Building your own bike

I just recently got back into biking. As a kid, I practically lived
on a old beat up 10 speed. How it took the abuse I gave it was
amazing.

I just bought a Schwinn Rocket mountain bike. I am having a blast,
but I am hardly in the shape I once was, but that happens when you are
near 50. From what I am reading here, it is an entry level. Yet it
is the nicest shifting bike I have ever owned.

I am considering building my next bike myself. I don't know if anyone
sells plans, people design their own, no one ever bothers to do this,
or even if there might be common kits out there. I am open to all
types of bikes. Just interested in finding out what options might be
out there from people that have done it.

"Mark" wrote in message
ups.com...

I am considering building my next bike myself. I don't know if anyone
sells plans, people design their own, no one ever bothers to do this,
or even if there might be common kits out there. I am open to all
types of bikes. Just interested in finding out what options might be
out there from people that have done it.


"building" meaning assembling the components on a purchased frame or
attempting to weld a frame yourself?

If the former, not really a big deal with a number of hand tools. If the
latter, you're into some fairly complex matters requiring some fairly heavy
equipment to do this properly. There is (or at least used to be) a
framebuilder's email list, with some fairly good info. ...but you're
speaking about either a lathe or vertical mill and some way to hold tubes to
cut and miter at precise angles. ...or cutting and filing by hand, and that
takes much time and practice. ...and then a tig welder with some specialized
set-ups. ...unless you want to do an older-type brazed joint and then you
will need a torch. ...and an expensive frame jig to hold everything in
place (although I have seen some homemade inexpensive wooden jigs). ...and
then some specialized cycle reamers to face the bottom-bracket and
head-tubes, and some alignment tools for the rear derailleurs and to clean
up the inside of the seat tube after welding. ...figure about 500-$1000 for
the hand tools alone.

....but if you have access to a machine shop and want to custom make some of
your own jigs, you can get tubes and all other necessary supplies from
on-line sources.

I've listed a few sites below. ...and if you're serious, I may have a
number of the high-quality frame building tools that are necessary that I've
considered selling. ...not so sure that I want to part with them, however.

Jeff


http://www.timpaterek.com/

http://www.henryjames.com/

http://www.anvilbikes.com/

http://www.bikeschool.com/store/



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In article . com,
Mark wrote:

I just recently got back into biking. As a kid, I practically lived
on a old beat up 10 speed. How it took the abuse I gave it was
amazing.

I just bought a Schwinn Rocket mountain bike. I am having a blast,
but I am hardly in the shape I once was, but that happens when you are
near 50. From what I am reading here, it is an entry level. Yet it
is the nicest shifting bike I have ever owned.

I am considering building my next bike myself. I don't know if anyone
sells plans, people design their own, no one ever bothers to do this,
or even if there might be common kits out there. I am open to all
types of bikes. Just interested in finding out what options might be
out there from people that have done it.

If you know how to weld or braze steel, the parts can be purchased, but
it is a pretty advanced project. You could also mold your own frame from
carbon fibre, which is a surprisingly common technique for hobbyists:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/

Read all the stuff in the "Carbon Fibre" section.

If you're just building up a cruiser or hacked-up bike, you can use
simpler, heavier steels, which are even easier to weld:

http://dclxvi.org/chunk/meet/index.html

Note that any bike you build yourself, even out of carbon fibre, is
likely to be so much heavier than commercial offerings, and take so long
to build, that you would be better off taking a night job at 7-11 and
buying a nice bike once you had saved up enough of your salary.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

On Sep 24, 11:22 pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article . com,

Mark wrote:
I just recently got back into biking. As a kid, I practically lived
on a old beat up 10 speed. How it took the abuse I gave it was
amazing.

I just bought a Schwinn Rocket mountain bike. I am having a blast,
but I am hardly in the shape I once was, but that happens when you are
near 50. From what I am reading here, it is an entry level. Yet it
is the nicest shifting bike I have ever owned.

I am considering building my next bike myself. I don't know if anyone
sells plans, people design their own, no one ever bothers to do this,
or even if there might be common kits out there. I am open to all
types of bikes. Just interested in finding out what options might be
out there from people that have done it.

If you know how to weld or braze steel, the parts can be purchased, but
it is a pretty advanced project. You could also mold your own frame from
carbon fibre, which is a surprisingly common technique for hobbyists:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/

Read all the stuff in the "Carbon Fibre" section.

