Ahh yes, I love my shiny beautifully machined Campagnolo stuff. I have a vintage Lemond frame I want to do up in original Athena. Some day...

Agreed! It can be nasty stuff! I mean, it's the reason for 100% of tsunamis, for heaven's sake! It was also responsible for the sinking of the Titanic, and it regularly causes rivers to flood! Used wrongly, Dihydrogen Monoxide can kill!

Here are some from #2, which I just got back from the painter yesterday, and built/test rode today. It's a 650b wheeled, SRAM Apex'd commuter/shopper/path bomber:





And the completed bike, a 650b wheeled commuter/shopper/path bomber:







Builder and built:



The entire album.

My first build. Nova OS tubes, stamped lugs, MAPP gas, touring geometry, rattle can paint. 6 miles and counting...



I got a lot of great info from this group. Thanks to all.

Wow, for what I would call a true budget build, that looks amazing! Nice work! Did you use a jig, or did you freespace it?

Pete

I used the jig ideas from Talbot's book. Worked out pretty well. The downside of a first frame is that it took about 5 months of on-and-off work...lots of thinking and measuring. I think a second frame would go much faster.

I just finished my second (see above). It does go much faster.

That`s great, Chickens! Yeah, mine (only one so far) took me about six months too. As long as it gets done...

I'm on frame #6 which will be a women's cruiser with hemp lugs but here are some pics of the others

Andy

I've been thinking about building a lightweight rando frame for use with the Rohloff Speedhub, and finally got around to it. Deda 8/5/8 with Everest lugs, Paragon sliders, and the Imperial oval fork blades and crown Jan Heine/Compass Cycles is selling.

An old alpine mirage that i coverted into a fixie. Did everything myself welded the brake mounts closed aswell as the bottle holder and cable mounts. I grinded of the derailer mount and the fender mounts. And i recently wrecked it goin down hill into a stump and it bent the steerer top and bottom tube to give it that track geometry i always wanted. The b43's didnt even get a scratch but she pulls to the left. So gettin that track frame soon sunnn.





Sorry for the crappy iphone pics was in a hurry

A little project I have been working on for some time but am just about ready for powdercoat... refitted my 1973 Phillip's 20 with rear stays and a fork taken from a Nishiki International which had a broken main tube and down tube. Stays and fork were of excellent quality with Suntour / Tange dropouts and as they came off a touring bike were just what I wanted for my separable touring bike.

Work was all free hand brazing and joining the old stays and new ones was accomplished by using chromoly sleeves / pins and the ends of the original chain and seat stays.

Added a few inches in the rear which will allow for better heel clearance and built up the fork with suspension correction in case I decide to go that route in the future and reduced the trail from the stock fork.

Increased the bb and pedal clearance which is an issue on 20's, especially when you run 175mm cranks and the bike should be a nice shade of British racing green after a little more clean up, detailing, and after I build custom racks.

Have been in test ride mode to ensure that the geometry is just right as I do not want to make any fork alterations after the powdercoating and figure I nailed it... the bike tracks and corners like it is on rails and is very stiff.

Looking pretty raw here and there is a little more work to be done... a few folks have said I should just clear coat the bike.

Finally done! www.flickr.com/photos/timdude

...and well done! It looks great.

Just finished my first ever frame build...and I now have IMMENSE respect of those that do this for a living. This was a very difficult process and the level of thought and attention to detail that went into constructing this frame was almost beyond description. I'll post some details of how I built it in the next few weeks, as well as some feedback on how it rides....as I plan to start riding it this week.

The bike is a 700c Rear and 650c front in order to help lower the front end and get me in a better aero position...plus the frontal area is reduced. The old 24" funny bikes just looked....well....funny so I didn't go that route.

The frame consists of high modulus carbon tubes which were mitered and bonded and then the joints were wrapped with carbon strips. The rear end is a Deda Firebox (customized to mount to BB30) and the fork is an Advanced Composites Aero unit with an aluminum steerer. The bare frame before paint and cable guides, etc. weighed in at just over 2 pounds and just under 3 pounds when I started bolting parts on it. The bike as pictured weighs 16.8 pounds...only pedals missing.

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Hey mattradaz, that's a great looking bike. What kind of tubes did you use for the tt, the st and dt? Were they custom wrapped or off the shelve? And how did you decide what the wall thickness should be? I'm in the middle of designing my first carbon bike, and still stumped by these questions. The only thing I have found are notations of the number of plies, yet no mention how thick the tubes end up to be. And I found some guidance in the bike tubes of rock west composites, but it would be a pain for me to import their set due to customs etc. Thanks in advance! Btw great idea to use an of shelve deda unit for the rear end.

Italuminum,

I had many issues to work through as well...and I did end up using off the shelf tubes from Rock West Composites. All my notes are at my shop (so is the bike) but I'm certain I used the same size tube for the top/seat tubes (1.4 OD?) and used a bit larger tube (1.625 OD) for the downtube. I just used the standard .065" thickness tubes. I had some tell me to use a thinner tube, but for the minimal difference in weight and the added safety factor of the thicker tubing, I thought it was the way to go.

My biggest issue was getting the geometry correct with the 650c front wheel "curve ball" thrown in. It looks right....but I'll see how she handles when I ride it for the first time tomorrow.

Here's a few more pics...

That's great! Thanks for sharing. I foind a carbon supplier that has the tubing I need, finally (only then in metric sizes, but that 1/10 pf a mm won't make much of a difference...). How's the steering with that 650 b wheel?

Thanks! it was a joy to build can't wait for the next one.

What do you get when a Dahon folder gets drunk with a couple of OCC StingRays?
A Folding Pugsley (Fugsley)!!! https://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/vie...p?f=21&t=44315




Hopefully welding will start this weekend!

Virtual Mockup


Actual Mockup


Old and new wheels. 16x1.5 versus 20x4!!!!

How in the world do you begin researching/learning about how to build bikes from a pile of lugs and pipe?

I have spent countless hours working on all kinds of bicycles, have done exhaustive research on construction methods and design, and just finished a two year apprenticeship with a master frame builder.

The actual brazing is the easy part and I figured that out in short order... anyone can weld but not anyone understands the dynamics of geometry and frame materials.

Start HERE to get some idea of what you'd be getting into.

Can you tell me what color of red this is.

Thanks

All steel twin down tube road bike. The seat and top tubes are 35mm, 37mm head tube, and 19mm downtubes mitred and welded directly to the head tube.