The smoothest bike I have is actually my first very ghetto build mountain bike. Everything is mounted directly to the frame metal to metal. The bike looks very ugly just because it wasn't a new bike and I didn't care for it to look good, but it rides super smooth.
Dude sorry to hear you go to college in another town, I go to school to for my masters but its very close to home....the down side is that I have to work, so my time to fool around with the bike is a bit limited.
I am going to try to remove those rubber pads and replace them with wood . Later on I might try to fabricate something a little more professional in the cnc mill we have at the school lab out of delrin plastic.