Swing Bike ADD

Remember when I was going to make a swing Bike? Well for some reason it seems like a good time to piece one together. Even though I'm in the middle of another project.

I found this old Roadmaster in the basement and decided it might be a good frame to hack apart and use for a swing bike project. Holy Smokes Batman check these welds! They almost seem to defy logic. I know I'm ignorant about some things, maybe even more things than I know, but something is just not right here. It's obvious the bike was though some abuse, and yet has not come apart. Maybe the logic here is, it can't come apart, if it was never together to begin with.


Yes, that's a Wear your helmut safety sticker . . . Gee Why? Is it because the welds are below the surface of the tube? Does the tube even touch the head tube? Did a team of hampsters wel this thing together from the inside out?

What? . . . Why waste time mitering tubes together? This is what was revealed to me when I hacked the downtube off. That hole is the bottom of the seat tube.

Now time for a picture of some quality at Benetti's.

Well here it is so far. That's a fork steerer sweated into a piece of 1-1/8" 4130, brazed to the seat tube. Nothing fancy. Brazing together old tubing is not fun. It's hard enough to clean new tubing, let alone painted, rusted tubing.

ChainStays pt.2 ... Double Vision & Such

A regular chainstay, and my Chainstay.

Double Vision.

How about Civia Cycles, Loring? This bicycle is really nice. Brooks saddle, Avid DISC brakes, Mavic Rims, Truvative Stem, Post, & cranks, bamboo fenders. It's an internal 3 speed. As you all know, I'm no stranger to the 3 speed. For a Cargo/Commuter I'd have liked it to have a 5+ speed, but a 3 speed will work just fine.

Check it Bleed! Bamboo for the rack panels.

How about this? Combined with the double kickstand, this spring will keep the wheel straight while it's parked, so your bike doesn't tip over and you loose your cargo. Now that's thinking outside the box, before long we are going to see these types of add-ons everywhere. as Banksy says, "Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a f'ing sharp knife to it."
— Banksy

A Banksy picture that pretty much seems up the currect global conciousness.

The Chainstays pt.1

First off I'd like to take time to acknowledge my new favorite hot sauce at the moment. It's made here local in Grain Valley, and comes from a company called Little Dixie Harbour. It's a thick sauce that has a lot of spice/flavor to it, without being overly hot.

I'm going to use a set of Salsa brand dropouts I've have sitting around.

Jig setup for 430mm ChainStay length.

Jig setup for 65mm bottom Bracket Drop.

What? . . . Conventional . . . I think Not. I'm going to use 2 x 1/2", 4130 tubes for the chainstays. Being Cyclocross my concern is mud and crud getting caught inbetween the tubes. I might add a gusset to prevent that. It's an experiment. My thought is that the 1/2" or 12.7mm will provide plenty of clearance without dimpling the tubes. Then doubling them up with give the needed stiffness . . . nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Ready for the ends to get tacked on.

a Look-See at the tubes on the bottom Bracket.

I look at the seam I'll have to "negotiate" after the ends are brazed in place.

The Head Tube Trick

I was going to add a head tube gusset...

...with the MWI Jackalope carved out of it. I've managed to consistanly mess up the antlers. This is going to be a project for another time.

Either your going to love it, or dislike it. I called the frame the "HammerHead CX Frame" for a reason.

The Top Tube Trick

Since I couldn't put the seat tube through the top tube in a sound fashion. I added and short mono stay tube to the back to give it the illusion the seat tube is going through the top tube.

This crap . . . errrr I mean cap was more of a challenge than I thought. It started off as the square piece of 2"x2", .025, 4130 sheet. Then I snipped it down close . . . Then I had to bring in the heavey equipment. As I've said before. That's a rotary file, and it's not exactly anybody's friend. While very effective at shaving something down, it also leaves steel splinters in it's wake. A large magnet works great to pickup most of them, but I'm sure tomorrow I'll find a few more.

