Getting Started

So the bike is now torn down to the frame. It once looked kind of like this...

And now looks more like this...

The first order of business is to decide how low the bike should be. This will in turn, determine how much angle and rise the hardtail section will have. Because the it would be a very large job to stretch the neck out to lower the frame rails, I am just shortening the forks to compensate. I will build the hardtail to match the front. As shown above, the rear wheel is in place to get an overall perspective of how much I want to stretch the wheel base. And the magic number is 4", or a total of 53" front axle to back axle.
Next, I want to build a jig to place the rear axle plates in their relative position, see below.

A piece of angle and a 1" square tube will serve as my jig for the rear axle. The plate it is welded to will have a center line scribed down the middle to ensure that a plumb bob and square can be used to align the frame to the jig. We will see how it works.... poor man's frame jig.