It begins, after much eyeing and dry assemblies i finally gritted my teeth and have started with the torch. The junction went together more easily than i expected, but i may have just spent to much time freaking myself out about it. either way it’s only going to get trickier and i’m looking forward to it!
Soooo….. Whitby’s bike is on the home stretch, just the seat stays, braze ons and final clean. Whits wants a bike for life thats going to be nice and practical, but at the same time clean lines that aren’t interrupted by mudguard and rack mount bits. To get round this I’ve had to just tuck them on the inside of the fork legs and seat stays. ——- you’ve got till early Jan to settle on a paint job mate!
I’ve also started work on the Stroopwaffel Mk2, because of the really long internal routing for the dynamo and light i’m having to sort of dry assemble bits of the bike to better see how it will work. The little tube will run form the head tube, through the top tube then into the seat stay and then into the upper portion of the rack. it’s and exciting challenge!
excuse the fuzzy photos, its damn cold in there and the camera won’t focus with my shivering - waaaaa!
plugging along slowly…
Today I are mostly been… grinding lugs. Nothing particularly exciting to take pictures of, but the parts have turned up for the stroopwaffel mk2 and the internal cable routing is going to have to be built into the frame as the main triangle goes together as opposed to once the bike is finished.
Whitbys’ road bike is coming along as well, just got to build the fork before setting the bottom bracket height and then its on the final stretch. cleaning, tidying, fitting braze ons etcccccccc.
So, it’s been a bit of a while again, but i’ve started Whitbys bike. As per usual it feels good to get back into the swing of things. Theres a bit of solder spillage where it has over flowed onto the lug, but i am confident that there is enough solder in the join and even though it looks a bit messy, the lug shorelines are good and crisp. Joe Mayers came down and took a few wicked flicks which i think might turn up in the next Dilate Magazine.
you can see more about both - have peep!
Joe Mayers - http://josephmayers.tumblr.com/
Dilate Magazine - http://www.dilateinc.co.uk/
Next step is getting the top tube cut and mitred to the seat tube, then the front triangle can go together and it all starts to look a little more bike shaped. Come back and have another look towards the end of the week!
Today was a good day…. ordered bits for the rack for the stroopwaffel and some new heavydutysharpnshiny drill bits. im far more excited than i should be about these, it is just metal and drill bits…. then the sun was shining so i went for a ride over to Ilkley, found a really nice route that took me up over the moore then a long windy decent into town, complete with 30 +mph bunny hop over a cattle grid. if nothing else did, that certainly got the adrenalin flowing! almost forgot just how fun the roadie is to ride, eats up hills like nothing and then flies down the other side super steady. then tea and a little cuddle with ledge in front of the tele. bob on cho!
its finally done, been a long time coming, but everythings polished and ready to be built up tomorrow! i’ve spent all day doing the internal cable routing in the top tube and cleaning up the last little bits and braze ons. more pics tomorrow!
yehhhhhhhhh so finished the frame today. The top eyes onto the seat cluster went easier than expected, but that was slightly countered by using brass to attach the stays to the dropouts. nothing too drastic, but it was a bit of a pain, its down to temperatures and all that jazz. the internal cable routing for the gear cable was an exciting n fairly drastic one. It takes a lot of commitment to start drilling holes in your latest pride and joy.
just cleaning up to do now! cant wait to ride it. finished saturday maiden voyage sunday. CHECK IT WUN TIMEEEEE!
Slower start than i would have liked today. We didn’t have the down poor Bradford got, but it was fairly biblical for a while! lost a few hours chillin with the cat and sheltering from the rain.
Either way, the chain stays went on pretty easily and from the first flux covered looks the shore lines are nice n tidy. I was a bit nervous about getting the torch out again as its been a few weeks, but i guess its a bit like riding a bike - not trying to be funny, just a useful turn of phrase… next little bit is the seat stays, i got them all prepped and touched up the junction between the top eyes and the tubes to make sure there are no little imperfections, they always show up so bad when its painted. might be able to get the stays on tomorrow afternoon depending on how i feel after work, otherwise i should get it all finished on thursday. But the integrated rack will take a little longer.
More bikes……..
So, after a short trip back to London i’ve got some bikes to build! The first one will be for one of my oldest mates, Whitby. Its going to be his do everything bike, primarily cracking around London and maybe some longer distance rides, gotta see if i can coax him out on some short tours. With this one its about working out a balance between nippy and agile and comfortable and relaxed. I don’t think i’ll stray from standard road head and seat tube angles, the real thinking is going to have to go into the bottom bracket height and chain stay length to achieve the right ride qualities. I’ll be using the fleur de lys style lugs which will set quite an old school tone for the final build. Sm4sHiN DA 0Ld aN Noo 2Geh4 1nNit!!
The second one is for another mate, Timmy. He’s a courier and just raggs it around London all day. What a job! Anyway, I want to build him up a city fixie version of my road bike. Before going off to California i had a spin round town and thought the tight geometry and beefy chainstays would lend themselves perfectly to a nimble city bike. He’s kinda letting me do my own thing with this one, it’s not going to be fancy, just solid. I know Tim’s broken a few frames before and is keen on racing alleycats so its got to be comfortable and practical enough for daily courier use, yet a race machine! Subtlety is key i recon. Able to use front and back brakes and full mudguards in the winter, then summer time fun with no unsightly braze ons!
Can’t wait to get on with these bikes, in the process of working out measurements for Whitbys bike, should have a drawing soon and i’m just waiting on Tim to get properly sized up at Tokyo Fixed before i can get cracking on the drawing for his. Hurry it up sonny!
WoCh diS Sp4Ce yehhhh…..
So, all the little sub assemblies are done. Front triangle is cleaned and lug shores are tidy, the forks are all done and i’ve put some mounts for a front carrier just as a last minute addition, the internal cable routing has been prepped and the chain stays have been cut to length. I just have to put it all together now, but thats going to have to wait until after a trip back to London. I’ll order the materials and tube bender for the rack and front carrier when i get back.
I’m really looking forward to this bike, something comfortable, relaxed and practical to ride to work and just generally knock around on. Pretty excited about getting it painted as well, but you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for that one!
Been pretty slack with this recently and haven’t had the internet, which was nice……
So during the summer i managed to get most of the front triangle together, i just need to put the down tube in before thats finished. The chain stays and rear dropouts are ready to go and the fork legs just need to be cut to length before the fork is complete. But its still not even half way there, there’s still the internal cable routing and the integrated rack to come! The cable routing i think will be fairly straight froward, but the rack i am a little more apprehensive about. I’ve never tried making a rack before and i think getting the balance between something that is stuuurdy and something that will look nice and be in keeping with the bike could be difficult. we shall seee……
Either way, got the day off tomorrow (sunday) so will crack on and should be able to have it resembling a bike very soon.
