Well here goes nothing. Just got my Sage limbs in the mail today. I have 4 risers in front of me. A Black Bear, Bear Polar, Proline, And a Myles Keller.

After looking over the risers. The only one that I see that I can bolt these limbs up to. And not have to alter in anyway. Is the Myles Keller. I just bolted the limbs right on the riser.

All the Black Bear needs is a popsicle stick on each side of each limb and it's ready to go also.

Side to side in the limb pocket much better fit then the Black Bear. No need for shims. But there is a half inch gap at the base of the limb and limb pocket.

yeah baby I like the bow.but i was fan of Myles back in the day.specs? <><

Well with the Sage limbs it’s 62” I put a 58” string on it and it had a 8 1/2” brace Height. It draws very smoothly. I have not shot it yet.

Do those limbs move a bit left and right? It looks like it isn't snug but that could be deceiving in the photo.

It fits pretty snug George. The limb pockets on the Black Bear are quite a bit wider. Just like you said. A popsicle stick on each side.

Profile shot.

Just wanted everyone to know you can add a Myles Keller riser to the list. Of risers that bolt right up with Samick Sage limbs.

Looks good Don. Amazing how well they shoot also and extra limbs are about $70.00 shipped more or less.

Thanks George. All of the risers I mentioned will work with Sage limbs. Just some require a little tweaking to get them to work. Well another compound turned recurve. How cool is that?

what model keller is the riser and what draw weight is it?<><

sweet! thanks for info!

sweet! thanks for info!

sweet! thanks for info!

Nice job, Don! If you want a walk through on bolting those limbs onto the Polar riser, let me know. You're 99% of the way there by saving the original compound limb bases and half-round pivot/locator pieces.

Thanks Mark. I saw it on a thread on here that you needed to save those pieces.

Not sure of the Model number Frank. I put 45 pound limbs on it. But I here that you lose a few pounds. I might try heavier limbs next time.

Here's a Martin Cougar Mag. It took to popsicle sticks on either side with this one.

Nice job George. Looks good. This was my first one. You want to save these pieces on the Bear Polar. Right Mark?

"two popsicle sticks". Good grief.

I knew what you meant George.

On the Bear Polar all you need to do is mount the half moon radius piece onto the Sage limbs and remove the bolt hole insert. I loss 4# off the marked limb weight.

I don't think Myles Keller was a brand. Myles was "spokesman" for Indian Archery when they were making compounds. Suppose it was called a "Myles Keller Signature Bow" or some such designation?

George, I was shocked when you said "to".

Your right Greg. It was an XI Indian legend Myles Keller compound. Hey it was sometime back in the 80’s. Good call Greg. At least I didn’t do the to thing like George. That’s a lot more WORSER!!! ??

Boys having fun :-)

George, two be honest, I to was shocked too see the wrong too??

Yeah, sorry. Me two.

hmm I have a couple of the old XI legends laying around, that was my first bow, I think I need to look into this project.

oz

Shot my Frankenbow today, Bear Super Magnum 44 riser and Samick Polaris limbs.

Nice bow Treeman. Did the limbs bolt right on?

What tool is best for cutting this little nub out of the Black Bear riser. So the Samick Sage limb lines up with the hole. I’m thinking a dremel tool with a cutting wheel.

That Cougar has a nice profile too George;)

most BBs don't have that nub. I used a dremel with a cut off wheel and its a lot like work :) plus a sanding wheel to clean up the bumps. if the ilf plates don't fit I grind the riser until they do....franken warf??

Interesting gluetrap. I wonder why they changed the pocket design in the Bear Black Bear compound riser. I thought the nub was in all of them. Thanks for the input.

Wear eye protection if you've ever had a metal sliver in your eye it's brutal

Way to go Don, Someday I'll tackle one of those Frankenbows. John

op the (I assume) newer ones without the nubs , just bolt on without the grinding and the ilf plates just drop in, no problem. I like the bolt on better than messing with the plates. jmo.

Dremel tool did a nice job getting that nub out of the Bear Black Bear riser.

Put The Samick Sage limbs on the Black Bear riser. Another nice bow.

Nice! Fill that bottom pocket with lead or something heavy!

Profile of Black Bear when string.

If you still have those little inserts that fit into the two hemi holes, put something soft on the flat side and keep them under the limb. It will improve the limb angle a little bit but it will still be a little bit steeper than ideal.

Well the Samick Sage limbs bolt on nice. To either one of these risers. The XI Indian or The Black Bear.. Now It’s time to shoot them! :)

The only other thing I can add to this right now is. This was a fun Winter project to do. Pretty simple if you use a Black Bear or An Indian Riser. Good luck to you if you give it a try. Another thing I learned on the wall. Thanks to those who done it before me and shared the information on here.

