New parts "in the works" from S&M

[SaMAlex]

As stolen from the S&M site:


In The Works

Here are a few new ideas we've been working on and testing for awhile.

The first one is a regular railed seat that works with a Pivotal seatpost

with the use of our new guts. We like the single bolt assembly of the

Pivotal system but really like railed seats for 3 reasons: the look, the

flex, and the ability to adjust front to back. these guts have passed the

testing stage and are being made now. We are also making a seat for this

system but any railed seat will work after you cut a small slot in it for

the Allen wrench. We also like to peel the padding and cover off first but

you don't have to.

This rear drop out uses a hub with a hollow axle and bolt. This drop

hasn't had the taper machined into it yet but when it does it fits the

bolt perfectly. We are testing this now and it's working out great. The

drop out never closes up and you can slam your wheel and have it tighten

the chain automatically due to the tapered bolt. We call this the "Black

Hole". This thing is awesome and it's super clean.

Shimano DX cranks used to have thread in cups that sat on the outside of

the Euro BB shell. Now they are working on a plastic BB system that

presses in. It works great but requires a new BB from the frame

manufacturers that is asymetrical...we are riding them now and they work

really good. This might also allow street riders to use shimano cranks

without fear of grinding down the outside of the cups. It also makes

putting your bike together way easier. No need for a special tool for

instance.

Last up is a Lexan sprocket with guard. This thing is light but expensive

and we're not having the best of luck with it yet. Not only is it breaking

but the teeth are getting mangled pretty eaisily. This may go the way of

the original plastic Addicks sprocket but we're not done yet. The idea was

to make a gaurd sprocket that slid really good. We're still working on it.

These are just a few of the things we are working on...we just thought it

might be cool to show them off. What do you think?

Chris

moeller@sandmbikes.com

[SaMAlex]

My thoughts so far:

Im into the seat guts Idea as it would be way better than most seat guts, but it would be a bit of a pain to tighten up .... and I wont be ripping the padding off my seats!


I LOVE the dropout idea, even tho Im not totally sure how it keeps your chain tight. I have been saying for ages why dont they make forks like this? Forks that can only be used with "bolt" front hubs.


I dont understand the shimano BB, maybe dailledMike can help out with this one


Plastic Chainrings are still crap, but you dont hit balls out of the park without missing a few

[billstup]

Is the dropout thing like shimano cranks used to be where you could adjust the length by 5mm or so ?

The boss for the pedal could be turned,.......................... it`s a bit hard to explain tbh 

[kev-s]

saw this on the site earlier today and like the dropout idea , not too sure on the pivitol seat idea or the plastic chainring though and why go back to euro size bb when mid seems to work perfect? 

[subversion]

Looks like one big piss-take to me!?

[Lazarou]

Back to railed seats is a good idea to me, i've never liked those pivotal ones.


With the dropouts wouldn't you have to keep changing chains when they stretch a bit?


I know nothing about those Shimano cranks other than i hate them.


The sprocket i don't know about, i just hope Chris isn't throwing too much money at it!


That's my bigoted, uninformed opinion.

[TwoBobRob]

The dropout intrigues me.  I'd have to see the finished version to fully understand it though.  I'm assuming that the slot will be both countersunk to suit the bolt, and tapered to enable the auto chain tension thing, as you tighten it the bolt follows the taper backwards and hey presto?

How do you lock it all off tight though?

I'm confused, me........

[Lazarou]

The dropout intrigues me.  I'd have to see the finished version to fully understand it though.  I'm assuming that the slot will be both countersunk to suit the bolt, and tapered to enable the auto chain tension thing, as you tighten it the bolt follows the taper backwards and hey presto?

That's easy for you to say Hawking!

[Philbert]

i'm with alex on the forks. thought that about allen bolt only forks too! something for odyssey maybe!

i'm with laz on the rear dropouts, your fooked when the chain stretches

plastic chainring ffs! not on my watch!

i've had a pivotal seat/post. super light but no adjustment. went back to rails, much happier. can't see the point in what they're doing on this, the weight saving on a pivotal system is the lack of rails on the seat, if your gonna use rails, just get a micro adjust seatpost!

the bb thing! from what i can understand shimano dxrs only come with the 'x type' bb (external bearings), its a brilliant design and have had this type on my mtbs for a few years now, what it looks like shimano are trying to do is widen its market of the cranks so they're not just for racing frames with a euro bb. kind of a conversion kit if you like, the assymetrical bit comes in with the bush size. if you look at the pic the chainring side has a bigger bush as that side will take more load. is this the next generation of bb?! can't see it myself! but then again shimano do have a little bit of weight in the cycle industry!

[SaMAlex]

With the dropouts wouldn't you have to keep changing chains when they stretch a bit?

i'm with laz on the rear dropouts, your fooked when the chain stretches

From what I can see, the rear dropout is an enclosed SLOT, that only has about 5 or 10mm of adjustment. Closed so it wont close up from grinding (with our without pegs) but with a small amount of adjustment for all gearings and when your chain stretches. I think that when you slam your wheel all the way forward (if you get the gearing and chainlength right) you can use the angle of the countersunk bolt to give a small amount of pressure pushing the wheel back, and meaning it cant move forward. Im not totally sure if this is what they are saying, or even if it would remain tight if the bolt was only contacting on some of the angled face. I do like the closed dropout tho.

[evamedia]

With asymetrical frames for the BB thing, you'd then need LHD and RHD frames, another different combo for the shops to stock.

[thesku11s]

With asymetrical frames for the BB thing, you'd then need LHD and RHD frames, another different combo for the shops to stock.

and with the larger bottom bracket (steel) is kind of outweighs (pun!) the weight benefit of not having the external cups.

They mention riders will be able to avoid grinding the cups, but the cups are replaceable so whats the problem with grinding them?

[dialledbikes]

They mention riders will be able to avoid grinding the cups, but the cups are replaceable so whats the problem with grinding them?

I'm no street rider, but I would be more worried about grinding/fooking up my £260 cranks arms than my £35 BB.

[OrgasmDonor]

why dont S&M just steal the design that VG had for thier seat guts n do em to fit old school posts too, not that id be first in line or anything

[JT71]

plastic chainring ffs! not on my watch!

no plastic and no pink eh Phil?

 

[Philbert]

fookin eh!

[JT71]

secretly you covet plastic parts....in  pink.

 

[DanCressy]

you guys crazy, s&m have gotta be taking the piss.

[lazychubs]

you guys crazy, s&m have gotta be taking the piss.

wouldnt last long in ure hands aye dan lol

[subversion]

I was wondering how long it would take Russ to jump on this

http://sprfls.blogspot.com/2008/07/s-next-generation-holmes.html

[SaMAlex]

I was wondering how long it would take Russ to jump on this

http://sprfls.blogspot.com/2008/07/s-next-generation-holmes.html

I love and live by SPRFLS, and once again Russ takes it on and says everything right.

I feel very close to the SPRFLS site. I agree with loads of it, I like the links and comments. I even know most of the obscure pictures and references he uses. I sometimes hope to find out that I am Russ, and the SPRFLS is something I do at night, when Im sleeping.

[Lazarou]

I AM RUSSICUS!

[subversion]

NO! I'M RUSSICUS!!

[SaMAlex]

No, Im Sporticus, and so is my wife!


(how was that for mulit referance?)