Ecofabbing Experience?
 

Does anyone have any experience building bikes? I was planning on doing one this summer but I ended up not spending the two weeks at school this summer I thought I would.

We have a jewelry shop (which I love) that has inherited the junk from our old metal shop, including all bike fab equipment. So I'll have all the stuff I need.

What I wonder is has anyone done this? Basic tips? Places to get good supplies? Lugged v. butted?

Thanks

I'm not a bike builder (yet), but AtomicZombie.com seems to have some good plans and support forums for just such an endeavor.

If you're a practices TIG welder, then I would recommend making a butted frame, but if not, then I would go with lugged.

There are quite a few places to get the materials, and many sell either precut tubes, or tubing "kits" even to help out the begining builder. Sorry I don't have any links right now. :(

IMHO, there are only a couple of reasons to try this, either you need a custom frame, and/or you just wanna. By building your own bike you have total control over the handling, strength and comfort characteristics along with ride quality.

Good Luck!

BTW, AtomicZombie is good for making things of other things that are all bike related, but I don't consider his methods as "refined" as I would like. That being said, his welds are very nice, and his construction is solid, just not my style.

add: have a lot of time on your hands

While working with a bike racer mentor/buddy of mine (whom I worked with at the time, circa 1983) I learned more than I ever wanted to know about frame building. Erik moonlighted for a builder named Della Santa in Reno. I was racing at the time, and at first wanted Erik to teach me how to build my own frame, which evolved into Erik building a custom frame for me. In exchange, he wanted me to build a large frame jig base plate for him. You have no idea what trouble you are in for... :p

I don't want to discourage you, but if you are looking to save money, building your own frame is a non-starter, unless it's a way-out wacky design that no one has tried an you must do this thing. If you are looking for a trade to learn, my advice is choose another where you can make a decent living, and pay a starving pro builder (seems they all are) to build your dream bike for you.

Oh, I have no misconceptions about how much time and money this will consume. I am interested, I want to learn how to do it, most of all.

I also dream of having a garage full of bikes, :p

Sir, we share the same dream.

I really want to build a frame sometime too. I think a lugged SS 29er would be frickin' awesome.

Oh, and judging from the one book that I've read on the subject, lugged frames *look* easier to build. But then you've gotta hunt down lugs with the angles you want.
For a nice compromise I think a mostly lugged frame with some fillet-brazing would be good.

Yeah, the bike building guy told me lugs were easier, and since I'm doing track geometry I think I could find the lugs, but if I wanna do something like make a stupid light track bike I might want to go for butted.

I also want to build a bamboo frame with carbon wrapped joints...

Wait! Huh? What? Did I hear you type that right? :p
That reminds me of when I worked in a bike shop to put myself through college. We (two other coworkers) decided to have a 'build a bike out of an alternative material' challenge. I used 2" blue styrofoam sandwiched between thin plywood (luan) and glued together with Liquid Nails construction adhesive. It was recumbent-style, and flexed real bad when pedaled. But it was fun. It might have worked better if I had used epoxy resin.