London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

It was suggested that a frambuilders thread is made, for us framebuilders to post our work, without the worry of putting it into Porn or Anti etc.
I'll also answer any questions you may have when I'm around. Particuarly if you want any to know any history on a Rourke frame you get hold of.

I'll start with a frame I made for Muhammad Ali

It was made to give to Muhammad Ali from Stoke on Trent City Council to commemorate his visit to the City.

A bike was given as this is what got Ali into boxing, when his was stolen. Ali told the police officer that he wanted to teach the thief a lesson when he gets him. The officer said if you want to hit someone you had better learn how to do it, come to the local boxing gym, the rest is history. I have got a picture giving it to Ali but can't post it for legal reasons.

Quite nice.

This should be a great thread!

Pffffffffff, no NJS!?


















;-)

great story! Ride like a butterfly, skid like a bee.

now where's that scottish bloke who makes those lush frames that pisti likes…

Donald where's ya troozers

Great idea. Looking forward to seeing some lovely Fevas in here. Props Rourke that is a beautiful frame and a great story!

Nice frame :)

Perhaps merge the other frame building thread? - http://www.lfgss.com/thread51988.html

love the wrap around seat stays on that rourke...just wondering how wide the bars would have to be on the bike to accomodate ali's hands...

I saw on another thread a full bike made for the last pope - the proper one. Now The Greatest here. Elton John's run-around next. Lovely frame.

nice.
looks like deda shaped top and down.
skinny stays for a heavyweight :-)

I did meet him, not sure he met me though. I wasn't sure what to say as he didn't really acknowledge me, he was sitting down and I was stooping to his side I just put my hand on his and Said "Thank you for this." (even though I had primarily made it for his charity) but his had were huge!!!! He dropped his Oakleys too as I was walking behind him. AND I gave them back, they would have made a mint on Ebay too.

BLIMEY! Have you got a link?

I'll never find it again. Can't remember which thread even. Searching 'pope' isn't much help either. Hopefully somebody else can recall it. Apparently old John-Paul never rode it though, I remember that much. Was either a Cinelli or a Colnago. I'm not making this up.

Are there any builders based in East, or in fact anywhere in London who wouldn't mind me coming to have a look and ask some questions? I've got mad skillz in metal, but I'd love to see the artist at work...

Swing your leg over that, son. The picture on the forum shows much more of the bike.

Blimey I'm not religious but I'm impressed!

We made one or two gold plated frames in the 80's seem to remember mags doing the pictures thing with the bike chained to the rider so he couldn't lose it. :-/
I will try and find a copy.

Popes Bike:


EC: We built this golden bike for the Pope in '79. It was a special day when we went to the Vatican to present it to him. Very emotional for me. I went with my entire family; my brother Paolo and his son Alessandro. We heard that the Pope liked to ride a bike and that he did a ride of 38km two times a week when he was in Krakow and he continued to ride when he was in Castel Gondolfo (the Pope's summer residence outside of Rome). The Pope picked up this bike and told me it was marvelously light and that he wished he had one like it a long time ago!
I remember that the Pope said to me that "you are in the midst of all the cyclists and the sport and I want to bless cycling and all the riders." That really touched me deeply when the Pope said that.
CN: Do you think that Pope John Paul II actually rode this bike?
EC: No, I don't believe so. After a year or so, the Vatican contacted us to give this bike back and the Pope requested a sports type bike with regular flat handlebars so we built him one, a white one. That's the bike he rode in Castel Gondolfo.

Did build a couple of steel frames at work in the past. Prototypes and private frames and stuff.
Rode these and finally trashed them when I got new alu and carbon frames. Such a shame. Even didn't make pics.
Would like to make some frames again, when I had the change to put my hands on a torch and sand blasting equipment. Wonder how much you people spent for your gear...

There are a few people on this forum who are into framebuilding, and quite a number who have done Dave Yates' course. I look forward to seeing the bikes all in one thread. Nice one Rourkie.

26" daily ride. Made from Columbus Zona, Long Shen lugs and silver solder.

^ woah, plenty nice that!

can imagine that a bike with such clearances and 26" makes it quite nippy?

Racist

Ive got the same chainring as the pope.....:O)



Bless you all

Anyone done the Downland Cycles course? Was considering it as an alternative to Dave Yates' massive booking time.

