My new build - "Dirty fork"

[Hugo]

This forum is totally messing with my mind. The RRB votes are still warm and already I feel the need to build another bike! I've started the search for parts, and am pretty sure of what I'm going to do and how it's going to look like in the end. Here's the very first sketch I did, not on the back of an envelope, but almost. Don't worry, I have much better sketches now.



I had this crappy mountain bike imitation hanging around...



... so I stripped it.



This build is going to stretch my weak fabrication skills to their limits! It has been named in honor of another one of my favourite Monty Phyton routines, the Dirty Fork: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwZaqZaRe78. Wish me luck!

Hugo

[Markm]

right on!! Cant wait to see the "Dinsdale" build!!

[Hugo]

LOL! That one made me laugh!

Hugo

[Hugo]

Today I got some parts! Here's a peek at things to come...



Hugo

[cman]

Moped rims? What do you do about the large holes in the rims and the smaller bike nipples and spokes.?

I like your design from the enevelope. My dad once designed and had a house built from a drawing on a napkin.

[Hugo]

Moped rims? What do you do about the large holes in the rims and the smaller bike nipples and spokes.?

I'm hoping that inserting some M4 washers under the nipple will do the trick. I've tried with one spoke and looked good.

Hugo

[VicXsaN]

COOOOOL!!!! D

[Hugo]

My favourite type of frame is the Columbia one, with a straight bar, seat stays that loop at the top, and the top tube pierced by the seat tube. That's what I'm trying to build, mixed with some of the styling of the awesome Felt V12.



Another thing that I would like to incorporate is the minimalist look of some Exile Cycles bikes. The "it doesn't have enough parts to run" look.



So this is my first "real" sketch. I traced the basic lines right off my computer screen, that's got the above Felt picture for a desktop, and made my modifications.



Since I'm 6 foot 2 inches tall with long legs, I sketched another one with longer seat and head tubes. This one is just about right, I'll just try a couple different top tube shapes.



And a fat motorcycle tire in the back! w00t!

Hugo

[VicXsaN]

If you are going to make a Exile style bike you should have a fat frontwheel too! Just use a regular mopedwheel!

[Hugo]

The postman delivers! 37mm beefy anodized legs, lovely aluminum crowns, and super-cheap!



VicXsaN, I thought about going going fat in the front, but it seemed over the top. Besides, the skinny front wheel gives it a dragster look. I'll take it one fat wheel at a time... For now. Here's how it would look:



Hugo

[cman]

WOW... Are you bending and welding yourself?

[VicXsaN]

VicXsaN, I thought about going going fat in the front, but it seemed over the top. Besides, the skinny front wheel gives it a dragster look. I'll take it one fat wheel at a time... For now.
Hugo

Okay, sounds cool anyway! Love the fork! I Allmost bought one like that a couple of days ago, but the shipping would be a beeatch for me

[xddorox]

That looks like a killer fork. Hmmmm, moped wheel, that should be very interesting.

[Hugo]

Yes, I'll try to do all of the welding myself, along with some of the bending. I thought about just tacking the frame and then having a pro welder finish it up because my welding sucks. But then I thought "ei, if I don't practice, I'll never get good at it!". So sucky welds it will be.

I scored a 2.75 x 18 used motocycle tire for free to go with my 5 euros NOS rim, but I'll try to find a wider one. I'm thinking 3.25, so it fills up my 4 inch wide mud guard nicely. Aso, it would give me bragging rights over all your 3-inchers ehehe. I need to figure out how much space I will have between cranks.



Hugo

[Hugo]

Well, I kind of have a rear wheel. The lacing was not without chalenges, but the M4 washer trick worked out great. The biggest problem was finding spokes in the 200mm length region. The only ones I could find are too long for a 3-cross and too short for a 4-cross. They're also weak and the threads go bad just from looking at them. But it's a step forward.

My 6th ever post on this forum was a question: can you lace a bicycle hub to a motorcycle rim? The answer is yes.





Hugo