivot print. Here’s a closeup of how that all plays internally:
Everything is plug and play for the most part right down to the o-ring seals to keep much/dirt out from the Enduro MAX BOSL main pivot bearings. There’s no drag on these to speak of as the snap over the two interfaces and simply ride on top of a “V” between the main pivot and yoke assembly.
I’ve also added a 4th cable organizer to the DT just ahead of the DT bottle mounts. This was sort of a long run between points and although I use shrink tubing to organize cables, another for those who don’t want to take that extra step made sense. Plus that gives the option for the owner to move the bottle up or down as this is basically a Salsa anything mount (or run a big cage for example).
And now for one of my favorite little details: the tucked brake mount. This was sort of a running design feature and part of the language I’d already established and although I had some proprietary mount options in CAD along with a concentric post mount option as well, I settled on a good old fashioned ISO mount as that allows everyone to spec 160 or 180mm rotors (200 will fit but I wouldn’t recommend it on this build honestly) and use any existing ISO to Post Mount adapter readily available from Shimano, Sram, Paul, Hope etc. And it keeps the caliper tucked inside the rear triangle and out of harms way in addition to putting all the braking forces through the chainstay vs the seat stay.
And another view..
A funny little exercise was weighing all the parts post weld and face/chase. All the hardware comes to 0.13 lbs. The front triangle is 4.13lbs while the swing arm clocks in at 2.07lbs. So a total of 6.33lbs without shock. Not too bad I think and there’s A LOT of material in those parts I could probably carve out over time and testing. But for now, that’s where everything stands. Here’s a few shots of the finished assembly with Cerakote which really showcases welds nicely I may add!
And the assembly shots with a worst case scenario Fox Float X mounted. (It will initially be run with a Fox DHX2 coil shock for the record.)
Now to assemble this beast and put it through its paces! If you’re wondering about geometry and specs, here’s the preliminary spec sheet here.