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Bike frame building class - pragmatic solutions

How much does it cost to build a bike frame?

The cost of a bike “built from scratch” starts at 00. We use approximately 0 in “new bike parts” and a “used bike frame”. You will go step by step from choosing a frame to ordering and installing the parts.





We've covered many, many different aspects of maintaining your bike here at GCN, but have you ever thought about actually building one? Now I don't just mean putting it together from all the different pieces. I mean you weld or frame your own bike together, well this is the Bicycle Academy in Frome, UK and it exists to help people do this. With their help, we will guide you through the process.

How to build a bike frame. Andrew Denham, behind me, is the founder of the Bicycle Academy and will be our teacher today. Andrew, I'm ready to weld something.Second - Really? Huh. (slow rock music) - Tom, I'm pretty adept at looking at a bike manufacturer's website and seeing a geometry table and knowing if a bike will fit me or not a piece of paper or a blank whiteboard and actually starting from scratch makes me feel good actually a bit ne rvous.

And how do you do that? How do you get the right geometry? - Sure, so it's a pretty tricky part of the process. And the first thing we have to consider is the position of the driver. - Okay - we have to make sure that your body is in a suitable position for you to use the bike properly and that depends a little on what type of bike it is.



So when we get to the rough shape of your contact points with. think the bike, so we have a bottom bracket to which the cranks are attached, a saddle, - yes. - a stem with some handlebars saddle and where we can put the handlebars to fit that rider but also what type of bike it is key dimensions - yes, so far, so familiar.

I know all of these numbers and I'm pretty confident, but how can we put a little bit together into this little bit and know that the bike will ride brilliantly at the end of the day? ? - There isn't a quick answer to that, so it takes a lot of iterations. Some things we'd like to consider in the first place. So think about how you want the bike to behave on the road, especially how it reacts to dynamic rider input.

We have to think about the most important dimensions, and these are the wheelbase and the mechanical trail, which defines the type of straight-ahead stability and also the cornering stability. - Okay, so we have our fit points here. I'm still really worried, Tom, how I'm actually going to bring it all together and make a frame out of it - Sure, so when we're all sorted and happy with the driver's position, let's look at a CAD system with the we design the geometry, and finally go to the structure of the frame and glue some pieces of metal together - ok - ok so once we get the fit information from the fitting session we did we can put it into the model so that it fixes the position of the rider and so frees us, design the geometry of the bike for the specific so we can adjust the wheelbase, and we can do that and then manipulate the chainstay length, for example - to know what these numbers are should, is this workmanship or, you know, could? Are you copying them from an existing bike? - So if you're starting out with no numbers in mind, then using existing bikes is a perfectly valid method.



If you've maybe ridden a bike in the past that you liked the way it felt, well you can go inside, as long as you are careful with the size you can also look at the wheelbase and some of the other dimensions and get one Get a feel for what this bike was and that's a pretty good place to start, yeah. (slow rock music) - Step two of the process and we are now in the selection of the tube for our frame. Now we are confident that the CAD drawing has the correct dimensions, even down to the location of the bottle lugs, to ensure we can get two bottles onto our frames.

But now we have a huge variety of different tubing options, so we're going to pick the right ones? We work with steel and we will use pipes from Columbus, an Italian company. And they offer hundreds and hundreds of different pipe options, both in terms of different alloys, so actually slightly different versions of steel - okay - and also different lengths, different diameters, different wall thicknesses and the like. So, in addition to the actual, physical size of your bike, we need to know the load it will go through, how heavy you are, what power you ride and also whether the power is delivered by high or low cadence and whether you like to sprint, for example or want to climb out of the saddle or get off the saddle, which is your preference - Okay because it's a common misconception, don't you, that you could get a tubing kit, say Columbus XCR, which are made of stainless steel, and it would give you some ride quality if in fact you can change the diameter eter of the tubes and the shapes of the tubes and even the lengths of the tubes and that will actually be what makes your bike feel like it rides. - Absolutely, yes.

The different alloys have different properties, giving the designer or building owner a range of options in terms of wall thickness, butted profile, shape of the tubes and the like. And combining is actually a fairly common practice of combining different tube alloys to get different properties in different parts of the frame - Columbus, on their website, they actually sell you a seat tube and a chain stay and a head tube. - It's a fork blade.