Anyone know the width of the Sage limbs? I have an old compound riser, don't know what it is, that I'm thinking about trying.

mine are 1.5, ive done 4 risers all wider than that n need shimmed.

Cool bows. Just out of my own curiosity what are the benefits of building a build like this?

Well Boker if you happen to have one of these risers. A set of Samick Sage limbs on Amazon go for about 70 bucks. Sometimes a little less. So your getting a nice shooting recurve for 70 bucks give or take. That’s if you make it a frankenbow. But you can also make the Black Bear into an ILF rig. With a set of ILF plates. So then you can choose any ILF limb you want. And there is just something cool about changing an old compound into a recurve.

Limb pocket on Black Bear riser is 1 3/4” wide. An 1/8” wider then the XI Indian pocket. Like George said a popsicle stick on each side for a shim.

What holds these popsicle sticks in place? And isn't there a more elegant solution?

I used the hard side of velcro for shims. Has worked great so far.

Popsicle sticks are a quick fix. Bob reeks said the hard side of Velcro works too. I’m sure there are a few other ways that look better. Maybe some more guys who have made Frankenbows will chime in.

The problem with popsicle sticks is alignment. This picture shows how I did it on this BB riser. You can't see the thin metal shims that are glued to the side of the limbs for the set screws to bear against. They probably aren't needed but my anal side of my brain insisted! 8^)

The other thing you can see here is the adjustment necessary to align the limbs. I think that in it's life as a compound riser the continuous pressure on the riser can introduce enough stress to put a bit of permanent warp in the riser. Or, maybe it's cast or machined in.

I originally did this one with the popsicle stick remedy but in order to make it work the sticks had to be thinned or thickened (I didn't use actual popsicle sticks but rather leftover pieces of maple lams) in order to get alignment. Then if the bow is taken down you need to be careful not to loose the sticks or you end up doing it all over again.

If popsicle sticks work with your combination then that's the simple and easy solution.

It also looks like you did a very nice paint job on the Black Bear Mike.

That was actually the original finish. It was a round wheel target bow.

I wouldent be surpised if they shot well without any shims jmo

Well I thought the Black Bear only came in the color Black Mike. Now I wonder how many other colors did it come in. I have a feeling you could be right Ronald. Maybe they shoot just fine with out any shims.

I don’t remember how many years ago the first Frankenbow was made. Or who gets the credit for doing it first. Or how many compounds have been turned in to recurves. But I am glad I finally tried making one. If you have one of these old compounds laying around. Why don’t you bolt on some limbs and start shooting some arrows with it again. This was a fun inexpensive Winter project. Give it a go!

imo, a Black Bear,or cartel riser with sage limbs is the best deal in trad archery. The BB edges out the cartel in price n stability, but is a little heavy. ymmv

Getting ready to make another one. :) Still working on that pin in that Darton riser.

I have two Black Bear compound bows I would gladly sell to someone that wants to warf.

NIce job. Thanks for the info.

TTT

Does anyone have the list of risers that makes good Frankenbows?

It’s cool to see guys are still making frankenbows. Craig just made a real nice one.

Boy I sure wanna try that. In the process of getting my SAS Spyder replaced, it may be that I now have two 40 lb limbs(it ended up being a riser issue). Problem for me is I don't want to lose draw weight with the Franken bolt on. Don, is there any way you can weigh the draw on a kitchen scale like they do with a tillering stick? If not, does anyone know the process for shimming to bump the weight back up to limb specs? Thanks in advance. NICE looking bows too. Looove the XI. Shot an XI Nemesis for a long time. Loved that bow. 330 fps back in 95 with carbon hunting weight arrows. The grip was wonderful on it too.

My black bear was dropping 5# but using 3/32 shims with the soft side of velcro stuck on then glued over the round bearing pockets brought weight back up.

I had not been shooting this much for a couple years but I might hunt with a Sage this year and the Franky will be the back up.

my bow with the pse riser is a great shooting bow, i found the limbs i used , 50 lb samick did drop some in weight . any of you guys notice that with yor bows?

Man, Seen everything now! That's cooler than the other side of the pillow! I bet a Jennings Forked Lightning riser would work for that or maybe an old Carrol compound riser, my brother had one of those back in the 70's.

Tembok, somewhere on the web is a list of risers. You can google it. The Jennings is on there and someone had said it was about, if not the same as the black bear. I think Bear Black Panther, Whitetail 2(with mods), and quite a few others. If I can score a riser where my weight does not drop and if it fits my geezer budget, I think I am gonna try it!

Is that an XI legend Myles Keller endorsed. Man brings back some memories. Shotthose about 30 yrs ago. I had 2 or 3.

Sorry XI legend magnum Good shooting bows.

Yes Crow#2 it is.

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