Just finished building this using parts from my old hardtail. Have never seen one out on the trails, so thought I would post it up to get some feedback. Its 5" travel single pivot. The seatstays are designed to flex to give a little bit of resistance to the 1st part of travel and reduce pedal bob. Am still fine tuning but feels great already. Really stiff rear and great fun on the descents. It's a bit of a mongrel as far as spec:)

Salsa El Kaboing (m)
Custom Buted Scandium tubeset with forged headtube, dropouts and rocker.
Fox Rp2 Shock with Propedal
Fox Float R 140mm
Mavis Crossride Rims
Hayes Nines
Easton Havoc seatpost
Easton Ea70 stem
DMR Longhaul saddle
FSA xc281 bars
FSA Afterburner cranks.
Drivetrain is mix of Xt/Lx

My El Kaboing

Ere you go…

Great name!

Looks nice! I had a Big Mama for a (brief!) while – 29er version. Nice frames.

looks liek you need a longer stem on it 😛

lol well I find it works ok.

The seatstays are designed to flex to give a little bit of resistance to the 1st part of travel and reduce pedal bob

does it work? Must make it harsh on small bumps?

Definitely reduces bob feels firm rather than harsh I would say but in a good way. Just seems to do its job without fuss, only downside is it can sit a little high in its travel if you are a 10st whippet. Thankfully Im not that 😉

That isn't a single pivot – but it is very nice.

I fancied one for a while. Mind if I ask where you got it from and the amount (roughly)?

Take care of the paint, I have a salsa and the paint is lovely but chips easy. Plus get some zip ties on those bad boy chainstays – some folk have had chainsuck issues (at full travel the chainstay and little ring are very close apparently).

Interested to know how it rides.

The metal pepper headbadge is worth it alone.

How is it not a single pivot?

Glad it's working for you OP. No doubt everyone will be copying it if it makes a difference.

I was completely wrong. It IS a single pivot. Apologies.

I'll wager those seat stays are slim so they flex instead of having a pivot near the rear axle, well I don't see one anyway. Nice bike too.

I still have my 29er Big Mama version and love it.

Great bikes and very rare to see anybody out riding the same bike which is always nice (unless it's because everyone else thinks they're rubbish!).

I have a salsa therefore they are cool.

Just built one of them up for the wife,she likes it.

lol daveells, i think you should trot that comment out for every single new bike on here and see how many folk take it as an insult that they ride a 'girls bike'

rob- these frames are on sale in the states at big discounts. Would prob work out at about 500 quid shipped which is an unbelievable bargain.

Apparantly anyone not running shimano cranks have had chainjam issues, but I have had no issues with the fsa cranks I am running. 🙂

Have clocked up about 100 trail miles so everything is bedded in nicely and have to say it just seems like a nice well sorted bike.

rob- these frames are on sale in the states at big discounts. Would prob work out at about 500 quid shipped which is an unbelievable bargain.

Apparantly anyone not running shimano cranks have had chainjam issues, but I have had no issues with the fsa cranks I am running. 🙂

Have clocked up about 100 trail miles so everything is bedded in nicely and have to say it just seems like a nice well sorted bike.