We have a couple of chainstays here, so. That's a couple of chainstays.- I thought this was a BMX chainstay.- It would look pretty good as a chainstay.- Yeah, there you go.Can we play a little game? Could you tell me exactly what each tube is was when you turned around and i picked one out of nowhere? - I could try. (both laugh) - Okay, close your eyes for a minute.

Wait a minute. I have to find one. That could be easy, let's see.

What is that? - That's a steerer tube, so a one-inch steerer tube - One-inch steerer tube! Man alive. What do you have that for? And that's that. A mountain bike chainstay? - That's right, yes, so that's a chainstay with a bend for greater tire clearance - cool, so, fork blade? - chainstay, yes - chainstay, yes, I have that.

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No down tube yet. - Come on, here's a down tube - Whoa! Take a look at this. Let's go.

We have our tubes. - Let's build a bike. - Let's build a bike.

Right, we have our pipes. Tom, is it time to weld? - Not yet. We still have a few steps to go, so we're going to cut them off, shape them, so miter them together.

Also pin them together so we can get it out of the jig, do all the braising, and then ready, ready to paint. - Okay. Well, at least steps one and two of the process are now done.

We have our geometry, we have our working dimensions and we have our tubing set, if you want to see these next processes, (COMING SOON) then they will be in the next two articles in this series and you can get to them by simply clicking there and there below. Now we need a much-needed tea break, but while we are at it, make sure to subscribe to GCN. To do this, simply click on the globe.

How do you take it? Milk, sugar? - Milk. - Cool, bye.

Can I build a bike frame?

Is it cheaper to build a bike from parts?

As yet there is no UK qualification in bicycle frame building. You will have been taught the basic skills by an experienced frame-builder, but you will require a lot more skills and experience before you could consider becoming a frame builder by yourself.

What is the best frame material for bikes?

As a rule of thumb, if your budget is under 00 or even 00, component- and quality-wise you will get a much better deal buying an assembled bike. In fact, comparing an assembled bike to a DIY build will result in a pre-built option being cheaper in 99% of cases.

Travel, wheel size, bike brands and component specification. Buying an e-bike is an incredibly complex business before you even dive into frame materials. On the whole, it's a simple battle between carbon and aluminum, but it's not that simple Today we're going to look at this whole frame materials business (dramatic music) (lively music) In the past, carbon bikes certainly outpaced alloy wheels, especially when they were combined with a smooth paintwork has changed quite a lot in the last few years.

There are some really nice looking aluminum bikes out there, in fact for some brands it is really hard to tell the difference between the silhouette of a carbon bike and an aluminum bike. I mean, check out these two bikes from Specialized, the Levo in carbon and the Levo in aluminum. Or maybe the Mondraker Crafty in carbon or aluminum.

It's really hard to choose. Then of course there are some brands that don't even choose to build their flagship bikes in carb So I guess the answer to the questions is up to you in that regard, do you like the look or not? It is one of the key factors in people's decision making. (soft music) eMTB? Well, probably not, the gram matters now with traditional mountain bikes, especially in disciplines like cross-country or enduro, but you will really pay for it, especially in component spec.

In general, carbon is lighter than alloys for the same strength, but it's an incredibly complex business. The thing about e-bikes is that the weight differences between different bikes of different brands are really quite big, so frame material has less of an impact than things like motor type and battery capacity. For example, a 500 watt hour battery is lighter than a 700 watt hour battery, but if you're looking for performance benefits, the latter definitely will.

Is carbon stronger than alloy or ve rsa? This is very difficult, it really depends on the people involved in the whole business, depends on the designers, depends on the materials used and most of all it depends on the manufacturing processes every material. Maybe a bigger question or a different question for you guys, what is the purpose of your e-bike? On the whole, carbon tends to crack under impact while alloys tend to deform, but the whole business is in the frame design of your bike, you can get super stiff carbon you can get super stiff alloys. (Joy Music) what brings us to the next point and one really, very important, how does the frame feel when you ride? Unforgivable, overly stiff frames and wheels can be very uncomfortable to ride, and with the extra miles we cover on our e-bikes, comfort is really important.

