September 30, 2015 by jon | Comments Off on 29er Bikepacker rack
I wanted a small rack for carrying tent or sleeping bag on the front forks of my 29er. Knocked this up out of stainless to go on my new 29er bikepacker.
September 30, 2015 by jon | Comments Off on Sliding dropout 29er
I wanted to create a 29er that could run biggish tyres, single speed or geared. This can easily take up to 2.5 tyres with as short a rear end as I could squeeze in to reduce overall length. The forks are modified Surlys to take a Salsa Anything cage and a front luggage rack. Just about ready to go to paint – just need to decide on the colour!
September 30, 2015 by jon
I finally finished my prototype folder. A fairly simple design, really to test the folding mechanism and the geometry. The first version requires the front wheel to be removed to fold it, mainly because it was easier to do it that way. The BB in the rear triangle means there’s no chain issues when folding. 20 inch wheels means it rolls a bit better than my Brommy. I need to put an extra spacer in the frame joint to raise the read a little and have changed the seatpost to one with less layback and suitable amount of seat adjustment. The cable routing seems to work ok with the folding action so far. The next version should enable the front wheel to say in when folding. On the first trip to London found this cool lit bridge with 406 which is coincidentally the tyre size on the bike.
June 15, 2015 by jon | Comments Off on Prototype folding bike
I love my Brompton but wanted something I could ride a little further and faster in comfort. I wanted slightly larger wheels and full size frame so came up with this. Nearly ready for a first test.
May 21, 2015
by jon
Comments Off on DIY Bamboo Frames
And now for something completely different. When browsing Kickstarter one day, we came across a really neat looking Bamboo frame idea. Self build Bamboo frames with the box it’s sent in becoming the frame jig. I always fancied building one … Continue reading
March 1, 2015 by jon | Comments Off on Custom stainless pannier rack
Lisy needed a rack for her Mixte so it was a chance to make a stainless one. Got a new Ridgid tube bender, some 10mm tubing and 4mm plate and bobs your uncle. I’ve tried using cheaper tube benders before but this made the job much easier. Solid handles, with flat sides to easily lock in the vice. Angle marker made it much easier to get the angles close to that desired.
February 3, 2015 by jon
Finally built up with S2C hub, so not a single speed at all really. Suitably steam punk in clear lacquer over the blasted steel. Coaster brake so minimum of braze ons or cables. Just waiting for the snow to melt to give it a try. Can’t wait to try the bars out too. They feel really comfortable when stationary. Very natural hand/wrist position. Let’s see how they work.
January 24, 2015
by jon
Comments Off on Classic Steel Mixte bike
Finally finished my wife’s Mixte. Nexus 8 speed with coaster brake to for ease of use.
January 5, 2015 by jon
After a long time in the planning Ben’s Uni Bike finally emerges from cover and now taking pride of place in the student kitchen.
After looking at the terrain in and around Newcastle the idea of a fixie was binned in exchange for some gears and town proof tyre size. Just about enough room to run 29er tyres if needed (with a different fork). Hopefully this will make his commute to Uni easier and more enjoyable (and leave more time for work and play).
December 5, 2014 by jon
I wanted to create some custom handlebars. Narrow enough for riding in London commuter traffic, big angle for comfort on the wrists. Inspired from old Ace Bars I used have my RD250LC I came up with these.
November 16, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Clear laquer powder coat single speed
I wanted to try a clear laquer finish to see what that would look like. It always seems such a shame to cover up the brass. The steel goes kinda gunmetal colour and the brass looks a bit like mustard … Continue reading
November 9, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Olive Mixte Frame
We got Lisy’s frame back from the powder coater last week. Must admit I wasn’t that sure on the on the colourbefore but it looks nice and old school in the flesh.