The Bottom Bracket Detail

The Bottom Bracket before. This is the best bottom bracket brazing I've ever performed on all facets. I have to say I'm really liking the Brass and Flux I got from Cycles Design USA. When I say all facets I mean brazing, flow, and clean up.

This is the bottom Bracket after a quick file, and sanding.

Head Tube Detail

The head tube is cleaned up. I've still got a few details to work out.

Something that might involve this dude.

Front Triangle so far

My camera is tempermental. Some days it works good, some days not so much. I've still got some modifications to make, but other wise all the angles and lengths are set. Everything is where it needs to be.

Here we are again. If there was one thing I didn't want to mess up, it was the bottom bracket because there are 3 tubes that come together. First and foremost the notch in particular.

Jigged up again. All angles are ready for action . . . Tommorrow.

As far as hand tools goes, for me this is the point of diminishing returns. If I had a Bridgeport Mill I might be able to get better tolerances, but I doubt it would return any greater benefit. You have to allow room for the brass to flow, and I have heard of people getting it too tight. For TIG these are no doubt ready to go.

The Headtube sits craddled by the down tube at 57.9 degees. What more do you want?

How about time to chill out. If you like ambient music explore Sleepbot. http://www.sleepbot.com/ Here is a band I discovered this week. Stars of the lid. Sit back and relax. Man do I ever need to.

Oh Those Bottom Brackets

Well Like some people suggested, can you just heat it up and pull it apart. With nothing to loose I said "Lets find out".

The short answer is...Maybe. I cut off the seat tube, then heated up the downtube/bottom bracket joint. I was able to pull it out, only thing is I moved it side to side to detect if was loose ...

...and crimped the bottom of the tube because the heat softened both metals. I think with some patience and two people you might be able to pull the tube straight out, but I would think you would still have to shorten it a wee bit reguardless, no to mention the structural integrity. After doing the math if I wanted to re-use this tube I'd have to shorten the top tube 2cm from 55cm to 53cm ... Nope. It's is just an experiement. The seat ube was 6" longer than I needed, so I can re-use that. The bottom bracket?...For $6 for a new one, I think I'll spare myself the work of cleaning it up, and just use a new one.

For those unfamiliar with a bottom bracket. The left or non-drive side is right hand thread, and the right side or drive side is left hand thread. The left side of the bottom bracket does not have a ridge, while the right side has a ridge. I'm not sure how I got it reversed. What's done is done.

It's deja vu all over again.

SeatTube, DownTube, and Bottom Bracket

The SeatTube and Bottom Bracket fluxed up and ready to go. This is where I always start. I wish it came last since it's the most challenging. Not only are 3 tubes coming together, but the Bottom Bracket is thicker so it holds the heat a little different. I did some practice earlier this week, so hopfully I hit my stride.

This is the first Time I'm using Cycle Design Flux and brass, and after getting this joint done I have to say it's everything they say it is. It flows at a lower temperature, and it flows better.

It's not perfect, but this is the best I've ever done. I mean that in terms of the file and sanding work that I'll need to do to clean it up.

I needed 56.9 degrees, and I have 56.9 degrees. Now to add the head and down tube.

Oh yea one tiny, tiny tiny, thing. This is the view looking down the seat tube. That orange thing is the fixed cup. Yea it's on the wrong side. OHHHHHHH SO MUCH RAGE! I thought I check it 3 times. I can salvage the seat tube because it's too long and I can just cut it off. The BB is obviously hosed and so is that perfectly mitered down tube. I guess back to the store to get another tube. Lucky for me I have another Bottom Bracket . . . Right "lucky".

Epic Kinkle Cut Rotors

I saw this rotor when I came in today. At first I thought it was some kind of saw blade.

What normally looks something like this.

Wasn't there first hand. I'd have to Talk to Brother Zeke for more details, but no mater what, this item will have to go into the gallery of Epic WTF.

Talking about epic. How about Kin Lin down at 51st & Brookside. Mighty Tasty as always and yes those are krinkle cut french fries. Lunch was $5 even. They charge something like $4.63 so there isn't any change.