Thursday, January 31, 2013

Mike pt. 1

McCalla has been a friend of mine since middle school. We bonded initially because we were both (sorry Mike, it's true) huge losers, drifted apart when we went away to (NMSU and Colorado) college, then found each other again at a bike race in our hometown. 10 years later, we've been roommates, earned graduate degrees, played endless hours of Perfect Dark, attended a lot of mediocre CU Opera, been on a national championship podium, and even beat some of our heroes riding together.


These days, he rides a ton and races, and I am slow (er) and have a cute baby. So when he decided he wanted a longer-travel 29er that would actually be fun to throw around, I was psyched to take on the project.


This is pretty much my dream job - build bikes for people who are really going to ride them fast and hard. I don't do a lot of fancy paint jobs, I don't do a whole lot of pretty little touches, I just want to make bikes that (pardon my cliche) tear it up on the trails. Enter the McKiller. Did I just write that? Man, I'm going to have to start throwing around attitude more often!

For now, just a few pictures of my progress. The end result will be a sub-25 pound 29er with 43cm chainstays and 5" of travel. More details and pictures as I make progress.



7 comments:

Dave said...

whoa, great weight with that amount of travel. do you do many 5-in bikes? and what are those two doohickeys in the lower pic?

Walt said...

Hey Dave -

To be fair, the weight is mostly a function of the parts you bolt on - XX1/King/DT/Magura and such will make a nice light bike, but it's $$$.

The doohickeys are the mounts for the upper rocker bearings that will be welded to the seat tube. I've turned them down on the lathe to save 20g or so. It should make more sense when I do the next post.

-Walt

Walt said...

Oh, and yes, I have done a lot of 5" (and 6") bikes. Only occasionally get a request for anything with more than 6" travel, but I have done a few.

-Walt

Dave said...

cool, thanks. good to know about the 5-in.

Adam Sklar said...

So is "effective ST angle" based off of the saddle's position in relation to the BB? those are some pretty crazy looking angles.

Walt said...

Hey Adam -

Yep, 73 degrees to the center of the clamp when the saddle is up at pedaling height. You have to do some pretty extreme stuff with the seat tube to allow this much travel with 29" wheels and 43cm chainstays!

Adam Sklar said...

oh cool, thanks!

Yeah, that's a fun looking bike! I think the "extreme" stuff came out looking pretty cool too.