Custom Cruiser II

¡Cinco de Mayo!

A good enough time to begin another project. This frame will try to incorporate all the lessons I learned in building the Custom Frame Cruiser (see sig line) Everything will be 4130 chromoly unless noted. I'll post as I go along. Hopefully, this one will not take and entire year to build. 8)

Beginning with C.ardboard A.ided D.esign, as usual:


*EDIT- The above is a bit of a joke. This is the actual drawing I worked from:


After having success with plain weld steel, I also had success bending these chainstays with 0.75" x 0.065" wall (19.1mm x 1.6mm) chromoly using an EMT bender, although it took noticeably more force.


The pivot tube is 1.5" x 0.120" wall (38.1mm x 3.0mm), and the Raleigh Pivot Bolts/Bushings fit perfectly.



I find I make more overall progress when I do a little something every (or nearly every) day, vs. trying to do a lot on one or two days off. The above bending, cutting, cleaning took about an hour. More to come tomorrow.

Would you fall into same category of people who would like to build more over riding ? I tend to be like that, finish the build, ride couple of times and then another 3 projects in my head
Congrats on the new build

Well, I don't know if I like building more than riding, but I certainly am enjoying it. I've bought all the tools, so I might as well put them to use. :lol: And yes, two projects in progress, many more on paper and in my head. :wink:

Some work on the dropouts. I'm again using the track style-disk from Nova Cycle Suppy, 4130 of course, 1/4" (6mm) thick, x 2 for a total of 1/2" (12mm) per side.

A little frame progress:



USE HEATSINKS WHEN WELDING BOTTOM BRACKETS!



Letting things cool while we head to the park. More later.

Seems like a small thing, but I have hours of prep in this one joint.


And so the frame is coming into shape.


Seat tube probably next.

Get some clamping bolts on teh dropouts. There is one good method. You drill one hole vertically (for the M6 bolt) and another horizontally (for the round bit from furniture fixtures with a thread).
Do you use special filler rod for tig welding 4130?

I've seriously considered clamping dropouts. There's not enough room for a relief hole & slot, is it still worth it? Adding a nut and bolt isn't a problem.
I use ER80s2 filler rod. ER70s2 filler is also considered acceptable, according to my research. Straight 4130 filler isn't the best for structual stuff because the joint will be too stiff. The lower grade filler allows enough extra ductility in the joint to create a better bond in applications like cycle, car, and airplane frames. I try to follow "best practices" by Miller and Lincoln. as well as Mr. Tig at weld.com, and others.
http://www.millerwelds.com/resource...es-for-GTA-Welding-of-4130-Chrome-Moly-Tubing
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/support/welding-how-to/pages/chrome-moly-detail.aspx

Re: joint preparation: I like one of the Nascar team slogans, something like "If it's almost perfect, it's almost good enough."

Thanks for the info. Perhaps drilling and taping could be an option. I usually do 8mm hole for 6mm bolt, bottom up on your case. I think if you could fit 8mm bolt it would be strong enough to squeeze it just enough. Precaution that does not cost and takes 10mins to do

After much measuring, I brought out ye 'ole Harbor Freight tubing notcher and cut a 1" hole in the top tube for the seat tube to pass through. That's a bit of an issue since the seat tube is closer to 1-3/16" and I'm out of 1" sanders and grinding stones. But here are pics:




And this bike will be getting the moped wheel/tire treatment (red), as can be seen in the 19" MC wheel threadI join in around pg. 14)
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55458



Vee Rubber vrm013 moped tire, 19" x 2.25"

Bolts, spacers, nuts, washers --> Clamping Dropouts

I know there's been hundreds of you lurking out there... ok, maybe a dozen... awaiting updates on what appeared to be fast progress. Well, I was in Ecuador for awhile. Kind of brought work to a standstill. Beautiful country. Great time. Asked my girl to marry me... and she said YES!

Then, got food poisoning from airport food in the US. Go figure. Better now and work will resume this week. Tires are here! Lots of threads to catch up on, unpacking still, and that terrible thing called a 'job' to ge back to. ¡Salud!

Sweet, another build .this ones gonna be phat 8)

Some work done...

Finished the seat tube through-hole.