November 3, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Single speed bike
I wanted to build myself a new singlespeed frame to replace my Cooper Sebring. As one of the bikes I ride the most I wanted something a little different so designed in a wishbone rear stay using a Triumph conrod which … Continue reading
October 26, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Lisy’s Mixte frame
Having seen the rest of the household with new frames my wife wanted in on the game. She was struggling with her old shopping bike so we decided on a Mixte style for lighter work of the school run and … Continue reading
October 26, 2014
by jon
1 Comment
I wanted to and make some interesting forks to go on my Conrod single speed frame. I found a way of using the bottom of the rod in the fork as the front crown. so the frame and fork have a styling … Continue reading
October 5, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Conrod wishbone seat stays
Being a motorcycle fan I wanted to include some moto style into a bike frame. Whilst considering wishbone stays I figured a smallish moto conrod could possibly do the job. A lot of them, particularly modern jap ones, are pretty ugly. … Continue reading
August 9, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Custom lugged cyclocross frame and fork
Built out of Columbus Spirit tubing, disk only, lime candy with some sparkle. New white panel stickers too.
August 9, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Tube bending
I wanted to try and use some curved tubes in the frame. These were bent using a tube roller. It worked really nicely. Different radius curves, different length bends
July 14, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on New drop outs
I’m having a go building some forks for my single speed project. Drop outs nearly finished. Slightly over engineered first set for testing. Next job is to finish off bending the legs and … Continue reading
June 9, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Raf’s custom mountain bike
At last, i’ve finished Raf’s custom mountain bike. It fits just right and he loves it. Small enough so he can reach the floor easily and be confident but using 26 inch wheels. As he grows we can throw in … Continue reading
May 31, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Tube bender update
After chatting with Oli from DMO frameworks at Bespoked in April, I made some changes to my tube bender. Basically milling the slot deeper to try and reduce the amount the tube flattens. The initial test looks better so i’ll … Continue reading
May 27, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Powder Coat Close ups
A few more detailed close ups of the frames powder coat. The red frame was basically just cleaned. No filing fillets. It was a bit of an experiement to see how good (or … Continue reading
May 26, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Nice job
The chaps at Armourtex turned these round nice and quickly. I went for just a plane coat of powder. No flashy lacquers or sparkle. Firstly that was to see what it looked like but also as these two are going … Continue reading
May 26, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Nice Powder
Well after much faffing I finally got these two down to the powder coaters (at Armourtex in Hackney). It made a pretty cautious trip as the frame was wider the bars so filtering was an act of faith – remember … Continue reading
May 8, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Commitment!
Well it’s nearly finished. Off to the powder coaters next week.
May 8, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Frame number 2
Mountain bike frame for my son. Curvy chain and seat stays. Some nice Ritchey dropouts. It will be disk only and it’s pretty small. New attachment for the jig to hold the chain stays parallel which seemed to help.
April 25, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on First forks
I wanted some forks to go with the first frame so made a jig and went for some straight bladed jobs (to save having to bend them – well it was the first set!).
April 16, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Closet mitrerer
Is it me or is mitring tubes really satisfying? As long as I don’t end up chasing the thing round and round so the tube ends up too short that is! More addictive nerd behaviour as my wife likes to … Continue reading
April 16, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Frame number 1
So first frame (not on a course). Fairly basic cromo pipes, in case it all goes horribly wrong, geared roadie frame to replace my slightly well used Kona Deluxe. Initial jig setup was done by putting the old frame in … Continue reading
April 16, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Baby frame
When I got my home brazing gear I needed something to test it with so bought some practice tubes, cut them all in half to make some cute little frames. Half lugged, half fillet brazed. The other one was half … Continue reading
April 15, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on New tubes
I love when a box of tubes turns up. New possibilities abound. This is a set of Columbus Chromor for my single speed replacement and some 19mm, 16mm and 14mm tubing for some experimentation in the near future!
April 15, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on Frame jig
Having checked out the price of commercially available jigs I decided to build my own to help with trying to get things straight. RS components stock these aluminium sections. I made the attachments to hold the bottom bracket, seat tube … Continue reading
April 7, 2014
by jon
Comments Off on First frame
This was m,y first frame built on the Downland cycles frame course. I wanted to try as many braze on’s as possible, so it’s got canti mounts, disk mount, bottle bosses and internal cable routing for the rear brake on … Continue reading