Rob Leech

Ok pal, yeah, i'll have a gander through the shed later on for you . Cheers, Josh.

Het treatment would be a waste of time in this, as aluminium can't be normalised, another stage of heat treatment would acctually soften the frame . Not having a dig, just thought people would like to know, when a frames done, its done . Cheers, Josh.

Heya chap, why not look at making an adapter? I made one not too long ago that bolted to the 4 bolt mounts and to a hole that i'd drilled and tapped in the dropouts. This would mean that if you did want to go back to maggys, you could simply take the adapter off. I would recommend thinking about this first . Welding the mount to your frame will likely result in a failure of the material around the heat affected zone (ie, it will crack either on the mount you've attached or on the area around the drop outs). If you need a hand, i'd gladly draw it up for you, didnt take me long to make . Cheers, Josh.

The bits look really nice, serious skillage. But pleaaaaase get a needle file on those burrs, they're annoying me just in the pics . Are you still riding your project frame btw? Cheers, Josh.

That certainly is improvisation. Not really a bodge, but saw a fella in bristol a couple of weeks ago that had welded one bike ontop of another and was riding the one on top. Think he'd welded the forks of the top bike to a bar in the stem of the bottom bike, brought a bar up from the seat post of the bottom bike to the bb shell of the top bike and then had a mahooosive chain running from top to bottom. If anyone can find any pictures of this, it is an awesome sight .

No problem

Nope, chasing is just putting a tap through the old threads, will basically clean the thread and get it back (near enough) to how it was . Josh.

Take it to a local bike store and see if they have a bottom bracket tap, then ask them to chase the threads, should be fine then . Josh.

30 quid for a stinkin bracelet?????? Do the pennys go to a charity or anything? Cant see them helping with balance, more of a fashion thing in my eyes. Josh.

Yep, wouldnt be a problem . Cheers, Josh.

Yep, i designed the jig to be fully adjustable, so any wheel size with any geo can be produced . Josh.

Indeed, thought this was the case .

I would more than likely write something up, sort of a manufacture warranty. A repair would be possible, but the problem with aluminium is that you cant re-treat it after its been treated. It would be basically like re-welding the whole frame and just giving it back, IE re-treatment would soften it. BUT, i have done quite a few repairs in the past that have been just fine for quite a considerable time. I would have to put a limit on it, obviously. A battered year old frame that finally gives up wouldn't be worth the bother in my eyes. This would also have to be put in writing ^^^ But i'd of thought if you're wanting a custom frame that you'd normally base it on something your comfortable with. Cheers for all the comments peeps, very big help, Josh.

M5 is the size of the thread, so in this case, 5mm, M6 is 6mm, M8 is 8mm.... and it goes on. M5 bolts can come with a 4 or 5mm allen cap head . The bolts you were using should be fine in the new helicoils . Cheers, Josh

Very much agreed, just the fact that echo decided to pop the brake mounts in the wrong place on the control annoyed me, so it's something that i would take alot of time perfecting, in a word. Josh.

It would be, yes, but not by a massive amount. The finished weight was 1.43kg. I havent had the chance to build it up yet as im still waiting to send it off to heat treatment (which will of happened by the end of the month as i found a crack in my control the other day ), but when its up and running, i'll give it a good hard riding, just for you and then report back. Very much agreed good sir.

Agree completely with what your saying. If it where to start up, i already have a few people at varying levels that have said they would test the frames for me (which is greatly appreciated) and luckily enough the trials community, in my eyes anyway, seems to be one of the freindliest and most social around, so i think that simply testing through riders would assure people of the products finish quality. I have taken these factors into consideration with my pricing above, but only for the much simpler frames. This is a good point, which is why i'd probably make a good few frames to go through testing before offering any sort of service. The main thing i would like to know peoples veiws on is, in a sort of way, originality, which is one of the main things i would try and aim for in frame building. I've got a couple of ideas that would take alot more work at production level, but would also show benefits for the riders in general. I also think that something as simple as your own design incorperated into one of the parts of a frame would have a personal benefit, everyone loves saying this is mine and its the only one . Cheers for the comments guys . Josh.

Hi all, I've been pondering this for a while really and was just wondering what you lot think would be a reasonable price for a custom made aluminium frame? Considering the extra work that has to go into aluminium (mainly heat treatment) and the obvious weight advantages over steel, i was thinking that 300 for a basic setup (ie- pretty standard machining work, simple tube sets, etc,etc) would be a good price for a frame that has had the desired input from yourself. There could also the option of more technical structural work (bb yoke, custom head tube, carbon fibre additions, in-built booster, tensioning systems), but would people actually want to pay more for this? I understand that this is very much a personal subject and that some people will have very different views on very small things, but any opinion is a help in this matter . Cheers, Josh. and this is just a ponder btw, nothing serious like .

I'm sure that quite a few carbon frames are built up in sections then bonded together, watched a company on 'How its made' making frames and the headtube, downtube, chain/seat stays were all individual parts that had been made to slot together. Quite a good watch - http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/36382-how-its-made-carbon-fiber-bike-frames-video.htm Josh.

Sorry about giving you the old 21 questions, but what adhesive did you use? The highest strength, easily available one that i found for my first frame was Araldite 2021. Spec sheet- http://www.freemansupply.com/datasheets/Araldite/2021.pdf . Josh. Must also agree with your last statement there

Ritey o, sweet. Ahh, ok, have only seen carbon tubing made a couple of times and they had heated the mandrell after weaving is all. Kewl, got anymore projects to come btw???? Josh.

Mr.Read got skills, that is awesome! Can i ask how you weaved the carbon? like, by hand or mechanically? Use of the auto travel on the lathe? And also how did you heat the mandrell? Or did you bake it afterwards? Cheers, Josh.

Indeed, and bbc say its gona be raining for most of the day, maybe not this weekend then, topic will be changed . Josh.