The first bike I ever built

[bebnin]

So a little update - rode the cycle tour (slowly) on the bike. Pretty sure I won't ride it again because it was a painful 6 hours, and although good fun, it would've been less painful on just about any other bike I think. 

Anyways - so I started making another one, and now I'm done! and I'm here to share some photos. 

Lots of experimental design points. Lots of lessons learnt (specifically - let your paint dry properly, I didn't, and when fitting parts etc I ended up scratching lots of bits and marking the paint everywhere, but it's fine, it's only a rattle-can paint job, so no biggie, although the detailing cost me a fair amount of time. 

All the steel is still mild steel (except the handlebars are stainless), so still quite a heavy bike. Lots of help with little parts here and there from WCW. And a few parts from old bikes and even temu.

I have also been making tools and learning processes for making better bikes, so things are progressing well (spending lots of time with Dave Mercer  - don't know if he has a tag here but he's been amazing). 

Process wise - most of this was tig-brazed using silicon bronze, a niche process I've learnt, but something I quite like. Detailing with a posca paint market made for really bold/thick lines, much more effective than permanent markers etc. 

 

Open to any and all comments and thoughts Next bike is going to be a cargo bike I think - should be fun, lots of opportunity for executing wild ideas.

 

A little more upright/shorter wheel base than I was initially envisioning (planned on an aggressively slack head tube) - but extremely happy with the result.

 

You can see some of the detail work, and messed up paint above. 

 

Dangerously close chain clearance here - will 100% need a little protector of some sort if I want the paint to even think about sticking around.

 

Seat-tube and seat-bridge details.

 

Really enjoyed the styling, and it probably came out best in these photos of the stem/handlebar combo. (stem tube matched the down tube profile which I thought was a nice look).

 

First go at the steam/bar combo. put a front-cap on to clean things up a bit.

 

No paint, early stages of the frame.

 

Before paint this honestly looked better.

[Scott roy]

25 minutes ago, bebnin said:

So a little update - rode the cycle tour (slowly) on the bike. Pretty sure I won't ride it again because it was a painful 6 hours, and although good fun, it would've been less painful on just about any other bike I think. 

Anyways - so I started making another one, and now I'm done! and I'm here to share some photos. 

Lots of experimental design points. Lots of lessons learnt (specifically - let your paint dry properly, I didn't, and when fitting parts etc I ended up scratching lots of bits and marking the paint everywhere, but it's fine, it's only a rattle-can paint job, so no biggie, although the detailing cost me a fair amount of time. 

All the steel is still mild steel (except the handlebars are stainless), so still quite a heavy bike. Lots of help with little parts here and there from WCW. And a few parts from old bikes and even temu.

I have also been making tools and learning processes for making better bikes, so things are progressing well (spending lots of time with Dave Mercer  - don't know if he has a tag here but he's been amazing). 

Process wise - most of this was tig-brazed using silicon bronze, a niche process I've learnt, but something I quite like. Detailing with a posca paint market made for really bold/thick lines, much more effective than permanent markers etc. 

 

Open to any and all comments and thoughts Next bike is going to be a cargo bike I think - should be fun, lots of opportunity for executing wild ideas.

 

A little more upright/shorter wheel base than I was initially envisioning (planned on an aggressively slack head tube) - but extremely happy with the result.

 

You can see some of the detail work, and messed up paint above. 

 

Dangerously close chain clearance here - will 100% need a little protector of some sort if I want the paint to even think about sticking around.

 

Seat-tube and seat-bridge details.

 

Really enjoyed the styling, and it probably came out best in these photos of the stem/handlebar combo. (stem tube matched the down tube profile which I thought was a nice look).

 

First go at the steam/bar combo. put a front-cap on to clean things up a bit.

 

No paint, early stages of the frame.

 

Before paint this honestly looked better.

This is fantastic! 
Hat’s off to you, it looks amazing. 

[MORNE]

Love how off-trend this is. Unique, YOU. 

[betaboy]

Proper piece of art! That stem bar combo is fantastic! 🤛🏻