[auntie bob]

by peter white apparently.

go here

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tout-terrain.asp

scroll down to panamerican.

The Panamericana is Tout Terrain's all terrain expedition frame. Shown here is a complete bicycle with suspension fork, Rohloff rear hub, and TA Carmina crankset. The rear suspension has 80mm of travel, which makes the chain tensioner necessary for the Rohloff hub. No bottom bracket eccentric is used, so this frame can be set up with either a Rohloff or a derailleur drive train.

Panamericana frame with shock: $ 3,400.00

I guess it's still a single pivot. it looks like he figured out how to put a rack on a maverick suc36.

part of me is mad, since I've tried for awhile to come up with a full-suspension touring mt bike design, and given up. It's very hard to make any mountain bike climb well when loaded, without even worrying about suspension.

and I'll beat everyone too it and say it looks like it flexes alot. and in general just scares me.

who would buy one of these? hunter-gatherers with deep pockets?

 

[pinkshirtphotos]

what is the point of that

 

[bent^biker]

and why in this forum

 

[Tame Ape]

and why in this forum

Where else should he put it? The touring forum? The DH forum is pretty tech-oriented.

At any rate, that seems like a case of over-engineering to me. You might as well get a hybrid and a BOB trailer instead.

 

[Bikerpunk241]

Nice use of a shiver single crown......looks like the whole thing would be WAY heavier than wanted for touring.....

 

[pinkshirtphotos]

is it a road or offroad touring bike? if its road why does it need suspension if its offroad why does it have hybrid tires and discs

 

[Westy]

what is the point of that

It is hard to put panniers on a full suspension bike. Not exactly a widespread problem but this is a solution.

 

[bElliott]

april fools?

 

[MikeD]

Hey, what day is it again??

 

[pinkshirtphotos]

How about this for touring.

i would fall asleep doing that haha to layed back for me

 

[auntie bob]

yes, yes, it's not a downhill bike.

astute.


also on the front page of the downhill forum:
How did winter treat you?
Herniated discs... anyone ever have 'em?


I linked it here because there are several frame designers and suspension gurus and other smart people who lurk here, and I thought they'd be interested. I think the rear linkage, though scary, is different and bears study.

Moreover, I do alot of loaded touring on a mountain bike, and am offroad often. It's a problem people have been pecking at for years: how off-road worthy can a touring bike be?
regarding weight, if you're camping, a very light load would be 20 lbs, with a tent, food, and coat, et cetera. So a featherweight 20 lb hardtail is now at least a 40lb bike.
see how adding a few pounds of suspension isn't such a big deal?

The heavier your bike is the more it needs suspension, and the better it works. If you've ever even sat on a dirt bike, you know even off the shelf ones are impossibly plush. There's no magic lube involved; it's the weight of the bike.

basic stuff here:

When you smack a rock while riding, the force of the impact is transmitted to the frame. This first has the effect of unweighting the front wheel. when the rear smacks the same rock. it unweights the rear. You know this feeling. the bike tries to buck you off. Here's what makes this relevant: the heavier the bike is the harder it is to control when bucked. The heavier frame has more mass and more torque against the rider and is less sensitive to their body english.

You might be thinking, "who cares? it's a touring bike. you're not trying to set a record." I'm not talking about racing, though. I'm talking about just controlling the damn thing in very rocky terrain.

besides, sometimes when you're touring, you are trying to set a record.

Old Man Mountain makes racks designed to mount to mountain bikes. In fact there was a write-up in Bike last issue on two guys on full suspension bikes, using their rear racks.

Two problems heretofore mostly unresolved:

no front rack.
adding any weight to the rear of a regular mountain bike will make climbing harder and harder by unweighting the front wheel. A long wheelbase helps.
Rigid mtn forks never have mid-mount braze-ons for regular front racks, and ones designed for suspension forks are necessarily garbage.

unsprung weight.
The OMM racks and anything else like it always load the suspended wheel, not the frame. So unsprung weight goes through the roof, and the supplest suspension is turned into a sluggish mess. It's really bad. This is a huge hurdle, that I knew necessitated custom-making a frame.
You may have wondered why he used an upside-down fork; it's the only good way to mount the rack and not have it hang on the suspended portion. I'm very curious how it attatches.

 

[coma13]

shoxter?