[P Hat]

I'm building a frame for my senior mech e. thesis and all is going well except its time to find a good source for tubing. Where can I get aluminum tubing for the front triangle? Do I just call Easton, Columbus, Reynolds or one of the other tube manufacturers?

 

[Motionboy2]

http://www.eastonbike.com/tubesets_top.html

This should help. But there are more, i just have to find them again. Give me a little bit i have them bookmarked on one of my computers!

 

[indieboy]

yeah i'd call up one of those 3 companies. all of the 3 make tubing for the rear triangles as well. but since you are only looking for tubing for the front end i'm assuming you are doing some sort of FS design. good luck w/ the search.

 

[Thylacine]

Bike tubing manufacturers will just send you some stickers, pat you on the head and say 'thanks for choosing Columbus!". I did my first bike projects at University back in the dark ages scrounging tubing from Aircraft Suppliers. Open the Yellow Pages and let your fingers do the walking. Failing that, email me at thylacineATpoolcreativeDOTcom and I might be able to help you out. ( I'm a smalltime bike maker type guy. ). Good luck.

 

[P Hat]

Thylacine, thanks for the advice. I was planning on calling Easton, it would at least look good for my reports if I called them and tried. If I don't get anywhere, and it sounds like I won't I'll give you an email.

 

[riderx]

Here's a couple of links that might help. One is a framebuilders mailing list.

http://www.damonrinard.com/framebuild.htm
http://www.phred.org/mailman/listinfo/framebuilders

 

[Rik]

I couldn't imagine a big name tube manufacturer allow joe public to buy their materials and use them for any old project. Some companies even certify framebuilders before they can use their tubesets! I don't blame them for doing that either, last thing a company needs is a halfassed frame made from their materials, breaking through poor design/construction, and having their product badmouthed irrationally.
Your best bet would be speaking to a framebuilder and hopefully buying the tubing through them. They can also give a bit of advice, which will be very helpful. Buy a slab of beer, get talking with a local framebuilder and be prepared to learn alot

 

[TrueScotsman]

Just buy an XXXL frame of the material that you want and chop away!!!!!!