Initial design of a high-performance and cost-effective mountain bike

Downhill mountain biking is fast becoming popular sport in both Australia and Internationally. From the 1970‟s when people started competed this sport there has been many improvements such as brakes and better suspension designs to increase performance while also decreasing injuries. \n \nAs this sport is becoming more and more popular, there are a number of new frames and designs that are being brought out every year. Each of these of designs has their own advantages and disadvantages which will be looked at before the design process begins to design this mountain bike. \n \nThe project aims to design a downhill mountain bike that is not only a high-performance but also to be cost effective. As there are not any documents readily available that explain the design process, another aim of this project is to create a document that can be used by future students and amateur bike designers in order to give them a rough idea of where to start and what to do. \n \nThe initial design has been completed although there are a number of modifications that can be made in order to improve both the performance and cost-effectiveness. As this is only an initial design due to the fact, there has been limited analysis carried out due to the time consuming design stage. The material selection process has also been completed and aluminium alloy of grade 6061-T6 was found to be the best material for this application. \n \nThere are also a number of directions this project could be built on in the future in order to keep improving this design or use this project as a basis to design a new downhill mountain bike.