Zebra SLB mkII

Scroll down if you please, there's plenty of infos, animated gifs and color variants.
To the uninitiated it may look like any other mountainbike but it's a bit exploratory as it's got a "high pivot" and the possibility to use different transmissions.

170-180mm of front suspension.
(Well this inverted fork is a 160mm Fore SC by CRConception and is a good 10mm too short, but it looks really cool on my bike)
(this picture is in 4K)

150mm of high pivot rear suspension.
A high pivot means the rear wheel has a slightly rearward path, which helps rolling over obstacles, so the bike is more stable.
The trade off is a bike probably less playful, less "poppy".

The kinematic works and leverage ratio goes from 3.22 to 2.0.

The shock is a 205x60mm trunnion mount, here an EXT Storia.
All bolts are accessible and the shock can be removed without removing the link.
I designed the linkage to be as compact and "smooth" as possible as it's between the rider's legs.

The difference between the 29er and "mullet" (29" front 27.5" rear) configurations.
The flip chip doesn't affect the kinematic, only the swingarm angle (which affects antisquat a bit).
Thus the 29er has 20mm of rearward travel while the mullet has 26mm.

The kinematic (without chain and spring).
I also wanted it to be protected by the seat tube as much as possible.
It might be rather tough on the bearings but this is out of my jurisdiction, it would need FEA and prototype testing to find out.

Here are the 2+1 transmissions : With a gearbox or a "hybrid" device to fit a derailleur on the gearbox bridge, or a slightly different frame, for a derailleur only.

And here's a close-up on the left side.
I could get my hands on a CAD mesh of the gearbox, hence the C-line label, but is would be a 9 or 12 speeds. Everything else is handmade.

I've spend enough time on these brakes to show one more render of it.
I wasn't in the mood to do some intricate Ergon grips so I chopped off the Absolute Black I had already.

Plenty of space for a large water bottle with a compact kinematic and a looong downtube.

The high idler, firmly fixed on a mini 15mm axle and the idler guard protecting the rider's calf.
Two shims allow to keep a perfect chainline with whichever transmission is used, from 51 to 54mm.

As there is a different number of cables depending on the transmission, I improvised a clamping system, I don't know if it would hold out (the bolts have 5mm of insertion), but it looks nice.
Rubber pads are there if you want to use a double crown fork.

The frame, with a better view of the "hybrid" bridge.
It's only a "why not ?" though, a compromise, as it would add a (substantial ?) amount of weight.
Or maybe it could be great to switch the gearbox for a 7 speed transmission for bike park days ?

As you can swap the transmission, I borrowed Geometron bikes idea to run cables unobstructed on both sides (for ease of maintenance as well).
The derailleur cable is then protected under the chainstay guard.

As you can see the swingarm is about 3 gigaparsec long (or more exactly 62.5cm).

If the kinematic works and the bike doesn't break, an issue could be the moderately high standover height, and a relatively high center of gravity, maybe less of a problem when using the gearbox.
Oh and of course the weight remains an unknown.

Also there are so many things to think about that I kind of lost track of kinematic space for smaller sizes...

Classic layout shot (classic but I added this one afterward, I did the scene but totally forgot about it...)

The geometry.

A wire. Nurms, lathe, booleans, whatever works best for each part.

As usual, a few other colorschemes, here raw and sober.

Nay or nay ?

Looks like a VERY capable XC/trail bike with these wheels.

Here's something a bit different. This curious shade is called "ocala copper", it's a textured powder coating made of a dark teal blue/dark copper base with a smooth/satin copper finish.

It's difficult to render as it changes with its environment, both on the reference and on the render.

As I can do whatever I want with CG, I switched all the anodized components to copper.

The orange "factory" version. Always works well.

Subdued "ultimate" version as the whole red package doesn't work as well as the orange one.

The british racing green treatment for this DH oriented variant, with polished rims and mullet wheels.
The Fox 40 is a bit too much, a Mojo Morc 36 would fit better.

Murdered out "color" scheme for this one.
Well, I enjoy doing these but I won't do another one for a while, or forever, as I have to focus on other things, so hopefully it's a good one.
I'll try to do a making-of, thanks for your interest :)