Originally Posted by
bulgie
Clever and efficient!
Want some unasked-for advice? If not, stop reading now!
You could save maybe as much as 4 grams of weight by making two hacksaw cuts where I drew the red lines. Then you'll be
screaming up hills!!
I believe the removed metal was not doing anything, so the part remains just as strong as it was. Remember to de-burr the cut edges in case they come in contact with human flesh.
If you don't care about 4 grams then you're no friend of mine, I only talk to weight-weenies.
But seriously, cutting it like that will cause the edges to rust. The part is galvanized now, decently rust-resistant, so only do it if you like rust more than you like 4 extra grams.
You have a good mechanical eye. Well done. I will only mention, that while those outboard pieces seem to not contribute structurally to the hinged connection, they do add to the torsional and bending stiffness of that half of the hinge plate, even though they lay outside of the forces between the anchor point and the hinge connections. And that "global" stiffness contributes to keeping the hinge points aligned. This is a commonly overlooked thing, no worries.