Tubing wall thickness

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Can anyone tell me what an appropriate wall thickness would be for a larger diameter tubed frame? (1.5") I've found some prebent tubing that has just the right arc....but I don't know if it is thick enough. Adult ridden bike, Mild Off road use at times, 26 inch tires, apes, banana, etc..
 
This is all a matter of opinion, with a lot of factors involved. if we're talking about straight gauge, non-butted tubes, i feel comfortable with 18g, but i'd feel much better with 16g (0.065"). But then again, i'm fat and i ride trails a lot. This is just my opinion and i, too, would love to hear others' thoughts. I have a tendency to lean towards overbuilt stuff.
 
This one I am going to attempt to fillet braze with OxyAcetylene. I used to teach basic welding back in the 80's but I'm a little out of practice with the OA stuff after I got a MIG I stopped doing much OA.

Thanks for the help!
 
If you're going the FB route, then strong joints are going to rely primarily on what alloys you use to braze, and getting really nicely fitted miters at the joints. Silver-based alloy is going to melt at a lower temperature and, all other things being equal, it's going to "wick" better into finer joints via capillary action, so that will likely work better for you than brass.... but it'll cost more, too, as far as materials go. Theoretically, thicker walled tubing will offer more "real estate" for your joints, but many folks have made first-rate FB frames with thin-walled tubing... All of this, of course, is based on my own research while looking into frame-building; i haven't ever brazed anything together.

As far as the rest of the frame goes and the strength of the tubing, it's again going to vary on other factors, such as the total length of each tube, intended use, etc.... but the weakest point of a frame is often to be found at the joints.

HTH
-Rob
 
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