Yeah it was just rattle-can spray paint. The wheels are 24x2.125, ,BTW. The customer who bought it owns a body shop, and would've ben glad to have the bike unpainted, as he has a spray booth.

I wanted to test the frame, to make sure it would withstand actual use. What would be the point of a $6,000.00 paint job, if the frame were to fail? Fortunately , there are internal lashings of fiber, embedded in resin, inside the monocoque shell, to bond the head tube and Bottom Bracket shell. And also internal gussets .

You know, you may have a point, the average person/customer is only worried about external appearances. But the guy I sold this bike to owns a collision shop, and I let him tap on the 'glass with a hammer, so he was satisfied that the structure was *Sound*.

I want to build a few more Fiberglass Bicycles, just for practice, before I build a Carbon bike. Carbon , being 70 times more expensive than 'glass, would be expensive to make mistakes with.

But then, remember the term "Composite". We could make a bike with a blend of Glass AND Carbon, and it would be called a "Composite". Anyway, this bike is a "Mule", in that it is part Velomobile and part cargo/utility Bike. There is no other.

I have also dredged up this story, which I missed:

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/why-...practical.html

But yeah, the Type 9 is a bastard of a bike. Unfortunately, I now live in a apartment, where I can't tackle a project like this . But the god news is, I quit smoking, and now I save ten dollars a day, and I could theoretically put that money towards a new bike.

Your polyester jersey will never break down in the land fill while wool will. If you burn polyester it releases toxic smoke into the air. Wool wins big time.

I also recommend this link:

http://www.nordicskiracer.com/news.asp?NewsID=2940

....not to mention wool's superiority in keeping one comfortable under a wide range of temperatures, and even when wet; polyester has to be made in factories and requires lots of energy input; wool can be "made" by anyone with a sheep and a hand-operated spinning wheel. I recently bought a vintage wool jacket from the 70's- it's beautiful and like new. Ever see 40 year-old polyester?!

I have some wool jerseys that I use only for touring because they won't stink as fast or as bad as polyester. But I will admit I do own a few polyester jerseys but only because I buy the cheapest I can find because a $100 100% Polyester jersey is the same as a $15 100% polyester, I know I've had expensive polyester jerseys and couldn't tell the difference in cooling or smell. The durability of the more expensive ones were about a season longer...not even close to lasting long enough to make it worth while spending $100 for; a $100 jersey would have to last about 14 years just to break even over getting $15 ones every 2 years, I've never gotten more then 3 years out of the expensive ones.

But my oldest wool one is 11 years old, but to be honest it doesn't get worn like the polyester ones get worn either.

I will never understand the "wool is real" people.

Wool is me.

I can think of several things that are comfortable when wet. Wool isn't one of them.

Nothing is comfortable when wet...but the thing is: Wool retains it's insulative value when wet.

BTW: Nice Eyesore avatar! :thumb:

This is correct. If it starts raining and the temp drops as it usually does when it rains, you will be cold wearing a polyester jersey, this doesn't happen as dramatically with wool. Once it stops raining the polyester may dry about 5 to 10 minutes faster then the wool does. But wool doesn't stink as quickly or as badly as polyester, and then there's that pesky landfill problem.

And ya just KNOW that has to be true cause - I've never ever seen a sheep wearing a raincoat! :)

ROTFL!!!

....unlike those pesky cows, who are always beating on the door when it rains- saying "C'mon, let us in, we're wearing leather!!".

I am a HUGE wool fan. Sweet merino. And I don't think there is anything better for socks. But for the most extreme weather conditions, such as winter whitewater paddling, modern synthetics win for the most part. Polypro and related fabrics do stink to high heavens though.

I guess I didn't get the armistice memo... still wear wool sweaters and ride steel bikes. :D

Aaron :)

LOL, well you're not alone in this world, although I will be switching allegiances from steel to titanium at the end of the month...I guess that's a form of steel. I do wear poly jerseys on my one day rides, but not on multiple day rides.

When I wrote my derisive sweater response I had these in mind...
http://randburg.com/is/123/gif/Icela...er%20image.jpg
...not wool jerseys!! :)

Just to throw in another fiberglass/plastic bike picture. Although I felt the front fiberglass was failed and replaced it with just plastic.

That's cool. An original design I've never seen before.

I hope you didn't get fleeced on the price. LOL.
Seriously, I've got an itch to dig out the old spinning wheel, and knit myself a Fiberglass Sweater out of Owens Corning R13.

But I .... LIKE those! :)

You'll get laughed at. They're all going to laugh at you.

Me too!

Laughter is no problem. When the crowd approves of me, THAT is when I know I'm doing something wrong, and feel like a tool.

But posts on BF by people reluctant to buy CF isn't reflective of buyers in general. Many of those people won't ride anything other than steel, joke about Di2, swear by wool clothes, and think 36 spokes is the minimum wheels for everyone. Ask those same people what bikes they plan on buying next and they'll say nothing is as good as the classic steel. The people that actually do buy new get CF and don't think twice.

That doesn't make sense....

A poster above is going to be buying a NEW titanium bike at the end of the month.

If someone were to make a beautiful steel frame with chromed lugs that didn't cost as much as something with a motor, I'd buy it.

And there certainly seem to be a good number of companies currently making steel, titanium and aluminum bikes, for those of us who prefer them/don't fall for the marketing hype/don't need to pretend we're Lance Armstrong.

My first road bike (a year ago) was a new aluminum bike. My upgrade is a 16 year-old aluminum bike. I would not want to even think of buying a 16 year-old carbon bike. Is it any wonder that old steel bikes have skyrocketed in value lately? With all the CF bikes on the market, which either end up breaking, or are apparently not trustworthy when old, the finite number of old steel bikes has to supply a growing audience of used bike seekers who apparently feel as I do; that old CF bikes are at best an unknown risk.

Couple of points to ponder:

Carbon frame can be built by a Do-it-Yourselfer without a welding rig.

Ideally, a Carbon Fiber bike should follow the same Design Parameters, or Design Theory, as a Fiberglass Bicycle. Too many builders are trying to execute a traditional Steel design in Carbon Fiber. Carbon Monocoque construction allows for larger tube diameter, any number of curves, tapered diameters, tapered wall-thicknesses, and reinforcing only-where-needed, to save weight.
There should be more experimentation with Fiberglass, before building more Carbon Fiber Bicycles.
Someone should build a Carbon Fiber replica of a Bowden Spacelander.

A few trial-and-error attempts could be made in Glass Fiber, to save money on the mistakes. Label it an "Experimental Vehicle".

You know, I got into this business because I wanted a set of Hard Panniers, made of Fiberglass, and also a matching Fiberglass Fairing. A Fairing is a Protective Shield, and can save me from injury if a car cuts me off, or if a car door gets opened in my path. The story of Benjamin Bowden is inspiring, but his company went belly-up before a Ladies Bicycle could be built. This is the aspect I tackled, with the aid of my Daughter Mellisa. I'm afraid the Bike that resulted is a half breed, part Velomobile, and part Utility Bike, and no one else has followed the path of this Mule.