If you're just building up a cruiser or hacked-up bike, you can use
simpler, heavier steels, which are even easier to weld:

http://dclxvi.org/chunk/meet/index.html

Note that any bike you build yourself, even out of carbon fibre, is
likely to be so much heavier than commercial offerings, and take so long
to build, that you would be better off taking a night job at 7-11 and
buying a nice bike once you had saved up enough of your salary.

--
Ryan Cousineau /
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

It really isn't about the money. Its about the desire to do it one's
self and the satisfaction that comes with it. Yeah it likely will be
heavier. I recently read an article that someone was teaching people
how to build bikes out of bamboo in 3rd world countries. The idea
intrigued me. First bamboo is really very strong for its weight but
it has some flex in it that would give it at least some give for the
bumps in the road. I already have woodworking experience. I could be
finished nice to look nice as well and if it was properly sealed and
cared for it could last a long time as well.

Now welding is new to me, but I have sweated more copper plumbing pipe
than I have ever wanted to do. I soldered a lot of brass musical
instruments many years ago, once building my own.

Thanks for the ideas.

Mark

"Mark" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Sep 24, 11:22 pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Now welding is new to me, but I have sweated more copper plumbing pipe
than I have ever wanted to do. I soldered a lot of brass musical
instruments many years ago, once building my own.

Thanks for the ideas.

Mark


Then look into a brazed-lugged frame. It isn't all that much different from
soldering copper pipe. ...much hotter, of course, but very similar.

....but for a frame of some quality, you will still need specialized reamers
and facers as I mentioned before. ...and someway to hold the frame in
alignment as you work.

....might be able to get away without precisely facing the BB and headtube,
but you'll end up with scale and other junk inside of the seat tube to the
point that you won't be able to insert a seattube without properly cleaning
it out with a quality seat-tube reamer. I bought a used one years ago from
ebay and had a friend who was both a frame-builder and an instructor at a
machine-shop in a community college modify the thing (using a very large CNC
machine) so that it was perfect for a 27.2mm seattube. ...cost me all of $20
when they would normally be well over $100 for that one reamer alone.

tig welding takes much time to learn. I've practiced for days and am plenty
good enought to weld thick pipe, but no where near good enough to work with
thin bike tubing.

j



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In article . com,
Mark wrote:

On Sep 24, 11:22 pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article . com,

Mark wrote:
I just recently got back into biking. As a kid, I practically lived
on a old beat up 10 speed. How it took the abuse I gave it was
amazing.

I just bought a Schwinn Rocket mountain bike. I am having a blast,
but I am hardly in the shape I once was, but that happens when you are
near 50. From what I am reading here, it is an entry level. Yet it
is the nicest shifting bike I have ever owned.

I am considering building my next bike myself. I don't know if anyone
sells plans, people design their own, no one ever bothers to do this,
or even if there might be common kits out there. I am open to all
types of bikes. Just interested in finding out what options might be
out there from people that have done it.

If you know how to weld or braze steel, the parts can be purchased, but
it is a pretty advanced project. You could also mold your own frame from
carbon fibre, which is a surprisingly common technique for hobbyists:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/

Read all the stuff in the "Carbon Fibre" section.

If you're just building up a cruiser or hacked-up bike, you can use
simpler, heavier steels, which are even easier to weld:

http://dclxvi.org/chunk/meet/index.html

Note that any bike you build yourself, even out of carbon fibre, is
likely to be so much heavier than commercial offerings, and take so long
to build, that you would be better off taking a night job at 7-11 and
buying a nice bike once you had saved up enough of your salary.

--
Ryan Cousineau /
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

It really isn't about the money. Its about the desire to do it one's
self and the satisfaction that comes with it. Yeah it likely will be
heavier. I recently read an article that someone was teaching people
how to build bikes out of bamboo in 3rd world countries. The idea
intrigued me. First bamboo is really very strong for its weight but
it has some flex in it that would give it at least some give for the
bumps in the road. I already have woodworking experience. I could be
finished nice to look nice as well and if it was properly sealed and
cared for it could last a long time as well.

Bamboo?! Really?!? I've seen bike-show bikes made out of it, but I would
be really leery about routinely building frames out of it.

