New 2010 "D8R" Downhill bike

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This is my new downhill frame design for 2010.  The D8R, is a full 4130 Cro-Mo, TIG welded frame, with 8" of wheel travel front and rear.  New for 2010, is a longer cockpit from previous years, that better centers the rider over the bike and larger diameter tubes making a stronger, stiffer mainframe.  This is a very stable, race proven, national winning frame.  Dan W. Attached Images
Reply:What are the tubing specs? Butt profile, wall thickness etc...My last project was replacing the front triangle on my El Mariachi. Used a mix of True Temper Verus, and Verus heat treated. Chose a larger od down tube, which really helped with BB movement.
Reply:This one is all .049 straight gauge tubing.  In the past, depending on the rider, I would swap out the top tubes for .035 to help lighten it up in areas.  My next move will be to fabricate one out of 7005 Aluminum.  I want to use the new 1.5 x 1.125 headtube and also make a monocuque seat mast.  I'm looking forward to putting that one together.
Reply:Thats awesome, not too many people can say they fabricated their DH bike!!! I used to race EX/SP and i still have my first "big boy bike" a 2003 Intense M1Hopefully one day my welding/Machining skills will be to the point where i can fabricate my own Dirt Jump Bike.Miller Dynasty 300 DXMiller CST280Miller Maxstar 150 STH
Reply:In general it looks good. Just a few constructive criticisms: That seat tube looks a little unsupported. If it is strong enough then you could have built it lighter using more gusseting and lighter tubing. The high single pivot design is going to have tons of brake and pedal feedback. Personally I would have gone with a VPP or DW style link, but for simplicity if you want to build the single pivot you may consider lowering it just a bit. Or you could run a chain device that moves the chain up to the pivot, check out the Canfield Jedi to see what I'm talking about. What is the frame weight? Some single pivot designs have been successful in the past at the world cup level simply because of the weight (Orange comes to mind).Even with your longer cockpit it still looks like you are running a long stem. Is that just preference? What is your actual TT length? What is the head tube angle? It looks like you have to run the full drop crowns on that boxxer to get a decent HA. Are those the old style Race Face cranks with square taper BB? Overall looks like a cool design, but I'd love to see some close ups of the welds, especially the head tube and BB area. When I first looked at it, it reminded me of the old Trek Y frames.
Reply:I have well over 300 of these frames all over the world with National titles won, and have yet to have a single failure.  We really haven't had any problems with the pedal feed back due to the current shock technologies.  In the past, feedback was a major issue, but not as much now.  I have played with the pivot location over the past years.  With years of "tweaking" we have found the current location works the best.  One of our pro riders was able to get a build weight of 39 lbs.  Most of the "standard" builds come in at 41-43 lbs.  The reason for the long stem, is that I am 6'8" and wanted to keep the frame in the "Large" range so other people could ride it.  The HA is 65 deg., and those are my old Race Face cranks with the square taper BB, good eye.  Lol.  I took them off of an old dirt jump frame I had laying around just to get it rolling.I will get photos of the welds on the next frame I do, so they can be seen in the raw.
Reply:ive been out of DH for a few years. Good to see that frame has lived on past the owner who died a couple years back. (that's my understanding anyway) 3 of my buddies had that frame and didn't have any problems and i saw them all over the internet so I'd say they've been proven. ImagineMW, Good job bro!!  Are you the Fox Racing mechanic who took over fabricating that frame ?
Reply:Thanks.  I was actually the original welder/fabricator for SWD.  The guy you mention took the name but not the "skill", or past knowledge of the frame.  He went on his own, but isn't doing so well from what I hear.  I own my own business and SWD used me for all the fabrication.  So, I thought I would FINALLY get around to building a frame of my own with all of my inventory of parts laying around.  It's been a long time coming!