Bike building
 

Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.

Bike building
 

On Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 7:45:49 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.

When you first start building bikes you'll find it very frustrating since there are a lot of things that aren't very obvious with new components such a Brifters. And you have to know things like the brake bolts come in various lengths but use all of the same brakes with only the requirement to buy new bolts if you have the incorrect ones. Installing many things like chains and cables and removing things like cranksets use specialized tools which are prohibitively expensive in a bike shop so you have to order them on-line which means you have to know what you're ordering.

So, be aware that there is a lot of initial frustration and waiting when you initially start but it gets a lot easier over multiple builds.

Bike building
 

On 2/9/2017 9:45 AM, wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.


Assuming that means building a steel frame?

If you don't already have torch skills, enroll in a tech
school night class for low temperature brazing. One semester
is enough and they are cheap.

Start with a copy of a frame you have at hand, using direct
measure rather than conjecture about geometry changes. As
with any metalwork, measurement and planning are key to a
successful construction.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Bike building
 

On Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 7:56:19 AM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 2/9/2017 9:45 AM, wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.


Assuming that means building a steel frame?

If you don't already have torch skills, enroll in a tech
school night class for low temperature brazing. One semester
is enough and they are cheap.

Start with a copy of a frame you have at hand, using direct
measure rather than conjecture about geometry changes. As
with any metalwork, measurement and planning are key to a
successful construction.

Make it a vacation! http://www.bikeschool.com/classes/fr...ilding-classes I'd do it in Portland, but Ashland is beautiful with lots of climbing. http://traveloregon.com/cities-regio...regon/ashland/ Go to the Shakespeare festival.

-- Jay Beattie.

Bike building
 

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 07:45:46 -0800, mariaqadeer4 wrote:

Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.

Did this myself - about 40 years ago. With my GF at the time (who is
short - couldn't find a stock frame to fit her). These were steel frames;
aluminum takes a higher level of skills and equipment. Long ago married
her, and she still rides the bike we made for her. My frame died its final
death last year, head tube cracked probably as a result of car incident
after many tens of thousands of miles.

General thoughts:
*Don't do it to save money.
*Components are expensive, and require much thought as to how they
and the frame fit together.
*You have good basic tool skills, right? You'll need more but you need
some minimal aptitude/base to start with.
*You need either someone else's well-thought-out plans or the math skills
to devise your own (I did the latter).
*I mostly used Talbot's book. A class, particularly if they had decent
tools, would have been great. At least half our effort was jigs, fixturing,
and just plain figuring out how we'd do things.

**Have fun! If your kid is old enough - is s/he interested in building her/his
own bike? That would be fantastic!

Bike building
 

On Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 7:56:19 AM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 2/9/2017 9:45 AM, wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.


Assuming that means building a steel frame?

If you don't already have torch skills, enroll in a tech
school night class for low temperature brazing. One semester
is enough and they are cheap.

Start with a copy of a frame you have at hand, using direct
measure rather than conjecture about geometry changes. As
with any metalwork, measurement and planning are key to a
successful construction.

You know, it would never have occurred to me that he was speaking of building a frame from scratch because of the extremely complex tooling required and the mechanical skills which would be so necessary that he wouldn't require any advice from dummy's like us.

I suppose you or I could build a steel frame with limited wooden tooling but I wouldn't think that it wouldn't come out as straight as the cheapest frame on the markets.

Even things as simple as lugs are quite difficult to make without investment casting and then they have to be made for a specific tubing set. You have to buy high end tubing sets for the actual size bike you're building.

The shop I used to hang out in, the owner built Witt bicycles and while at the time I thought them wonderful, they really couldn't hold a candle to a Tomassini or Atala and while these bikes are normally well built and straight they don't have exactly the best choices for tubes.

And where do you get bottom brackets these days for BB30?

Bike building
 

On Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 7:45:49 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

https://www.google.com/search?q=styr...oo++bike+ki t

Bike building
 

there are books available thru interlibrary loan at your library.

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bk...frame+building

I read the oldest one there. At that time....1995... there was one.

I figured aluminum tube welding.

There are hands on courses..one in Portland.

In your garage the process requires building wooden jigs for holding tubing in line at the correct angle. Jig building is probably impossible for the average handyman. or a very slow process. Thus the courses where there are jigs on hand.

Try rebuilding an older quality frame to 21 Century specs I did this with a 20 year Raleigh and brought a frame for a cyclocrosser trekker build.

Buying all parts during sales the R cost 800 with wheels n the cyclo with frame cost abt 1300. I ride believing the ride is mine tho I did not weld it together.

The parts do not bolt on. Modification n adapter plated need be made from aluminum n mounted.

Bike building
 

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 09:56:21 -0600, AMuzi wrote:

On 2/9/2017 9:45 AM, wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.


Assuming that means building a steel frame?

If you don't already have torch skills, enroll in a tech
school night class for low temperature brazing. One semester
is enough and they are cheap.

Start with a copy of a frame you have at hand, using direct
measure rather than conjecture about geometry changes. As
with any metalwork, measurement and planning are key to a
successful construction.

I would also suggest downloading a copy of The Paterek Manual for
Frame Builders and read it until you understand what the writer is
talking about.

Secondly, alignment is important and most "modern" frame makers use
alignment jigs extensively but old time frame builders used far fewer
and depended on very careful measuring. Do a search for Youtube films
of Tanabe Kalavimka building frames for examples.

In addition along with learning the physical part of brazing or silver
brazing you probably should read a series of articles published in
Bike Tech back in the 1980's titled "The Metallurgy of
Brazing", Parts 1, 2 and 3, available on line.

As an aside, I found that the English supply house
http://www.framebuilding.com/
the most extensive supplier, as well as being cheaper than U.S.
suppliers. They are also very helpful and give good advice.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Bike building
 

On Thu, 9 Feb 2017 07:45:46 -0800 (PST),
wrote:
Hi Peers,

I am Maria. I love to cycle and have few bikes. Been thinking about
building a bike myself or for my kid.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Share with me your experience?

Thanks.

I built a frame from scratch once, with a friend who is a framebuilder.
I drew the plans, chose the tubes, cut and mitered them, learned to
braze, filed the lugs, painted, etc. My friend insisted on brazing the
steerer into the fork crown and the fork blades into the fork crown, bit
I did all the rest of the joints. It made me appreciate the work that
goes into a frame. I ride that bike still, 10 years later, as my
commuter. And even though no one else knows, I feel a sense of pride as
I pedal along.

It's worth doing, but I would recommend doing it with guidance by
someone who knows what they are doing.