Aside from the structural considerations, which may or may not be as
scary as I fear, the frame tubes are probably the cheapest, least
specialized part of a bicycle, third-world-wise.

Everything else is the hard part,

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:40:53 GMT, Ryan Cousineau
wrote:

Bamboo?! Really?!? I've seen bike-show bikes made out of it, but I would
be really leery about routinely building frames out of it.

Aside from the structural considerations, which may or may not be as
scary as I fear, the frame tubes are probably the cheapest, least
specialized part of a bicycle, third-world-wise.

Everything else is the hard part,

Dear Ryan,

"Bamboo frames.--From the discussion on the frame (chap. xxiii.) it
will be seen that when the frame is properly barced, and its members
so arranged that the stresses on them are along their axes, the
maximum tensile or compressive stress on the material is small. If a
steel tube were made as light as possible, with merely sufficient
sectional area to resist these principal stresses, it would be so thin
that it would be unable to resist rough handling, and would speedily
become indented locally. A lighter material with greater thickness,
though of less strength, would resist these local forces better. The
bamboo frame (fig. 262) is an effort in this direction, the bamboo
tubes being stronger locally than steel tubes of equal weight and
external diameter."

--Sharp, "Bicycles & Tricycles," 1896, p.286-7

Wooden and bamboo bicycles were built by several companies and ridden
by ordinary riders, but they offered no real advantages and were
expensive for mass production.

As far as I can tell, wood and bamboo were abandoned except for
novelty items because steel is hard to beat for price and overall
durability.

1897 wood frame lady's bike:

http://www.metzbicyclemuseum.com/Bike25a.html

Lady's bentwood bicycle:

http://www.metzbicyclemuseum.com/Bike31a.html

The bamboo bike that Andrew Muzi isn't talking about:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wlhb...&id=10367&pn=0

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turn...ch.asp?id=1130

***

My theory about steel versus bamboo is supported by this page:

"The Bamboo Cycle Company of Holbourne, London, had its works in Petit
Street, off Pountney Street, Wolverhampton. Their machines initially
had frames made of bamboo because it was very strong, lightweight and
free from corrosion. In practice steel proved to be a much better
material for the purpose and so only a few real bamboo bikes were
made."

"Later models were made of steel that was disguised to look like
bamboo. The bicycles were fitted with the patent 'Doolittle' back
pedalling brake and an automatically adjustable handlebar. The
machines were only in production for a few years and it is thought
that only small numbers were made. The company also had premises in
Thomas Street."

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac....les/Bamboo.htm

The site above has pictures, but whether the bikes are made of real or
fake bamboo is hard to tell.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article , Ryan
Cousineau wrote:

In article . com,
Mark wrote:

It really isn't about the money. Its about the desire to do it one's
self and the satisfaction that comes with it. Yeah it likely will be
heavier. I recently read an article that someone was teaching people
how to build bikes out of bamboo in 3rd world countries. The idea
intrigued me. First bamboo is really very strong for its weight but
it has some flex in it that would give it at least some give for the
bumps in the road. I already have woodworking experience. I could be
finished nice to look nice as well and if it was properly sealed and
cared for it could last a long time as well.

Bamboo?! Really?!? I've seen bike-show bikes made out of it, but I would
be really leery about routinely building frames out of it.

Aside from the structural considerations, which may or may not be as
scary as I fear, the frame tubes are probably the cheapest, least
specialized part of a bicycle, third-world-wise.

The referenced article is probably the one in the October 2007
Bicycling magazine. It doesn't appear to be on their website yet. It is
about Craig Calfee's collaboration with a Columbia University program
to show people in Africa how to build cargo bikes from bamboo. Has made
one training trip to Ghana.

http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.e...project.php?pr
ojectid=598

http://www.bamboobike.org/Home.html

http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm

Dan

Doug Fattic in Niles, Michigan offers frame building courses, where the
student gets to make their own frame.

Probably a great way to spend your vacation.

Doug is one of the best frame makers in the US.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/fattic_doug.htm


Marcus

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:06:40 -0400, Marcus Coles wrote:

Doug Fattic in Niles, Michigan offers frame building courses, where the
student gets to make their own frame.

Probably a great way to spend your vacation.

Doug is one of the best frame makers in the US.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/fattic_doug.htm


Marcus

I just took one of Doug's courses and would recommend it highly. Doug
charges quite a bit less than UBI as well.