Custom made mountain bike

ralphy1976 · 09-18-2009, 06:45 AM

My childhood friend has finally achieved his dream of building his own MTB frame, it may not look like much but there are no 2 frames like this one.

The tube set was chosen for various reasons (he is a metal / crystallography engineer if that means anything to you then you know!!) including, welding properties, fatigue resistance, elasticity..etc..

all welds are hand made. Welding material chemical composition chosen such that it would enhanced some of the tubing characteristics.

Frame geometry custom made to his specs.

Before building everything has been ran through FEA

all tabs, disc attachment etc hand made...

His next step is to build a full suspension, but if you'd be interested in gettting a custom frame for a lot less than what you see in shops (isn't that surprising?) let me know and i will pass on the message.

Warning though, you will have to answer questions like : head angle, slack angle, top tube length, bottom bracket height, what do you want it for..etc..

thanks for reading and now some pics
Ralphy

Apophis · 09-18-2009, 07:22 AM

I know nothing about bikes, but this looks cool, so RAW

ralphy1976 · 09-18-2009, 07:34 AM

RAW indeed...just a lick of varnish and nothing else...who needs paint when you can look at a modern day "sculpture".

thanks for your support Sebastian

hufschmid · 09-18-2009, 07:37 AM

I like the headstock

nice bike man

ralphy1976 · 09-18-2009, 07:41 AM

Thanks Patrick

Mattmc74 · 09-18-2009, 08:10 AM

Awesome looking bike. Now go out and take some riding pics!

ralphy1976 · 09-18-2009, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattmc74

Awesome looking bike. Now go out and take some riding pics!

well he has been riding this thing non-stop for the past month (to see if it would break of course, being the 1st one) so i don't have any pictures of him riding it, but shouldn't be too long, i will post them when i do so

thanks for the interest all.

synrgy · 09-18-2009, 08:35 AM

Looks rad. The whole '1 of a kind' thing makes it pretty epic.

TomPerverteau · 09-18-2009, 08:43 AM

Then what is the tubeset?

Closeup photos of the welds!

OK, I'm a bike geek.

ralphy1976 · 09-18-2009, 09:15 AM

tubeset on this one is 4140 and i shall ask for some nicer pics, no problemo there

i think he has got 2 orders on with same tube set, and then his next hardtail protoype will be with Al.

Bevo · 10-03-2009, 08:27 AM

Hope he put a clear coat on it...

Looks great but a couple things would make it better.
Gusset at the head tube to take some of the force away from top, down tubes.
Cable guides, the type with that are half C so you can stick a hose in and zip tie in place.

Ripped off a few head tubes in my day and it was never fun.

ralphy1976 · 02-26-2010, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bevo

Hope he put a clear coat on it...

Looks great but a couple things would make it better.
Gusset at the head tube to take some of the force away from top, down tubes.
Cable guides, the type with that are half C so you can stick a hose in and zip tie in place.

Ripped off a few head tubes in my day and it was never fun.

Don't worry about the gusset : he is a material engineer and the entire process is done in CAD with FEA calcs and i am willing to accept the fact that it is ok without..!!!!

As for the ties, yes the big wasn't totally finished!!!

And now his 1st customer's bike.... slight "pimping" requested by the owner!!! (just for Tom : 4140 again this time!!! TIG welded)

	sevenstring guitars		sevenstring registry		photo gallery		subscription		spy

09-18-2009, 06:45 AM	#1
ralphy1976 1 less ERGNESS Join Date: May 2009 Location: vienna, austria, EUROPE Posts: 6,745 Thanked: 146 Feedback Score: 4 reviews	Custom made mountain bike My childhood friend has finally achieved his dream of building his own MTB frame, it may not look like much but there are no 2 frames like this one. The tube set was chosen for various reasons (he is a metal / crystallography engineer if that means anything to you then you know!!) including, welding properties, fatigue resistance, elasticity..etc.. all welds are hand made. Welding material chemical composition chosen such that it would enhanced some of the tubing characteristics. Frame geometry custom made to his specs. Before building everything has been ran through FEA all tabs, disc attachment etc hand made... His next step is to build a full suspension, but if you'd be interested in gettting a custom frame for a lot less than what you see in shops (isn't that surprising?) let me know and i will pass on the message. Warning though, you will have to answer questions like : head angle, slack angle, top tube length, bottom bracket height, what do you want it for..etc.. thanks for reading and now some pics Ralphy http://keithmerrow.com/fr_home.cfm http://trewatson.bandcamp.com www.myspace.com/reanima

09-18-2009, 07:34 AM	#3
ralphy1976 1 less ERGNESS Join Date: May 2009 Location: vienna, austria, EUROPE Posts: 6,745 Thanked: 146 Feedback Score: 4 reviews	RAW indeed...just a lick of varnish and nothing else...who needs paint when you can look at a modern day "sculpture". thanks for your support Sebastian http://keithmerrow.com/fr_home.cfm http://trewatson.bandcamp.com www.myspace.com/reanima

09-18-2009, 07:41 AM	#5
ralphy1976 1 less ERGNESS Join Date: May 2009 Location: vienna, austria, EUROPE Posts: 6,745 Thanked: 146 Feedback Score: 4 reviews	Thanks Patrick http://keithmerrow.com/fr_home.cfm http://trewatson.bandcamp.com www.myspace.com/reanima

09-18-2009, 09:15 AM	#10
ralphy1976 1 less ERGNESS Join Date: May 2009 Location: vienna, austria, EUROPE Posts: 6,745 Thanked: 146 Feedback Score: 4 reviews	tubeset on this one is 4140 and i shall ask for some nicer pics, no problemo there i think he has got 2 orders on with same tube set, and then his next hardtail protoype will be with Al. http://keithmerrow.com/fr_home.cfm http://trewatson.bandcamp.com www.myspace.com/reanima

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09-18-2009, 07:22 AM	#2
Apophis Banned Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Poland Posts: 18,280 Thanked: 71 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	I know nothing about bikes, but this looks cool, so RAW

09-18-2009, 07:37 AM	#4
hufschmid Banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: switzerland Posts: 9,088 Thanked: 284 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	I like the headstock nice bike man

09-18-2009, 08:10 AM	#6
Mattmc74 SS Contributor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Bay City, Michigan Posts: 13,939 Thanked: 325 Feedback Score: 14 reviews	Awesome looking bike. Now go out and take some riding pics!

09-18-2009, 08:35 AM	#8
synrgy Iraq Lobster. Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 5,603 Thanked: 65 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Looks rad. The whole '1 of a kind' thing makes it pretty epic.

09-18-2009, 08:43 AM	#9
TomPerverteau Tube & Analog Snob Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Beaverton, OR Posts: 1,304 Thanked: 7 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Then what is the tubeset? Closeup photos of the welds! OK, I'm a bike geek.

10-03-2009, 08:27 AM	#11
Bevo SS.org Regular Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Toronto Canada Posts: 2,112 Thanked: 19 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Hope he put a clear coat on it... Looks great but a couple things would make it better. Gusset at the head tube to take some of the force away from top, down tubes. Cable guides, the type with that are half C so you can stick a hose in and zip tie in place. Ripped off a few head tubes in my day and it was never fun.

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