August 2012 – Page 3 – CanooterValve

Kuratas vs. Danzig

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Aug 032012

I’ve lost track of the hours I’ve put into Project Danzig, and probably best I did. But just when you think you’ve designed something pretty cool, a company in Japan comes along and releases giant robot that shoots people when you smile.

Lest that shot past you, let me just clarify that last sentence. One feature of the giant new armed robot being sold by Japanese killer robot makers, Suidobashi Heavy Industry–I mean aside from the fact that you can control it with an iPad–is that it shoots people in the face when you smile. Smiling operates the dual Gatling guns that fire BBs, so the funnier and funnier you find it that you’re using a giant robot to shoot your friend in the face, the more Kuratas shoots him in the face.

What type of insurance does a company like this buy?

Did I mention you can operate it from your smartphone? Of course you can.

Nothing I write about can possibly compare to the promotional video, though. Until you’ve watched an adorable Japanese girl’s demure giggles cause a robot to shoot someone in the face, you’ve never met the 21st Century.

My suspension design, in contrast, might one day make people smile, but that smiling won’t be able to put anyone’s eye out. At least not yet.

Clearly I have a lot of design work to do.

To that end, today we wrap up axle path–or the “versus propulsion” side of it. Here’s the drawing from yesterday.

The red dots mark three key stages of the axle path. If you look at the green vertical line along which the red dots are arranged, you’ll notice the lowest dot–which represents the bike sitting there with no weight on it–begins on the right hand side of the vertical line. As the bike moves up to its sag point, the axle moves to the left of the vertical line. The key is that the axle path continues to move rearward for 10mm of vertical travel beyond the sag point.

The idea is that chain tension continues to counteract the suspension’s movement until you’re 10-15mm beyond the sag point. The sag point is where the suspension stays when you’re riding around. Chain force hinders suspension movement until you’re 10-15mm beyond the sag point. Once you compress the suspension beyond that point chain tension no longer tries to control the suspension.

So that’s the idea. Almost all suspension bikes work this way, so I’ve not created anything unique there. What I did try to do, though, is develop a platform that will allow a huge range of options with all of these points. The system makes it easy to fine tune every aspect of the axle path.

So that’s what we’re going to do.

Responses to my “How much more would you pay for U.S.-made carbon fiber?” question keep coming in, but at this point the clear winner is $250-$500 more. The majority of respondents would pay up to $500 more for a carbon fiber frame if it were made in the U.S. Impossible to say how accurate that admittedly highly unscientific analysis really is, those are the results. I’ll keep an eye on incoming responses, though, because these things can change.

And maybe next week we ask how much more you’d pay for a giant killer robot that was made in the U.S. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

Short-listing Adam Craig for a Pulitzer then Back to Axle Paths

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Aug 022012

That photo’s from Adam Craig’s blog. He just posted about his inaugural Megavalanche race–that insane DH race with an eight-thousand plus foot descent, 350 rider mass start on snow, and genuine chance of dying. A lot of my work involves reading, writing, and patching up code for posts. I end up reading a lot, and Adam’s posts always stand out. You have to like phrases like, “I overtook dozens of people, mostly in a safe manner,” and “a 4m wide ‘road’ made up of fist to lawnmower-sized rocks.” Most professional riders lead incredibly interesting lives, but the ones capable of actually describing those lives are few and far between. Adam’s one of those great riders who can write about it.

Responses are still coming in on the question I’d asked yesterday (How much more you’d pay for a U.S.-made carbon fiber frame?), so I’ll let that one go for while. Suffice to say, though, the majority of respondents have indicated a willingness to pay at least some premium for U.S. fabrication. We’ll see how it develops.

Anyway, Danzig: so I’m thinking the best possible scenario for version 1 is this: 29er, 125-130mm of travel, 17.35-inch chainstays.

Version 2? Well, that’s something else entirely.

I suspect the last time I tried to articulate what was going on with the axle path made little to no sense, so I’ve been meaning to double back to that for some more detail. For starters, here’s the general axle path of Danzig:

Here’s that same deal, only zoomed in and with highlights on the sag line (where the suspension should be when the rider’s weight is on the bike) and dots to emphasize the horizontal orientation of the axle relative to that sag line and a hypothetical straight vertical line. I came damn close to using “vis a vis” instead of “relative to,” but I fought it off there.

What the hell’s all that, then? At this point, most of you probably already know, but let’s wrap it up with a final detailed explanation of chain and axle path tomorrow.

Chain of Command

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Aug 012012

Most people in the bike business have come to accept the, um, eccentricities, of the supply chain. Rick Vosper’s done a brilliant job of breaking it all down at BicycleRetailer.com. It’s a very good read–particularly if read along with any of the recent articles about U.S. production and carbon fiber.

Most of these articles, like like one on Bikerumor.com, mention Intense. Brands like Intense and Turner have become the quintessential examples of U.S. manufacturers at a crossroads. Stateside production of a competitively-priced carbon fiber bicycle frame isn’t an option, so they’re weighing the loss of control that comes from overseas production with the fact that nobody will buy a frame that’s much more expensive than comparable models from other brands. And increasingly few customers will pay a premium for an aluminum frame.

The 30,000 view of these two issues is pretty interesting, as is the recent “high tech but made in the U.S.” marketing push from brands like Enve. The trend at this point definitely suggests we’re reaching a kind of tipping point with high-end bicycle frame manufacturing. The desire to create high-end product at something like a competitive price–and manufacture it in the U.S.–is out there in a way that it didn’t seem to be even a year ago.

This will probably never happen–not because we can’t do it, but because so much of bicycle industry culture is deeply invested in Asia. It’s the current path of least resistance. There’s a hell of a lot of resistance, but still less than trying to make carbon fiber bike frames in the States.

Obviously, this is much on my mind right now, as has been for some time.

So I figured I’d ask you, my distinguished panel of authorities. Assuming all features of the bike are comparable, how much more would you be willing to pay for a carbon fiber frame to be made in the U.S.?

You thoughts are much appreciated, and I’ll report back the findings in a bit. I’ll also be back to Project Danzig next time.

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