So what's more convenient? Now it's no secret, it is very well known that some brands believe that the stiffness of a mountain bike is everything p Resscamps, where the marketing manager gave a presentation and said, “This bike is many times stiffer than the last one Year. ”And there are many journalists there who say:“ Oh no! ”The bottom line is that the balance between flex and stiffness is an art and not art. Everyone has already done it right.

And just like the right stiffness and the Get the right flex? What's too flexible, what's too stiff? Well that depends on experience and a lot of it. Now let's demonstrate the difference between the flex-stiffness balance is actually quite simple. Well, these are two different carbon layups from Specialized.

So if you look at this material here, it really bends very easily in that direction, while you do a twist test on it, it's actually very, very hard to twist. This material, on the other hand, is really quite stiff in this direction, while it is actually quite flexible in this direction. (upbeat music) Now if we look at the money that is invested in the various materials in general? , Carbon is light they are more expensive than aluminum bikes but then look at different brands, I mean some brands don't even make carbon bikes while some brands don't even make aluminum bikes.

The bottom line is carbon, yes, in general, is it a bit? expensive. This is a tricky business. Now we're all hearing those horror stories of head tubes loosening or bottom bracket cracking.

The secret here is to do your homework with the brand, check out the forums and see if a particular brand really has good experience and knowledge of carbon manufacturing. Ah, that's a tricky question, isn't it? The whole thing The subject of longevity and durability. Well in general, as I mentioned before, carbon tends to break on impact, while alloys tend to bend or deform under a pretty serious impact, by the way.

But maybe the question is up to you, the driver, are you a heavy driver who drives in really tricky, gnarled, rocky terrain? You might be the type of rider who should ride an alloy wheel, but that's just a bet you don't know if you're going to fall off so maybe check out the warranty the bike manufacturer gives you on your e- Mountain bike gives or maybe check out the frame protection of the bike, because it can really add a lot more durability to your frame eMTBs. Remember, there is also the steel business, there will certainly be more of that in the not too distant future This topic seems to be all about your getting involved in the comments, so a very complex business so join the discussions here below. In the meantime, if you want to check out a carbon fiber eMTB, the Levo, or an alloy wheel, the Canyon Spectral is down here.

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Is it hard to assemble a bike?

It's not that difficult, we promise. You'll need to assemble the front wheel, pedals, handlebar and seat yourself, you'll also have to check the brakes and gear system.

Does it cost more to build your own bike?

Cost. The conventional wisdom has been that it costs less to buy a complete bike, compared to building one up from a frame. This is true for the most part. With the deals available on lightly used frames and components, building up a frame can sometimes be the cheaper option.24 янв. 2019 г.

Is assembling a bike hard?

It's not that difficult, we promise. You'll need to assemble the front wheel, pedals, handlebar and seat yourself, you'll also have to check the brakes and gear system.

Is it hard to make a bike frame?

It would be very difficult and beyond my abilities as a builder to try and describe how to effectively weld or braze. I recommend you learn to weld or braze from someone face to face and then practice (a lot). I personally learned to build bicycles through the United Bicycle Institute frame building class.

Does Walmart do bike assembly?

Yes - our store assembles replacements as they are sold so there will be one available. As others have mentioned, the assemble is (probably) not a bike mechanic, so I concur with the recommendation to have them checked out, if possible.

Should I get my bike professionally assembled?

The answer depends. If you have to ask the question, then it is probably a good idea. Many bikes need special tools to put together or fix. However, many of the internet bikes are pretty closed to assembled when you get them so it depends on manufacturer.

Which is the best course for custom bicycle frame building?

Since many of the higher quality custom bicycle frames are brazed, it is no surprise to us that our most popular frame building course is our Chromoly Brazing Frame Building class. We recommend it for the avid cycling enthusiast, the bicycle shop mechanic, shop manager, or the student who aspires to become a professional frame builder.

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What kind of bike can you build at bike school?

Students may build a mountain bike, road bike, hybrid bike, cyclocross bike, track bike, or trials bike. Students who successfully complete this class will leave with a high quality custom titanium bicycle frame.

Which is the best class for frame building?

None - this is an entry level class. Since many of the higher quality custom bicycle frames are brazed, it is no surprise to us that our most popular frame building course is our Chromoly Brazing Frame Building class.

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