Pika: Bikepacking Hardtail

Custom Built CDT Machine

With plans of doing the Continental Divide Bike Trail summer 2026, I have designed this bike around long days in the saddle, ruggedness, and sleek gear storage.

3D CAD

Asymmetric Stays

A single sided yoke combined with a profiled chain stay for tire clearance up to 2.6".

Custom Rack Integration

A unique cantilevered rack design to replace a seat post bag. Offering better rigidity, lower weight, and dropper compatibility than a seat post bag.

Manufacturing

Layout

Mitering

Bending

Fixturing

Dropout Machining

Stainless dropouts were machined for better durability compared to commercially available dropouts. A SRAM UDH 12mm through axle was chosen as the standard due to a wide variety of components available.

CAM was done in Fusion 360 and machining was done on a HAAS TM. The CAD was based off Paragon Machine Works dropouts with alterations to better suit my tooling.

Stock was cut to length on a horizontal bandsaw. The faces were cleaned up and it was turned to size on a lathe prior to machining. The first op used versa grips for work holding. In the first op the shorter side was machined first for easier softjaw machining. The second op used machined aluminum softjaws. The part was oriented to have locating features on the fixed jaw.