Norland Cycles Project - Development and Manufacture

Feb 23, 2011 at 21:02

A year ago, Pinkbike gave me the opportunity to show everyone the challenge that I took on to develop, design, and produce an innovative Downhill frame. This is the story.

Today, I'm proud to show everyone what I was able to accomplish in that time, with the help of amazing people who I'll be always thankful for.



As I said last year, I wanted to develop a new downhill bike from the Latin American region. My goals were to make a double chain system to eliminate suspension interference when pedaling, a design that was lighter than the heavy existing ones, and to develop a newer material. Meanwhile, I was developing the shape that the frame would use. In the last article on Pinkbike you saw some of the research and how the possible frame configuration could be done by 3D drawing, but more work was needed. Help came first from Yann Watkins, an industrial designer with a lot of experience in bike design, who taught me how leverage ratios work and the operation of rear suspension on a downhill bike. He corrected many of my first designs. The next piece of the puzzle came from a Hungarian company called Racooz Software who produced the widely known Linkage Software program. This let me test all of my sketches and designs, allowing me to get a better idea of how things would perform.


My head was filled with loads of ideas at same time, but I couldn't figure out what to do until I started to give them some order. I realized first that the rear shock sat too high in the frame, raising the center of gravity higher than I wanted. Placing it vertical without changing the distance between the bottom bracket and the swingarm pivot would not be possible, unless I used a "Motolink" type linkage that is widely used on some of the best DH frames in the history. Then came the first design featuring a single pivot motolink based suspension system.



At the same time that I was designing and planning the frame, I was knocking on doors looking for sponsors for my project. In Chile, nobody in the mountain bike world wanted to support what I was doing, except Motorex Oil, who helped me with lubricants and oil for the suspension, and Pernos Soto, one small, but really good bolt, screw, and bearing supplier. More help came from a small web based bike shop named Kaoz Bikes, who provided me with some small parts for the prototype - even the smallest help was greatly appreciated. Help with the bigger components came from outside Chile. From Canada, Elka suspension and Race Face, who provided the best rear shock on the market and some of the components that a world champion would wish for on his bike. From the United states came the Diverse Suspension Products' titanium spring, and from Japan came the best suspension fork that I ever tried, the Kowa 200 GF. Formula Brakes from Italy provided me with some of their awesome stoppers, and from Continental (Germany), they were nice enough to provide me with some some Kaisers and Rubber Queen tires. My personal friend, Michael Lieschke, gifted me a pair of old school Mavic Deemax wheels for the prototype.



With the design decided on, it came time to start production. I found some of the most important sponsors in Chile to help with the manufacturing process. Jetstream Chile, used their water jet cutting technology, controlled by computer to cut almost any material, to build many of the frame's parts. Three very important companies helped produce the different machined parts at their factories: Tormex, who made the Eccentric BB, frame dropouts and main pivot; Bettoli S.A., who made one pivot and part of the Motolink system; and Bacigalupo S.A., who made important parts on the double chain system. My personal friend, Gustavo Contereras, alias "Majin", creator and head man behind Majin Cycles, the only Chilean handcrafted bike frames, offered me his help to weld the frame.


Water jet cutting on video:



CNC machining of frame components:



Gustavo welding the Norland:



I started meeting with Gustavo at his workshop in Maipú, Santiago, to work on the chromoly skeleton every Friday. The idea was to have the frame ready for January and to finish the prototype before Feb 20th. I picked that date to show the bike to the world because it was the same time that the craziest urban DH race in the world, Valparaiso Cerro Abajo, took place. Many riders made the trip to Chile, including Filip Polc, Cedric Gracia, Markolf Berchtold, Chris Van Dine, and others from all around South America and Chile.



Painting the Norland:





After the painting process with my friends "El Ruta" and Louis "Peluche" abd-el-kader (Not al-Kaeda) we started to build the prototype. By this time it was Saturday, all of the shops were closed, and we noticed that the frame was missing a very important bolt to fit the Motolink to the swingarm! I was about to collapse! The bike was nearly ready, but due to a single small bolt I was about to lose all hope. After looking around I was able to find a bolt that would fit in a deck mock-up at a local Home Depot. I went inside to ask if they had anything similar that they could sell me, but the answer was no... So I took a less orthodox approach and took the bolt out from the display - nobody will miss it! I finished building the prototype at 3am and then managed to get a few hours sleep before the start of the event early the next morning.

Then began one of the greatest days that I've ever had. When I arrived at the race many people were asking questions and taking photographs of the bike, some even posing with it! Friends of mine helped by handing out cards to everyone that had information about the bike and project on them.





How did I do it? My advice for anybody reading this is to never give up on your dreams, work hard, and be stubborn!