hardtail to fs

[reignfire]

Hey I was wondering if there was any way to turn a hardtail bike in a full suspension bike.

[angelo_caduto86]

There used to be an add-on suspension/shock that would do that. It attached to the rear of your bike. I haven't seen it advertised in a while, so not sure if it is still available. The sense I got at the time was it was a good add-on at the time, relatively, because FS bikes were heavey. Now I think the add-on would add weight to your bike that makes it smarter to look at a bike that was designed for FS.

I have to wonder if you have considered buying a FS, though not cheap, you can get a decent beginner bike for less than $600

Also, I have the feeling that a good transition for you would be to get a suspension seat post, not FS, but takes out the bumps, so your fanny doesn't have to.

[Rotifer]

It was called the Shockster (http://www.mtbreview.com/reviews/Rear_Shock/product_22526.shtml). I had a friend who kept stuff like this in his shop as curiosity pieces. It is a heavy, complicated monster, but, you wouldn't know that by reading the reviews in the link.

[angelo_caduto86]

Rotifer,

What did you think of my seat post suggestion?

[Rotifer]

Yeah, that would definately be the best bet - I missed that part of your post. I've never used one, personally, I love my steel hard tail. Going from my CX bike to the mountain bike it always feels like my tire is low on air.

[reignfire]

there is no possibleway that ivnloves cutting the hardtail off and buying a rear suspension thing? if not i was just wondering

[Rotifer]

Why not? Go for it man. Design your own suspension and take it to a fabricator, it could be fun. However, you could get something cheaper on e-bay - bicycle tubes are not the easiest things to weld. If you want suspension that badly get an old FSR or something.

[angelo_caduto86]

I don't understand why you would want to go through all the trouble of making a FS bike, unless you were interested in learning how to design and weld.

You aren't a proud cyclist until you own three or four bikes, at least!

[reignfire]

OK thanx everyone but i guess i will just stick with the hard tail cause it is just fine.

[mbrider1974]

It would depend on your current frame on how easy you would be able to chop the frame.

I have a friend with an engineering company and I'm toying with the idea of keeping my forks and rear shock/swingarm and other parts, and designing my own frame that these parts will fit on without modifying them so if it doesnt work I'll put it back on the old frame, could be fun, especially if one of the cnc programmers can make some nice parts for me out off some exotic material.

Now all I need to do is find a girlfriend with a dad who owns a carbon fibre fabrication company :D

[Andy in Wi]

hmmm... I did see someone cut apart an old schwinn frontier, or maybe a highplains... something older... and weld some pivots in at the chainstays and somehow used a shock as a frame member at the seatstays. No other pivots, I think the rear triange just flexed, not unlike the trek fuel / fisher sugar rear triange/swingarm setup. When you think about it, the concept is fairly simple if you just use an elastomer setup (like Ibis, K2/proflex, Moots) with an 8- or 10-mm bolt connecting the two halfs of the bike.
Keep in mind this isn't exactly a thing you want to do to that favorite steel frame.

[Goride]

Cutting apart hardtails to make full suspension? Sounds like a great idea - if we were back in 1990. Since we're almost 13years past that date I'd stick to buying one. The first full suspension designs were based on this method of thinking; since then there has been great evolution in suspension designs. If you want full suspension that works you'll likely need to buy it unless you're an engineer with a ton of welding/fabricating experience.

-brad

[mbrider1974]

Originally posted by Goride
Cutting apart hardtails to make full suspension? Sounds like a great idea - if we were back in 1990. Since we're almost 13years past that date I'd stick to buying one. The first full suspension designs were based on this method of thinking; since then there has been great evolution in suspension designs. If you want full suspension that works you'll likely need to buy it unless you're an engineer with a ton of welding/fabricating experience.

-brad

I'm still thinking off getting my engineer mate too make me a frame, just outa interest, and some nice cheap exoctic metal will be good too blag.

[instigator]

dude, stay with the hardtail. i'm on my third one right now, and i'm looking to get another in the spring. hardtails are classic. if you get some good tires and a good seat, and a good handlebar/stem setup, you can have a hardtail more comfortable and faster than any fs. i almost bought an fs, but i didn't. i like the feel of my back tire.

[mbrider1974]

Yeah I must admit I go way faster on my ex's ht than my full susser, but there are some really good designs now that I wouldnt mind trying as less of the pedal power goes into the suspension, some kinda fancy linkages, I'm abit sceptical about them though as I know alot about motorcycle engineering, and they basically have used the same kinda system for years and only differed in damping rates, preload and rebound for stopping the rear squatting/front lifting and losing traction and have never really tried anything radically different in the placement of the shocks or type of linkage succesfully, but then they do have a fair bit more power being transferred.