Pekka Huhta
Established Member
I't been years since I posted my last project, but here I am again.
My latest project isn't classical woodworking or traditional joinery. I have built so much with traditional tools and methods, that I wanted to do something totally different. I don't even remember where the original idea came, but suddenly I found myself surfing on bike building pages and then it was just matter of time before I decided to build one.
The building method is quite similar as with the first carbon fiber bikes (carbon tubes joined together by wrapping carbon thread and epoxy over the joints) or with bamboo bikes (where the joints are usually done with hemp and epoxy). I just used thin-walled wood tubes instead of carbon and bamboo. The tubes were made by laminating 0,6 mm veneer over a foam core with epoxy.
I did not want to start on full scale before trying my idea out first. I have a 2-year old son and I made a kickbike for him as a prototype, just to try out my idea of the plywood tubes.
Then I just kept on watering and fertilizing the bike untill it grew big enough for me...
My own bike needed a bit more time. I was able to proof that the ply tube was strong enough for a full-size bike, but I needed to figure out quite a few other things as well, including tiny details as learning about bike geometry design... I went out for a bike fit, got a few bike suggestions for bikes which could be a good fit for me and ended up drawing the whole geometry by myself along the lines of the example bikes.
I laminated the tubes like on the small bike and the rear fork was laminated from 3-5 mm mahogany strips. I also built a jig which allowed me to position the components accurately for gluing and making the carbon joints between the wooden parts.
There are very little pics about the carbon wrapping and lamination process as it is so messy work, but I finally got the bike ready last Saturday. I have been riding about 150 km with it since, and it works perfectly.
The bike is a real road/gravel bike: the weight of the frame ended up to 1750 g (where carbon frames are generally 1200-1400 g) and the completed bike is about 8,5 kg.
Sorry about the very thin documentation on this one I have been documenting my earlier projects so much over the years that it was a relief just building the bike instead of using half my energy in taking pictures and writing up stories.
I hope you like it
Pekka
My latest project isn't classical woodworking or traditional joinery. I have built so much with traditional tools and methods, that I wanted to do something totally different. I don't even remember where the original idea came, but suddenly I found myself surfing on bike building pages and then it was just matter of time before I decided to build one.
The building method is quite similar as with the first carbon fiber bikes (carbon tubes joined together by wrapping carbon thread and epoxy over the joints) or with bamboo bikes (where the joints are usually done with hemp and epoxy). I just used thin-walled wood tubes instead of carbon and bamboo. The tubes were made by laminating 0,6 mm veneer over a foam core with epoxy.
I did not want to start on full scale before trying my idea out first. I have a 2-year old son and I made a kickbike for him as a prototype, just to try out my idea of the plywood tubes.
Then I just kept on watering and fertilizing the bike untill it grew big enough for me...
My own bike needed a bit more time. I was able to proof that the ply tube was strong enough for a full-size bike, but I needed to figure out quite a few other things as well, including tiny details as learning about bike geometry design... I went out for a bike fit, got a few bike suggestions for bikes which could be a good fit for me and ended up drawing the whole geometry by myself along the lines of the example bikes.
I laminated the tubes like on the small bike and the rear fork was laminated from 3-5 mm mahogany strips. I also built a jig which allowed me to position the components accurately for gluing and making the carbon joints between the wooden parts.
There are very little pics about the carbon wrapping and lamination process as it is so messy work, but I finally got the bike ready last Saturday. I have been riding about 150 km with it since, and it works perfectly.
The bike is a real road/gravel bike: the weight of the frame ended up to 1750 g (where carbon frames are generally 1200-1400 g) and the completed bike is about 8,5 kg.
Sorry about the very thin documentation on this one
I have been documenting my earlier projects so much over the years that it was a relief just building the bike instead of using half my energy in taking pictures and writing up stories. I hope you like it
Pekka
