Anyone ever built their own frame?

[Tom79]

Looks like a pretty cool thing to do, just wondered what people's experiences were. I see Dave Yates does a 5 day frame building course, and I can always go and watch some Typhoons at Coningsby if it all goes wrong.

It's not cheap, just shy of a grand plus consumables on top, plus accomodation. Bit of a gamble if you take it out and it's a total dog?!

 

[legrandefromage]

There is a forum member local to me who built his own range of road and MTB frames for a short while:

 

[dan_bo]

I built my own crosser- I'll fig out the pics when I get the chance. Quite fun to do especially if you've got something approximating the right kit. Time consuming though!

 

[biglev]

I have built a handfull. its great fun but take ages. very satisfying. I would goto night school to learn welding the rest you can learn from books. drop me a Pm if you want more details. Tube sets are £80-150. plus welding gear. all good fun:
http://omsbikes.yolasite.com/process.php
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/9367182/
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/7107442/

 

[Tom79]

I have built a handfull. its great fun but take ages. very satisfying. I would goto night school to learn welding the rest you can learn from books. drop me a Pm if you want more details. Tube sets are £80-150. plus welding gear. all good fun:
http://omsbikes.yolasite.com/process.php
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/9367182/
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/7107442/

Great website. Might well take you up on that advice once I feel brave enough to do it! rattleCAD looks great too...

 

[danson67]

There is a forum member local to me who built his own range of road and MTB frames for a short while

Thanks, Mark...saved me posting
Not quite a 'range' ...30something frames over 4 years, mostly road, but here are a couple more muddy ones: Columbus Max (gold) and Niva OR (black) 1992ish::

and the Ti one I built on my UBI course last year:

I started with a course at Harry Quinn after they'd moved to Pembroke. I'd read a whole lot of books and done a bit of practice, but it certainly convinced me that it was possible. The bike I built was rideable, but not great. Don't try anything flash, or fancy tubing. Dig up the geometry of your favourite ride and copy that.
Other courses can be found at Downland Cycles in Canterbury, the Bicycle Academy in Frome and Bicycles by Design in Shropshire.
I've got plenty of stuff/books/tools/tubing/small parts etc if you want some help.

Also a really good run throught and jig plans at Littlefish.

As BigLev said...it's frustrating and rewarding in equal measure; time consuming, but satisfying in the end.

All the best,

 

[oliverracing]

yep.... but in carbon - just finished it about a week back... build thread to follow!

 

[taffy]

Those stays and dropouts on the Nivachrom OR are beautiful!

 

[danson67]

Those stays and dropouts on the Nivachrom OR are beautiful

Thanks, Taffy... I've still got that frame if you're interested. 17", 22.5 top tube...
The stays are 16mm single tapered down to 11mm at the bottom, with Henry James stainless dropouts. They're beautiful, plug fitting things from a small US maker, don't see them much over here as you have to buy them direct from the US.

All the best,

 

[highlandsflyer]

There is a forum member local to me who built his own range of road and MTB frames for a short while

I often wondered what he did between Cheers and CSI, and all those shenanigans with Whoopi.