Bicycle Mechanics - Building a Bike to Ride Cross Country

Hey,

This is my first post on this site, but I couldn't think of a better place to get information.

I am most likely going to be riding from San Francisco to Washington, DC during the summer of 2011. Talking with one of the guys my college's machine shop, I realized that the only that could make the experience better, would be if I built the bike myself.

My buddy has some experience building and repairing bikes from when he was younger and offered to help me out.

I was just wondering if any of you guys had experience building frames or had any advice for me.

Thanks,

cpopma

I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice here but make sure to visit the framebuilders subforum as well.

I'm going to say that riding your first frame across the country might not be the best idea. Any time you are going to be spending that much time in the saddle, you want to make sure everything works perfectly, and the only way to gain that skill is through lots and lots of practise. Build it up from parts, sure, but from frame tubes, that seems a little ambitious.

Not to mention, as a relatively new rider (you're new to posting here, and one can not possibly ride without posting here) do you even really know what you want out of a bike insofar as designing one yourself?

I'm going to say that riding your first frame across the country might not be the best idea. Any time you are going to be spending that much time in the saddle, you want to make sure everything works perfectly, and the only way to gain that skill is through lots and lots of practise. Build it up from parts, sure, but from frame tubes, that seems a little ambitious.

Not to mention, as a relatively new rider (you're new to posting here, and one can not possibly ride without posting here) do you even really know what you want out of a bike insofar as designing one yourself?

This.

While building a frame is a noble and challenging exercise, but might wind up being quite frustrating and detrimental to the overall project objectives. THere are lots and lots of frames suitable for touring already available, and there really is no reason to 'reinvent the wheel.'

If you are determined - good for you. My advice is to slap together your first frame as soon as you can and put a few miles on it. (Edit: plan on your second or third of fourth frame to be the one you feel comfortable riding long distances) There are lots of resources available to help you on your way, but your very first frame should be an experiment more than a plan to make a super touring machine.

Check in the Framebuilder forum for more advice (mostly much wiser and more based on experience than mine).

My reaction is the same as that of fuzz2050 and HandsomeRyan.

That said, I think it's awesome you could build a frame. But especially if you're new to cycling, ride for awhile before building a frame, because then you'll better know what you want in a frame.
If you are set on building one for the cross-country trip, you may want to build a practice frame first.
Also, the frame you build depends on whether you are planning to do loaded touring, or a less-weighed-down ride (e.g., vehicle-supported).

Along with the others LarDasse's bit about taking the time to do a few in order to learn what you need is good advice. It's also the sort of thing where you want to already have good skills with a torch for the brazing or welding. Learning all this on your first few frames is not the place to do it. Good torch or TIG guys are genuine artists. It's a skill that doesn't just happen.

By all means buy a frame from a good maker and then build the rest yourself. We'd be happy to help directly or by pointing out known resources. But with only a year to go I'd strongly suggest you drop the frame building part of the plan.

A ride like that isn't really something you want to do to your own body right out of the gate either. Get a bike and do some weekend, then week long and finally a month long ride to learn what you need to fix or replace on the bike and for the gear before you head out.

cpopma

I think building a frame might be a bit much like everyone else. I would suggest a more appropriate way is to either buy a new frame or even on Craig's List a steel frame that might be appropriate then spend time and money learning then buying all the appropriate components and install them yourself. That way when you start on the trip you may be more comfortable that you could fix problems that may arise.

Reinforcing what everyone else has written, you are taking on two major learning projects:

1. Building up an existing bike frame from suitable parts. This is reasonably straightforward but requires a good bit of knowledge and the proper tools to choose, install and adjust the components.

2. Far more difficult, is building a frame from tubes by either brazing and lugs or by tig welding. This is a specialized skill requiring a lot of learning and experience to do it adequately and a lot more to do it well. Good frame builders are considered artists for a reason and most have worked with and apprenticed with established frame builders for a long time before going on their own.

Your friend's experience from working on bikes when he was younger is probably not nearly enough. So, can it be done? Yes. Can you do it? Dunno. But think long and hard before committing to this project.