Welded up front end.


A general mock-up.


I need to shorten the top tube behind the seat, form the pivot mounts, shock tabs, battery mounts, controller mounts, mid mounts, fender tabs, rack tabs, gussets and minutia ad infinium. It's starting to look like a bike, though. I can also noticeably feel the weight savings using 0.65" wall main tubes vs. 0.083". If ever I get a scale, I'll compare the two. As pictured, the wheel base would be 57" (144.7 mm), the same as my Custom Frame Cruiser. I will shorten this wheel base by probably 4" (10.1cm) +/-.

* managed to weld the seat tube right side up on this bike :lol:

Swingarm progress, pivot mount welded. I'll probably give it a gusset.

Awesome work so far...looking forward to when it's finished!

Great work.

Thanks for documenting in such detail. Looking forward to the rest.

Added these tubes to the swingarm. Not sure if they're braces or just something because that upper dropout tab was looking lonely.
The third pic illustrates where the bobber style shocks will be. I have to figure out just which ones and what mount type I'll have before making the mount tabs. Should be in the 290-310mm length.

Bottom Bracket thread tracing day! While not always 'necessary' to run the taps through if a heat sink is used and the welds taken slow, it still helps a lot, making the assemble-disassemble-assemble-disassemble of building up the frame buttery smooth. At least as far as the bottom bracket goes. These work well and were budget friendly, but if I had to do it again, knowing I would do a few frames, I would get the type with tommy handles and dies on both sides for precise alignment, and the dies for facing the BB as well. Like all good tools, however, they're not low-budget friendly.

Wheel build info reproduced and condensed here, from the 19" mc wheels/tires thread: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55458&start=450 for those who are following this thread and not that, and to put it all in one place.

I decided that the 1.85x19 was going to be too wide for me-- so I got some 1.4s. I'll save some weight, too.



I bought some Holmes' Hobbies 11/12 ga spokes. I didn't have to drill the hub to fit the Holmes spokes, just ran a 1/8" bit by hand to clean out what looked like powder coat overspray.


In the second pic, the top hole has been reamed while the bottom on has not. Not sure if you can see the difference, but it was the difference between fitting and not fitting. Really only took a twist or two by hand.





The original wheel had all the spokes exiting toward the drive side, spoke heads toward brake side (first two pics below) I assume to help with dish. I planned to lace it this way again. When I laced up the first side with the JRH spokes, the hub was WAY offset from the rim and the second side spokes would not come close. I was going to try alternating, so that spokes that cross would have more separation. In the third pic, you can see how the spokes do not make the turn around the hub flange very well. Remember, this lower part of the spoke is 11ga... THICK! I'm putting a fair amount of tension on it just to get it as pictured, and did not want to bend the spokes too much or damage the hub flange.



In this pic, I declared the wheel true! And I was wrong. What appeared to be a minor thing without the tire, looks big with the tire mounted. I'll need a do-over.


Also been upgrading and lengthening the phase and sense wires. That's a chore a person's first time. Those pics will be coming soon.

very nice build, cannot wait to see how it'll turn out !

The build is looking great. I can't wait to see it done. I feel your pain with the truing. IF it is a tight fit i.e. only a few mm between tire and frame, I tend to do a final trueing with the tire on to make sure it doesn't hit.

good luck with this - you've got skills.

'Cal

Thanks! and Thanks!
After another couple looks, the rim is still pretty true, but I think the tire is a bit lumpy in one spot, from storage or something. I might switch tires to see how it looks. I was hoping once running it would smooth out, but my phase/hall upgrade hasn't gone quite as planned, and I'm trying to sort that out, so I've not had the chance to ride it yet
Also rebuilt an old CroMo Stumpjumper lately, as a pedal bike, and working long hours, and budget shortfalls... all adding up to bring progress to a standstill on this project. I should get going again soon, though.

SkyknightJohn said:

Hopefully, this one will not take and entire year to build.

Click to expand...

^^^ Hmmm, shouldn't have said that...^^^

but here's finally some progress. The rear suspension is in. I used shock mounting bits from Dime City Cycles. Shocks are 280mm moped shocks.

Cool. Looking good! Appears to be coming along nicely.
Cheers