Sorry haven't had time to update what I'm upto.
Just repainted my dads bike for the Bristol Show and My mtb, I just wanted to experiment with mine still not 100% sure I like It but did really enjoy playing.

Sorry about quality taken on my phone.




All feedback good or bad appreciated

decals aren't my thing but the paint and frame look great especially the way the wrapover stays work with the bigger tubes.
i hope that headangle is just the lens distortion :-)

+ 1

Love those stays.

beautiful bike but the decals really cheapen it, tribal has never been a good look.

I agree I think, but they aren't decals it is all paint and airbrush, the idea was too prove can can do (pretty much) anything, as people do tend to go safe and choose obvious colours etc,. I wanted to we can even paint on what ever you want. I do agree it's not classy though, It's my bike not sure how long it will stay like that LOL.
Thanks all the same :-)

really like what youve done here...complements the SRAM graphics nicely imho...though i would lose the seat tube rourke decal meself....not a fan of decals EVERYWHERE!...
so is that all masked off spray paint trickery then?....great look!

+1

A fantastic looking bike, and one of a few bikes at the Bristol show I instantly wanted to ride. It looked just as trick and modern as the Guru Photon nearby, although I expect it weighs a fair bit more.

top marks for craftmanship then

Love the colour of the MTB. Actually really like the complete look of the bike TBH.

Thanks, and yes it's all paint.

I'm building my second frame over the next couple of weeks. I've just picked up the parts from ceeway and noticed that the lug that the DT slots into the BB is not *tight*. It's obviously the correct sizing, but there's a tiny bit of wiggle in there that could cause upset for the frame allignment - it will need to be tacked prior to final brazing.

I don't have a proper jig, and was hoping to do this almost jig-less via a flat surface and a few tube holders. Given this, the BB sheel is going to be heated a few times (at least twice - once for the DT / ST and again for the chainstays - and possibly three times); I'd like to avoid having to heat it again to tack everything.

My question: Is pinning the tubes a sensible thing to do to hold the tubes in alignment without heating too much, or is it going to be a bit of a pain (I'm relatively light on decent equipment)?
If so, what is the proceedure - I assume it's drill lug, drill tube, insert pin, check alignment, remove pin, flux, insert pin, braze. Does this make sense?

I quite like the idea of getting the whole front triangle aligned and pinned in place, then brazing it on a bike stand but don't have any experience with doing this...

i can't see why you have to remove pin before brazing... if its everything
clear the flux will go everywhere without problem.

just thought for fluxing the inside of the bb shell really, I'd be pinning the down tube, seat tube and (possibly) chain stays at the same time, would want to put it all toegther dry to check it looks ok before fluxing it up...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...me-building-to
Looks like a pretty affordable jig, and more experienced builders care to comment?

DY holding my newly built (in May 2010) 853 'winterbike' fillet brazed with external sleeve, stainless ends,
little nice engraving on forks and rear bridge, upright geometry.

Bi laminate then? Oh and it looks stunning, really liking that paint!

Talk to me about files, I need to file my siding dropouts on my on one from this (but mine is lacking the gear hanger):

To this:

On one no longer make a gear hanger for the sliding dropouts and due to my knee SS is no longer an option especially on Dartmoor so the only way I can avoid selling the frame is to retro fit a PMW sliding dropout hanger.

Files... Now we're talking! I too would be interested in info about files. I guess you'd need a course, flat engineers file and possibly a medium or fine one to finish it? This is a completely un-educated guess though.

Not a rats tail file? I was kinda' thinking was there any particular brand people used? I'm happy to use draper own brand but I want to make this a clean as possible.

hacksaw and a 2nd cut file, clean up with sandpaper

Gabe,
External sleeve is like this:



On an old tagalong by Dave, that I use to cart my boy around on, is what I think of as Bi Laminate at the head tube. I suppose the processes may be similar.

I think I miss-understood what alterations you needed to make.

You're probably right, I'm pretty new to this frame building game

Do I get to join in after day 1 of 5 on Dave Yates' frame building course?

You could join in without knowing anything, this is LFGSS!

It is now day 3, so I know 3 times more than I did on Monday, although 3 times not a lot is still not a lot.