Swing Bike
The swing bike is no ordinary bike. It features a pivot bearing at the seat tube allowing the rider to swing and ride sideways and turn on its own wheelbase. The bike rolls on a reverse mullet wheel size with a 20 inch front and 26inch rear wheel. The frame geometry of this swing bike is optimized for nimbleness and agility. It's a hoot to ride on any terrain, although sometimes it's sketchy on singletrack.
What the heck is a swing bike?
The swing bike has no fixed traditional front triangle, instead it has a front parallelogram with a headset at each end, allowing both the front fork and entire rear triangle to steer. This funky geometry allows for some wild riding: the bike can ride sideways and turn on a dime! My version of the swing bike experiments with improvements in geometry and frame design, maximizing fun and increasing the variety of terrain it can encounter. The swing bike features a 20 inch front wheel and 26 inch rear wheel in a reverse mullet configuration. Take that bike industry trends! The funky wheel sizes work incredibly well, allowing a BMX style of handling with a tight turn radius and zero toe overlap.
The idea to build this swing bike was conceived at Bike night in the last week of Spring 2023. With the machine shops coming to a close, I only had 10 days to build this bike. Luckily we had most of the tubing on hand and had just received a generous sponsorship of parts from our friends at Paul Components.
The swing bike features a 70.5 degree head tube angle and the seat tube angle measures 73.5 to allow for an upright pedaling position and ease of swinging. The rear triangle features dropped seat stays with a machined crown race welded and brazed on top, letting the rear headset crown race sit on top of it. The seat tube (⌀1-1/8in) slides perfectly into the rear headset, allowing the entire rear triangle to pivot smoothly. Due to the dropped seat stays, any impacts while riding are transferred directly to the crown race area at the seat tube. The seat tube is 1/16in wall. It's not particularly thick. Since I weigh 220lb and am an aggressive rider, there is a concern of bending the seat tube that the average rider would not face. To account for this, I plug welded a 4in section of ⌀1in steerer tube inside the main seat tube, bisecting the inside of the crown race.
If I had more time I would have built my own fork, however I'd already put 80 hours into this and my deadline was approaching.I water jetted and welded an ISO disc brake tab for a 20inch BMX fork. This allows for a front 160mm rotor and a rear 200mm rotor to compensate for the mixed wheel sizes. We don't want to lock up the front wheel!
I used Fusion 360 to design the rear head tube clamp collar and enlisted the expertise of fellow bike builder Patrick Wiseman to help machine it. The new preload collar is an elegant and effective method of securing the rear headset. It has more clamping security and surface area to account for the larger forces and impacts the swing bike will experience on the trail.
The combination of the aggressive geometry, addition of disc brakes front and rear, and reinforcements at the rear headset allows this Swing Bike to tackle much more terrain that a traditional swing bike. It will carve down switchback singletrack and bomb down 40mph twisty road descents. Why, you ask? Because riding conventional bikes on roads and trails is not scary or entertaining enough. This Swing Bike is the perfect combination of sketchy, unwieldy, and fun. Yes it is a spicy experience on singletrack, but it makes the trails that would usually be boring just terrifying enough to be fun! Riding the Swing Bike always puts a big smile on my face. Take a turn on it and you’ll soon have a smile of your own!
Powder Coating
After riding this frame in a raw finish for a month and a half, surface rust and corrosion was starting to show through. I figured it was time to give her a beautiful coat. I've always enjoyed color schemes that POP. The swing bike is already decked out with beautiful colorful parts from our friends at Paul Components, and it was important to me that the powder I choose for the frame will accompany it.
I took my frame to Mt Baker Powdercoating in Bellingham WA, where the guys took care of it in an extremely quick turnaround time! That same week I picked up the frame from powder, post machined all the orifices, and assembled it just in time for MADE 2023 in Portland. Amongst the hundreds of beautiful handmade bicycles, the Swing Bike was one of the most unique. Peacock Sapphire from Prismatic Powders, you are a STUNNER!
