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The garage frame building journey

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,697
3,157
The flask goes in my pocket.

Thanks! I’m really pumped on my weld progress. I still have a long way to go but I understand more what I need to do.
Welds look better than stuff Scott puts out. I know, different material, but...

 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Thanks @iRider

I finished the ebike. I’m surprised I pulled this off and very happy with the results.

I think I’ll make myself a short travel enduro jibber next. Or a new DH bike for my wife. Her’s has sketchy welds from a year ago. No cracks but I should get her on a new one sometime before April.

BAC96AA3-68C4-4734-9533-EEE334B8D54A.jpeg


I worked on my jig a little and added a reach adjustment separate from head angle like I had before. The angle iron plate makes for a much more solid and secure fixturing of the headtube with a lot more access to the backside. Looks like it should work.

CF540D00-FDF4-4AE2-822B-109213FA578F.jpeg
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,697
3,157
Thanks @iRider

I finished the ebike. I’m surprised I pulled this off and very happy with the results.

I think I’ll make myself a short travel enduro jibber next. Or a new DH bike for my wife. Her’s has sketchy welds from a year ago. No cracks but I should get her on a new one sometime before April.

View attachment 187106
That motor looks pretty exposed. Did you include mounts for a skid plate or at least some sort of guard to catch stones?
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
That motor looks pretty exposed. Did you include mounts for a skid plate or at least some sort of guard to catch stones?
Yeah, I didn’t include anything for the motor. It gets hot so I prioritized heat management and lower weight but I did think about doing something. The chainring usually hits stuff more than the motor so I should put a bash guard on there I guess.
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Handle bars are trickier than I thought but I hope I can figure it out. It will be lots of trial and error with notes and some tooling. The spring back and clocking for back sweep will take some time to figure out.

Second try with too short some scrap turned out pretty good.
E8A71918-2BEE-461D-B6A7-4511A4546DF9.jpeg


This thing is a pleasure to use.
B2D1E13F-B39F-4F7D-B229-CA1446D328B5.jpeg
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Will you make your own stem then or just invest in an hydropress?
Maybe but what’s a hyrdopress?

A stem would be easier than bars but I don’t trust my welding enough to have 2 more of my welds up front. I already have my head tube to count on and believe in. It’s almost like a religion or a Nigerian prince. Just gotta believe.

Obviously the stem will be welded to the bars.
 

Happymtb.fr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2016
2,069
1,439
SWE
A 3D bender would be a natural next step after an hydroforming rig :brows:
Nice process review in the video. I would have liked to see more of the steps where the different diameters take shape tho
 

englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,664
1,158
La Verne
Thanks @iRider

I finished the ebike. I’m surprised I pulled this off and very happy with the results.

I think I’ll make myself a short travel enduro jibber next. Or a new DH bike for my wife. Her’s has sketchy welds from a year ago. No cracks but I should get her on a new one sometime before April.

View attachment 187106

I worked on my jig a little and added a reach adjustment separate from head angle like I had before. The angle iron plate makes for a much more solid and secure fixturing of the headtube with a lot more access to the backside. Looks like it should work.

View attachment 187107
your killing it man.
does that thing feel front heavy?
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
your killing it man.
does that thing feel front heavy?
Thanks! I’m still hoping you’ll show us some of the stuff you make. Or at least some shop pics?

It is front end heavy but I wanted more weight up front. The motor has 3750 watts and will wheelie out on any climb so I wanted more weight up front with longer chain stays (460mm) and a higher bb. It’s much better than the last one I did and a lot more fun on the climbs. I can still manual it but it takes a lot of effort to get it up.

 

englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,664
1,158
La Verne
Its always a fkn mess
Grob NS 24 24" wheel bandsaw I rescued from a tweaker, setup with a vfd, looks like shite but works great i wanted a wide throat for cutting up megaphones. I use a 24tpi 0.030" blade on it for cutting thin wall tubing. The piece on it is a sample of 2 part eurethane flotation foam inside a piece of tube to check its suitability for use inside handlebars.
20200909_165435.jpg

Saw is mainly to cut tubing for exhausts.

IMAG0772.jpg

I made everything thete except rolling the megaphone and the v band clamps
IMAG0016.jpgIMG_20230209_070157.png
IMG_20230209_070146.jpg


you can see the Bridgeport and 8" max turn on the right.

IMG_20230209_070149.jpg


 

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englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,664
1,158
La Verne
Half my images are too large :disgust:
IMAG0310.jpg
i9
IMAG0619.jpg
IMAG0854.jpg

IMG_20230209_064740.jpg

All that crams in this bike...
Major pita to build. Made everhthing ecept rolling the cone, and didnt make the muffler on this one.
20211012_194409.jpg
IMAG0306.jpg
IMG_20230209_070139.jpg
 
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englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,664
1,158
La Verne
You can see my giant mess I mean "shop" or garrage in this one


that one making a pull. Made everything but the flanges
IMAG3274.jpg

IMG_20230209_070200.jpg
IMG_20230209_070351.jpg
 
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slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Congrats!

I need to try some of that clear coat. The boiled linseed oil is not working out.
Indeed! We found a homemade formula for Penetrol, as we couldn't find that here and it was the most recommend way to protect raw steel (¾ double boiled linseed oil, ⅛ mineral spirits, ⅛ thinner) but it never dried. And we're hitting 40° Celsius!!!!

Most of the stuff commercially available in the US doesn't exist here. Then I found this was sold by just a couple of paint shops down here:
IMG_20230214_014427_266.jpg


And a guy who knows a guy who works in the local importer for the brand told us to spray 3-4 thin coats of the product to prevent rust, and then 3-4 more coats of the traditional Rust-Oleum 2x cover transparent paint/lacquer for impact protection.

We'll see how it does in a few weeks of use.
 
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slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
WhatsApp Image 2023-02-16 at 22.24.10.jpeg
WhatsApp Image 2023-02-15 at 09.43.52.jpeg


I'm calling this a wrap-up! Finally took her to a DJ spot. I'm a bit rusty, but first impressions were pretty good.

EDIT: Taking some extra time with those Scotch-Brite sanding pads really paid off. The pictures don't make justice to the brushed metal finishing under the clearcoat.

Now I'll order some bits from BikeFabSupply and proceed to make a full cromoly version, with smaller dropouts.
 
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buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Rather than have a standard bolt on the lower shock mount I welded on a threaded cone. I made the threaded side of the lower shock mount out of a hole saw arbor that I cut shorter and turned on the lathe. Here’s a pic of the hole saw arbor cut off bits and the finished product. I only welded it on the bottom side to avoid spinning when tightening.

3CD71922-1E9E-4C43-B599-05F86774D807.jpeg