link to mesh with skin modfier & keep pivot free for rotation?

[joe_coke]

Can you post a file or screenshot?

I've just now figured this out.

but the performance issue with the skinned biped remains.  So it runs bad and caches only the frame its working on unless i have the skin modifier showing in the modifier panel.

So the performance issues i was experiencing seem to be fixed by adding an "edit mesh" modifier on top of skin.