Why buy a new bike when you could just build one?

buddy_club

JGTR

This should be interesting :-)

SME

Some curvy bits of metal there - should make an interesting shape!

buddy_club

Practice makes perfect...

fenix

Ikea doing mountain bikes now?

buddy_club

Fenix wrote:

Ikea doing mountain bikes now?

Some basic assembly required

fat daddy

I know why "I" would just buy one ...... no way would I trust anything that I welded !

good luck with that, cant wait to see how it turns out

buddy_club

fat daddy wrote:

I know why "I" would just buy one ...... no way would I trust anything that I welded !

good luck with that, cant wait to see how it turns out

This frame is actually going to be fillet brazed, which is a process that is much more tolerant of mistakes. All of my brazing and finishing is being overseen by a professional frame builder who is also my A-Level product design teacher.

warey4life

Not sure how comfortable I'd be riding a brazed frame unless the joints were lugged. Looking forward to seeing the end product though.

LimitedGarry

Will you actually ride it, or is it just a project for practice and fun?

buddy_club

LimitedGarry wrote:

Will you actually ride it, or is it just a project for practice and fun?

Nope it will be ridden, it is my year 2 Product Design A-Level, i have previously been part of a team that made a fixie for Anna Glowinski, the link is in my Bio.

I will be transferring parts from my Parkwood over to the frame once it is completed.

demelitia

This connected to the article on the front page at the mo?

buddy_club

demelitia wrote:

This connected to the article on the front page at the mo?

Somewhat, same school and I was in the team that built Anna's bike, but this one is for me and is an A-Level project rather than something extracurricular.

gt-arrowhead

Wow! Nice! Looking forward to seeing it. Wish my A levels were as fun as this...

How difficult is it to make the jig(s)?

buddy_club

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Wow! Nice! Looking forward to seeing it. Wish my A levels were as fun as this...

How difficult is it to make the jig(s)?

The school has some existing jigs, but they are designed mostly for lugged frames - another A-Level student and friend in my class is making a new jig for the department, it is not massively difficult to design and manufacture it is just makin. Sure of an accuracy, I will try and get a copy of his plans to post up.

buddy_club

Guess the joint

buddy_club

The front triangle of the bike in a model of the jig.

buddy_club

And with a few small cock ups along the way, i have a front triangle cut mitred and ready to be brazed. Lack of a jig free school on one day meant i had to get inventive to test the mitres. I laser cut some supports from acrylic. Two for each tube, set so that the centres of the tubes would all sit at 50mm off the ground. Then a support for the BB to raise it 16mm from the ground and i was able to test the mitres closely enough without use of a jig.

buddy_club

In case anyone is interested in the ins and outs of the geometry i can add more photos. This is modelled using the bikecad software. Everything is correct bar the v brake mounts and the dropouts arent modelled in the software either, these are basically done by eye with the help of a 1:1 drawing.
Im currently cutting chainstays to miter, should be getting brazed up next week.

milemuncher1

I like to build my bikes from parts, but I draw the line at building the frame myself. Good luck with it though.

SME

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I like to build my bikes from parts, but I draw the line at building the frame myself. Good luck with it though.

Looks like OP is using CAD for his design too. Can't get much more 'building it myself' unless you dig the ore out of the ground!

Hats off to ya... Looking good so far.

buddy_club

Well well well....

buddy_club

Head tube area before cleaning and filing.

buddy_club

Okay well shes done, plenty of photos to fill in the gaps but scroll to the bottom if u just want a finished picture!
After getting the frame all filleted up, the longest process of the frame is actually tidying up the fillets. Once these were done it was time for shotblasting to prepare for paint.

Looked pretty clean after shotblasting, but off it went to the paint shop for a satin signal grey finish.

Now the build starts.....

Before any graphics and without a chain......

Now with added graphics.


And there we go. Hopefully many more to come.

SME

Very nice. At first (on my screen) it looked like just grey primer. But having seen the later pictures..., well there's just something about it that's really appealling - looks really good.

Nice build. What's it like to ride?

buddy_club

SME wrote:

Very nice. At first (on my screen) it looked like just grey primer. But having seen the later pictures..., well there's just something about it that's really appealling - looks really good.

Nice build. What's it like to ride?

I haven't been able to get out for a proper ride on it yet as it has to stay in school for now to be marked. I did take it out for a little ride on some gravel paths and it feels like alot of fun but obviously i will need to get a proper test on it when i get it back.

thistle_

What was the cost of the materials for the frame (tube, brazing rods, paint etc.)?

If you do all the labour yourself, it seems a cheap way to get yourself a custom designed/built frame

buddy_club

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

What was the cost of the materials for the frame (tube, brazing rods, paint etc.)?

If you do all the labour yourself, it seems a cheap way to get yourself a custom designed/built frame

Tubes about £250, probably used about £20 of brass, bit of flux but I didn't have to buy a jig or anything which could easily be another £1000. It owes me about £320 with headset and bearings and brake adaptors and stuff. Paint I only had to pay for materials not labour because it was my A-Level project so that was only £25