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03-08-07, 08:05 AM
I have been spending too much time on my trainer lately and I might be going a little indoors-nutty. In addition, every day when I pull into the garage, I look at my old Raleigh gas-pipe road bike (curently set up as a trashy persuit-ish SS), and start thinking of fun projects to do with it. The one I keep coming back to is trying to turn it into a really aero TT/tri bike a la Cervelo P3 or Orbea Ordu. In order to do this, I want to basically use the steel frame as a "frame" and build up material around the tubes and shape the material into a super-aero beast. My question is, does anyone have any great ideas about what to use for the material to build up around the tubes? Here are the thoughts I have:
1. I needs to be something cheap. This is a bike I pulled out of the trash, and I love doing projects with it, but I don't like it when the projects cost me money. I know I mentioned two CF bikes above, but trust me, I have no aspirations about building with CF... yet. I was thinking more like drywall putty with a few coats of rattle can over the top or maybe lots of wrapped up aluminum foil or even duct tape. Not really, but sort of. I really don't mind if this kind of turns out a little trashy, in part because the bike is already pretty trashy, and also...
2. I know and accept the bike will weigh a ton. It already does. No problem. This really is a stupid winter project, just kind of for fun. I am going to build it up with free stuff I have lying around. It will be just about all show and no go. However, let's try to keep it from getting too bush-league, because...
3. I would like it to survive a little crash or bump or drop or even just getting wet, without falling apart.
4. And to finish it off, I don't really have a workshop at my disposal, so try not to get too nutty with specialty tools. Out of curiousity, does 2-part epoxy stick to steel (or painted steel) particularly well?
The only thing holding me back now really is the material issue. If I could come up with a good substance to use (I am trying to think of something better than paper mache), then I would be on this thing. I thought about posting this in Alt, since Framebuilders might be a little too respectable for this type of thing, but I decided to consult you first. I promise pics once this gets off the ground. Also, try to keep it on the QT, because once this bad boy is done, I am going to drop it on the competition (not literally, because it weights too much, and I don't want to hurt anyone), and scare the jeepers out of them with my custom rig of awsomeness.
Of course, if the snow really does melt off this weekend, I might just go out and ride. Thanks for the thoughts.
1. I needs to be something cheap. This is a bike I pulled out of the trash, and I love doing projects with it, but I don't like it when the projects cost me money. I know I mentioned two CF bikes above, but trust me, I have no aspirations about building with CF... yet. I was thinking more like drywall putty with a few coats of rattle can over the top or maybe lots of wrapped up aluminum foil or even duct tape. Not really, but sort of. I really don't mind if this kind of turns out a little trashy, in part because the bike is already pretty trashy, and also...
2. I know and accept the bike will weigh a ton. It already does. No problem. This really is a stupid winter project, just kind of for fun. I am going to build it up with free stuff I have lying around. It will be just about all show and no go. However, let's try to keep it from getting too bush-league, because...
3. I would like it to survive a little crash or bump or drop or even just getting wet, without falling apart.
4. And to finish it off, I don't really have a workshop at my disposal, so try not to get too nutty with specialty tools. Out of curiousity, does 2-part epoxy stick to steel (or painted steel) particularly well?
The only thing holding me back now really is the material issue. If I could come up with a good substance to use (I am trying to think of something better than paper mache), then I would be on this thing. I thought about posting this in Alt, since Framebuilders might be a little too respectable for this type of thing, but I decided to consult you first. I promise pics once this gets off the ground. Also, try to keep it on the QT, because once this bad boy is done, I am going to drop it on the competition (not literally, because it weights too much, and I don't want to hurt anyone), and scare the jeepers out of them with my custom rig of awsomeness.
Of course, if the snow really does melt off this weekend, I might just go out and ride. Thanks for the thoughts.