I know, I know. I just finished saying that I was taking a short break from the blog and here I am, just a few hours later, posting again. It just goes to show that you should think twice about listening to me next time. Actually, right after I posted earlier today, Tero Jakku, a designer who now works at Ellsworth, sent me these nice images of his Master’s thesis design project. I thought these were too good to hold on to for a few weeks, so here they are.

I’ll let Tero explain the project in his own words:

Middleman freeride bike was my industrial design Master thesis project.Together with my dear friend Jouni Jalkanen (mechanical engineer and a CADconsultant) we first designed a novel vpp suspension linkage and thenimplemented it into a design intensive sheet metal frame. While thesuspension linkage was a mutual effort, the outlook and design of the bikeis the core of my thesis project. The Middleman project includedsophisticated CAD design with surface and solid modeling software,manufacturing with fluid form sheet metal press, 5-axis machining andaluminum welding. The frame is made from 7020 grade aluminum and has 160mmof rear wheel travel. One of the links is replaced by a larger eccentriclink, which facilitates a more compact linkage configuration and gives thebike a more peaceful look (almost as a single pivot bike). Suspension isdesigned to generate some chain pull to counteract bobbing and give moregrip and “feel” when pedaling.

Nice work Tero. Thanks for sending me the images. Now its back to my self imposed blogging break so that I can focus on several big things that be occupying all of my time for the next few weeks. When things get back to normal, I’ll be back with some new bike design content (really, I mean it this time…I think).