Here’s a pair of documents for a — possibly — new bike company called Mohawknee out of Rieti, Italy. The website doesn’t seem to work yet, but here’s some info about them. These folks look super new.
They have two published design patents for two different bikes (D941190 and D894792). Because these are design patents, I have zero textual information, but I think we can make some broad assumptions from the images.
First, let’s talk about the newest document, published Jan 18th, 2022. This looks like an E-bike frame, which I’m assuming is mounted in the middle. If I’m not mistaken, could we also be seeing a gearbox mount at the bottom?
I’m also seeing something very expensive; the entire thing looks machined and modular. I can’t tell if this is going to be full-sus or a hardtail, but maybe one of you can figure that out.
Here’s a good shot of the seat tube junction and the rear triangle. Note the rear triangle is asymmetrical.
Here’s the other one, published Sept. 1st, 2020. This one is in the same vein as the first one. Again, this looks machined and might be an E-bike.
And it looks modular. Again, the rear triangle is asymmetrical.
I wish I had more info for you, but check out the images and drop a comment if you see something interesting. This looks like a really cool idea. I hope they can make it a reality.
Looks absolutely hopeless. I’m guessing that the idea is to die-cast each of the bits, looks like the peanut shaped cavity is for the shock. Very hard to imagine it having sufficient strength or stiffness as modelled.
Maybe it’s intended to be injection molded? https://akro-plastic.com/news/best-practice/ebikeframe/
Oh man, very interesting! That’s entirely possible.
but casting and post machining make more sense because some of those parts would not mold well.
It looks like a lot of those parts could be starting life as extruded profiles, which would drastically cut down on waste as well as machining time. If I remember right….most extruders we’re limited to around 16” overall dimension. Maybe this is case of manufacturing limitations driving the modularity? In any case….if I were building a test mule for a high pivot gearbox bike (or e-motorcycle), it might end up looking a lot like this.
It reminds me of the early 90s Kirk. (Which by coincidence is my surname!) That was made from magnesium alloy and was too stiff for a hard tail and cracked horrendously.
This thing? http://classiccycleus.com/home/kirk-magnesium/
That’s the one. It has a similar, girder like look.
A bike only a mother could love
Just thinking about what the Athertons are up to and wondering if maybe the frame is going to be a 3d print… Expensive but MMP is getting some traction and making it modular, full suspension and with wheel options is more of a programming issue than a weld / casting problem.