Carbon Frame/AL S/Arm combo tested

[Simon]

Managed to get in a couple of test rides of my carbon frame with an Al s/arm,all be it in wet muddy conditions,looking forward to dry conditions,though not likely for a while yet,first the positives I've noticed the stiffer back end in regards to climbing,mainly on short steep climbs that require a short burst of power,I can feel more power going into pushing me forward right from the offset (not upto 856 standard though) always felt with the carbon arm that not all my effort was actually being being put into forward motion but that the initial effort tried to pull the carbon s/arm around as it flexed,as for improved tracking the conditions so far have made that difficult to judge (waiting for better conditions to make a concidered judgement),as for the sealed bearing conversion the main thing NOTHING BROKE, keeping an eye on it though but so far no worries,rode some fast fire roads and noticed an improvement in small bump compliance,put this down to the reduction in stiction,at least no more quad rings,custom disc adapter no problems there,as for negatives mostly what I'd expected,noisey chainslap,can be cured with a SOX but that covers up one side of the gold s/arm,so I've elected to use a thick clear plastic protective strip to protect the paint for the moment,will look into other methods to quieten things down,gear shifts though still ultra slick now have an accommpaning clunk,as the Al s/arm is narrower at the point it overlaps the frame I've found that when mud (I've seen plenty of that) collects between the s/arm and the frame,when the s/arm moves the inside of the s/arm gets rubbed which would eventually damage the paint (though you can't see it anyway),I've just added strips of clear plastic to help prevent this,thats about it so far,hope to give more info when the weather improves,I'm  also hoping to arrange for proflexGB and sprucey to try it (with there own shocks fitted) so they can give their objective views,they may differ from mine,with all the effort I've put into this maybe its clouded my judgement (hehe).Simon [smiley=laughing.gif]  

[Carbon_Angus]

Thanks for the thread, Simon.

It's bad~assed looking, too

[smiley=beer.gif]

[jedoaks]

Yeah, very nice job. I suppose you already thought of a grease fitting on the carbon swingarm, like the highly rated Turner's use.  Thanks, Rich

[Simon]

Yeah, very nice job. I suppose you already thought of a grease fitting on the carbon swingarm, like the highly rated Turner's use.  Thanks, Rich

Did consider needle bearings and grease ports on the Al s/arm but this required lateral thrust washers, as I wished to keep things simple and reliable I decided against going down that route,going to fit the same sealed bearing system to my carbon arm on my spare Oz though,could consider in the future removing the inner labrynth seals and fitting a central grease port so the bearings could have there grease periodically purged if contamination ever becomes a problem ,Simon [smiley=nod.gif]

[zulu]

  Sound like fun. Dont forget to give a write up when you can take it on a long dry climb & a quick twisty ST. Have fun.  [smiley=beer.gif]