Hello everyone, I’ll be uploading my progress and asking for help here.
My project is designing a machining a 160/170 enduro bike, the idea is to use a tube and lugs construction using aluminum 7075-T6 for everything like the latest atherton bike or Romarin_mrt (insta name) passion project bike.
At the moment I have done the geometry and suspension design with linkage that I think it will work well. I will atatch some pictures of that and I am open to change sugestions.
I am now doing the 3D modeling for the frame but I am stuck on what frame hardware to use as every brand has its own, different measurements and diferent assemblies.
Does anyone know of a brand that sells frame hardware with measurements?
Cool project!
I’d look into the 3VO rear assembly from Ministry Cycles. They sell them as a full kit and will provide the dimensions when the order is finalised.
Edit:
Read too quickly. You have a linkage of your own drawn up. That will probably mean you will have to design and fabricate all your own hardware unless you find suitable stock hardware from McMaster-Carr or similar.
You could also buy a second hand bike and use that as a donor-bike, reverse engineer the hardware and design your linkage around using that.
You can but pivot hardware from say Santa Cruz. They will have a bunch of specific bolts which may or may not fit your needs/dimensions. You’d have to buy a kit to measure it though. Alternatively you can make your own. I’m doing that currently and to be honest it’s a pain in the arse but you’ll get exactly what you need then.
I’d recommend familiarizing yourself with the misumi and/or McMaster Carr catalog. Misumi has a lot of configurable parts and if you want you can build a full hardware kit out of these parts.
It will not be the lightest, nor the most streamlined looking, but will give a good base line and with manufacturing services you can still get small parts custom made, even if you are lacking those capabilities in your workshop.
I would recommend buying hardware from an existing bike, then measure it and build around those measurements. I’ve built 5 different full suspension frame now all with my own hodge podge of hardware and it’s kinda a nightmare to not just have proper bolts and all the spacers. Rocky Mountain, Devinici, and Kona all have complete hardware kits available.
Thank you all very much for the suggestions. I’ve checked out McMastercarr and misumi as well as a lot of bicicle brands and their explosioned frame assemblie views and the hardware that they sell.
From here I will be taking advantage of having my current bike, a commencal meta v4, and i am going to disassemble the frame, measuring everything and designing my bike arround it. The downsides i see is that the shock mountings I will not be able to use the same, so I’ll look for some conventional shock hardware and bolts which shoudn’t be too hard and then the actual hardware from commençal is on the expensive side comparing with other manufacturers.
Next up I have to find a suplier for the tubing which I’ve also a bit stuck on this. I am looking for 7075-t6 tubing in reasonable diameters and thickness for a mountainbike. Probably double butted for downtube and toptube and a standard one for the seatube as I will probably have to machine it to fit the 34.9 mm diameter dropper.
Norco is very good about calling out the bolts and hardware they use in exploded drawings and there are places you can buy their hardware online like here Also they often employ a similar suspension type to the one you have designed in their new Range, Optic, and Shore models so it could possibly help with idler hardware as well. I have used their hardware to build two full suspension bikes and they have held up well.
Update: i disassembled my bike’s swingarm so I could see how everything was mounted together. I measured all the bolts, spacers, the frame in the pivot spots,etc.
Right now I am modeling the frame arround my geometry, suspension layout and commencal’s frame hardware.
I wanted to ask you guys about where could I get 3D files of all the components of the bike. most importantly, wheels with 148mm hubs and a shock to see how it all fits. If I can’t find it I will model it myself but I am running a bit short on time to finish the design project for uni.
Also I would need a model of an idler as it is part of my suspension design and I don’t have one to measure myself.
I recommend modeling it yourself anyway, it’s fairly simple. Measure your tyre width and the wheel total diameter, then take a picture of the tyre profile on your phone, upload it to cad, scale it to width, constraint it to wheel radius and revolve around the wheel axis. This will be enough to work with clearances.
As a good drafting/modelling exercise take some time to learn how to layout sprockets of different tooth counts. It will give you a good understanding of a few things. Then you will be able to model any sprocket/chainring/idler
