Anyone has ever built frames here? Or parts?
Back in 1992, when I was 16, I built a full suspension bike. The fork was Lawwill Leader-like and had 3 inches of travel using an old motorcycle shock (so coil+oil). But because of the lenght of the shock, I had to use... a BMX front wheel. Ha! And I must add that at the time, I had never seen anything like a Leader fork, I didn't have any knowledge in motorcycle suspension either. The only type of suspension I had been exposed to were Rock Shox-like forks. Imagine my surprise when a month later I picked up an issue of Mountain Biking showing a Joe Murray-designed fork using a similar (and much more elegant) system!
As for the frame, I used an old hi-ten Precision MTB frame and turned it into an ajustable Slingshot-like frame with close to 3 inches of travel. I also lowered the seatstays to mimic the first Gary Fisher suspension frame, I thought it would look cool and help the suspension action. No pivot on the top tube, I was just relying on natural flex.
The thing weighed around 40lbs. I rode it a lot until the fork snapped under the headset when I was JRA. I forgot to specify the fork was made with raw flat welded steel bars, link plated and regular bolts (no bearings - had to retighten the bolts all the time) and drilled out to save weight... just like the cranks - what was I thinking!
I eventually designed another fork to put on a Rockhopper-turned-into-a-Slingshot frame, but both failed miserably. The new fork was lighter but needed to be rammed into a tree to compress. Crazy stiction. As for the frame, the chromoly tubes were just too flexible for the job. The frame got unusable after only one ride.
I'll try to find pictures...
Back in 1992, when I was 16, I built a full suspension bike. The fork was Lawwill Leader-like and had 3 inches of travel using an old motorcycle shock (so coil+oil). But because of the lenght of the shock, I had to use... a BMX front wheel. Ha! And I must add that at the time, I had never seen anything like a Leader fork, I didn't have any knowledge in motorcycle suspension either. The only type of suspension I had been exposed to were Rock Shox-like forks. Imagine my surprise when a month later I picked up an issue of Mountain Biking showing a Joe Murray-designed fork using a similar (and much more elegant) system!
As for the frame, I used an old hi-ten Precision MTB frame and turned it into an ajustable Slingshot-like frame with close to 3 inches of travel. I also lowered the seatstays to mimic the first Gary Fisher suspension frame, I thought it would look cool and help the suspension action. No pivot on the top tube, I was just relying on natural flex.
The thing weighed around 40lbs. I rode it a lot until the fork snapped under the headset when I was JRA. I forgot to specify the fork was made with raw flat welded steel bars, link plated and regular bolts (no bearings - had to retighten the bolts all the time) and drilled out to save weight... just like the cranks - what was I thinking!
I eventually designed another fork to put on a Rockhopper-turned-into-a-Slingshot frame, but both failed miserably. The new fork was lighter but needed to be rammed into a tree to compress. Crazy stiction. As for the frame, the chromoly tubes were just too flexible for the job. The frame got unusable after only one ride.
I'll try to find pictures...
i've made a set of forks to date but that might all change soon as i'm thinking about building my own frame 
