[Buck Fever]

well crap. I can't seem to add images through flickr anymore since they changed the layout. There are a bunch more pictures to a buddy's flickr page until I have time to take pics of my own.
Frederick Watershed on Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4770285172_2171609b79_m.jpg@@AMEPARAM@@4770285172@@AMEPARAM@@2171609b79

I'm not going to get into all the details but I'll say that this was a ton more work than one of my normal bikes. I executed a lot of out of the ordinary for me details on this and the final form took shape because I wanted to pull off some of those details...so it was partially out of necessity rather than a design goal. The internal hydro line is something that's been rattling around my head for longer than I've been building bikes. I'm glad to finally be free of it so I can move on. The frame isn't finished yet but I wanted to get it in rideable condition for my trip out east a few weeks ago. I'm in the process of machining a front der mount and hope to have it done this weekend. I tend not to do any finish work (scotchbrite) on my one bikes, the welds are untouched and I'm proud of that.

The bottom line is that the handling is phenomenal. The knick-knacks are cool but irrelevant to the ride. The ride and handling are all that really matter.

BTW, the tapered steerer Fox TALAS and the Edge AM rims blow my mind. Seriously. There's no going back.

 

[Muffler Bearing]

not sure what your going on about with posting photos, but heres one for you.

frame looks great!

 

[Muffler Bearing]

going through the rest of the photos on your flickr right now, great work!

 

[MMcG]

More details on the frame's geometry that makes it ride so well. I've seen some pics of it and it looks stellar - but would love to know more about the elements that make it ride so well for ya (and not so much about internal hydro line routing and stuff like that).

 

[Buck Fever]

Fork - Tapered steerer Fox TALAS Terralogic QR15. 44mm offset. 120mm - 95mm. Set for 40mm sag at full extension
HT - 70.5°
420mm CS length ctr to axle
off the top of my head I think it has a 310mm BB height with 2.2 tires at full sag.

I'm using the prototype cup for the new lower bearing system that I developed that allows the use of tapered steerers for us small builders.

Despite being longer than my 120mm talas for 26" wheels, there's noticeably less for aft flex in the tapered steerer 29er fork under hard braking. Coupled with the QR15 and some Edge AM rims, I didn't feel any bothersome lateral flex in hard corners either. I can point the bike where I want it to go and it holds a line.

The steering feels perfectly neutral to me in almost every situation. If I cranked up a punchy steep climb (the kind where you fork isn't preloaded anymore) with the fork at full extension, the steering got just the slightest bit wonky but that was my only minor complaint.

I'm a huge fan of short chainstays. For a 29er 420mm is short but it's right in line with a lot of 26" bikes. I feel like it gets rid of the sluggishness of longer CS bikes. My bike also has two chainrings and the direct mount FD mount is in process.

STA is irrelevant but the saddle is in the right spot for me (85mm setback). The curved ST was out of necessity.

Does that cover it all?

 

[MMcG]

I think that just about covers it all yep!