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Could probably do it in steel. Robotic laser weld all the joints and smart use of a bunch of flat plate. BMX style flat plate dropouts and key points on the rear end. No heat treatment step needed so cuts out a big step. Could do it in stainless steel and cut out paint. Factory direct from Taiwan with no middle man, there is probably a factory that would end up making more per frame doing this customer direct at $1k than they make per frame now.

Thanks! As to "async" racing, 100% that is a big part of it. I actually considered a very similar approach as V41 but I'm super allergic to building anything that leans into Strava's infrastructure based on their track record. They've shown very little good faith when it comes to playing nice with apps that leverage their API. Things are moving along here. Hoping I have something out there in ~4 weeks Best Jeff

I remember an identical discussion to this one two years ago, and @Dave_Camp either you or someone else who's smart said that the needle would definitely bottom out on something and break if you cut the travel reducing spacer to increase stroke length. At the time, this very smart person in the forums (I think it was you, Dave) was trying to impress on us how densely packed the inside of these shocks are to get everything to fit. Sounded like there was zero room to play with and you needed to replace the body with the correct length needle...

So theres a new needle for every 2.5mm of stroke? Thats a lot of needles, Im suddenly understanding the dislike of HBO from suspension designers.