None woodworking project - any objections?

[Jake]

Very similar to my DOGS-wotsits, down to the Rohloff.

Where did you get the rear dropouts to fit the Rohloff from? I ended up getting mine from some yank touring bike maker.

 

[Ironballs]

This bike actually has an 8spd Shimano Alfine, though I do have another bike with a Rohloff fitted. Rohloffs are quite easy to get hold of now (though still expensive), I had the other bike built up at a place called Moonglu and they sourced it for me.

The Alfine is nowhere the quality of the Rohloff, but then it is a lot cheaper, that said I've given it some hammer in the yorkshire grit and it hasn't missed a beat. In fact I prefer the trigger shifter it has over the twist on the Rohloff.


Funny you should mention the Roberts DOGS BOLX, Dave had his original DONKISNOB in the back of the workshop. Chas Roberts is a master of the fillet braze, he used to offer a clear lacquered frame as an option just to show them off

 

[Mattty]

Great project mate. thanks for sharing. 8)

 

[Jake]

Ah, thought it looked a little different, but I'm way out of touch these days.

Lovely bike anyhow, the brazes look very slick.

 

[Fecn]

Superb project - Totally excellent.

 

[Philly]

Fantastic - looks like you learned a lot!
Can I ask - why brass braze instead of welding?
Cheers
Philly

 

[HeathRobinson]

I have the exact same question as Philly.

Nice to see a couple of non-woodworking projects recently. Welding up a bike frame is actually something I have been wondering about. One has to be CAA certified but there is some welding to be done on aircraft which got me wondering what welding I could do. There is a local welding course that serves as an intro to 4 different kinds of welding. I'd really just like to try it out, only ever having seen welding from a distance.

 

[newt]

Philly from my experience which is limited in this area welding would be to hot and would destroy the characteristics of the metal, making a brittle joint.

 

[jasonB]

It is possible to TIG weld the joints but you have to be very good to avoid damage to the tubes, My Uncle had a nice line in repairing alloy & titanium frame sas he was able to weld these.

Also as was mentioned the fillet spreads the stresses out over a larger area of tube than a weld would.

Jason

 

[Paul Chapman]

Great stuff =D> Must be very satisfying riding a bike you've made yourself.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[TrimTheKing]

Excellent looking bike IB, looks and sounds like you had real fun making it too.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Ironballs]

Thanks all, I had a great time doing it so it's a pleasure to share, in fact I'm off out in about 10 minutes to go for a ride on it tonight.

The comments about welding v brazing are true, you can tig weld these tubes but you have to be very good at it as the tubes are thin walled. I certainly wouldn't have been welding by 10 am on the first day, but I was brazing.

Even the comments from my mates about being worried riding a bike I made have long since dried up, never crosses my mind that the frame will fail. I've even allowed it to get muddy n stuff too!

 

[Mr Ed]

Excellent and very enlightening.

Cheers, Ed

 

[les chicken]

Nice project and very rewarding to ride the bike you built yourself.
Reminds me of back in the 1970s when I was contracting, the project I had was to design and manufacture the jigs for manufacturing the frames for blkes for a company called HALMANCO ( Halfords manufacturing company ) Each of the frames were then brazed or silver soldered together to retain the qualities of the steel tubed frames.

Very rewarding type of job.

Les

 

[shim20]

post it up would be good, ive just started a santa cruz build for some crazy downhill fun

 

[jasonB]

Think you have missed a page shim, have a look part way down page 2 :wink:

Jason

 

[Ironballs]

A Santa Cruz, you must be a man of means.

If anyone is interested in the course or Dave Yates then hop on over to www.daveyatescycles.co.uk and check it out, he also does pieces of engineering work and has some very nice lathes and milling machines, so if you ever need that kind of expertise he's the man to go to

The one thing that did strike me was the marking and measuring, now granted I was using his jig which sets all the angles and holds everything in place, but not once did I use a ruler/measure or marking implement other than a big felt pen for making a rough line. Everything was done by eye and through repeated checking to ensure a fit, all you had to do was cut long to start with and work back till they go together.

I was doing hand cut dovetailed drawers at the time so this approach was both quite alien and quite refreshing. I also think that most people go through a mental "writing their letter of resignation" phase when on the course, with a view to becoming a full time frame builder!

Built my own bike, making my own furniture, just the own a Ferrari box left to tick then

 

[shim20]

Think you have missed a page shim, have a look part way down page 2 :wink:

Jason

wooops yes, all i can say is awsome, thats quite a skill to build what you did, keep up the good work

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Thats a lovely looking bike Ironballs.

Does it have bridgeless chainstays? I didn't see any going in. By the way, I can attest to the quality of the speedhub. I had my 8 year old one fitted on a new bike just recently and it still works as well as it did years ago. Sadly the same can't be said of the 'Dale it started life on.

Cheers,

Dod

 

[OPJ]

Thanks for sharing, this has been a very interesting project to follow!