Off Road on a Recumbent

Part 4. Carbon.... Kodiak LWB.
I had wanted a new race bike for a while. My BBW LWB was unique, and I had no replacement if anything broke or wore out.
I'd seen John Morciglio's Thundervolt lowracers, 20lb rockets. John had built my replacement seat for my BBW, but it took a lot of persuasion to get him to try an LWB with suspension. We had some debates about steering geometry and suspension, as well as the new-fangled wider hubs and thru-axles that were just starting to show up on mountain bikes.

John built me this work of art with 26" front wheel and 29" rear to roll over the big bumps.




This bike was light and climbed well, but it had some issues. We were able to make the head tube angle a little more slack with an adjustable headset from Cane Creek.

The suspension geometry was overdriven. I am a light 150lb rider but I bottomed out my shock even when pumped to the maximum allowed.
I also broke the frame near the rear suspension pivot, so I had to ship it back to Colorado. John rebuilt it stronger, and added a set of rear mounts for a shock to reduce the leverage.

Here's how the rear suspension and chainline finally ended up after quite a bit of experimentation, for my local XC trails and racing.
I had to move the Over-under idler, and add an extra small one as a keeper. The chain now pulls straight on the power side.


The bike is running what are now old-school QR wheels but with carbon rims and wider, sticker tires. It's around 33 LBS.
I have raced it successfully in adventure races and 24hr MTB races.


I am able to use the original shock mounts with a massive downhill fork pumped to 400PSI for bigger hits on rockier trails out West, but it adds another lb.

I am also able to run a 27.5x3" studded rear tire for winter, and a 26"x3" custom studded front tire in a rigid carbon fork.

 

That's definitely a lot of tiller distance on the Kodiak. Indirect steering would make for an interesting mod.

 

Yes, I can picture the steerer going up from the front derailleur tube. It will complicate the design a bit. Maybe some day.

 

That's about where I imagined it being too.