Wooden bike
-
To really add strength, the carbon fiber needs to go on the outside of the member.
I love the idea of bent laminations. You could do much of the jointery that way, if you think about how you'd like it to look and to be strong. Then making it is just problem solving— one by one and you are done.
How do you plan to adjust seat height?
When I think of the strength of a shovel handle vs. the strength of a bike frame (thanks for the example), I think the shovel handle would win hands down. It will be heavy, though, and that will be an issue if you do much riding.
Best Luck,
JIm
-
@jim57 said:
When I think of the strength of a shovel handle vs. the strength of a bike frame (thanks for the example), I think the shovel handle would win hands down. It will be heavy, though, and that will be an issue if you do much riding.
If anybody's still playing with the idea, I'd suggest solid bois d'arc. It makes ash look like balsa by comparison, though you need it completely cured out first, and it will blunt any tools used on it. (I used to turn it on a lathe with HSS tooling, and it was a constant two-passes-and-touch-up-the-edge process.) Once properly cured and finished, it's incredibly resilient, and as it ages, it tends to get even prettier.
I watched a friend ruin a decent axe trying to cut a 4" limb, and I've bounced a 10lb maul off a log 8-9 times before making anything that could be considered the start of a split.
-
I am making a 5 ply veneer road bike frame now. The front triangle should be completed in a week or so. I designed the frame on SketchUp and and made the tube forms on a CNC. My model is not pretty but i will post a picture of it and some of the parts later. If anyone has questions let me know.
-
Each tube is a lay up of veneer - 5 ply using epoxy. The test pieces seemed very strong (My extensive shop testing was to make a tube and stress it. I know not very technical!) so no carbon fiber was used. I set up the geometry for the bike and modeled each tube in SketchUp, then in SketchUp made forms to be cut out on a CNC. Pressing the 1/2 tubes was very straight forward, just some clamps at the bench worked fine. Then joints were cut at the end of the tubes and the tubes were joined together in a mold so a 1/2 front triangle could be made.
Now for some fitting to be done so that I can join the 2 halves, then it should be ready for the road this spring. If the snow ever melts here. Plans right now are if it works and passes a few easy rides, like a parking lot, to make another and do destructive and or strength testing, as I am not sure I could ever ride the first one, because I know I would always be wondering if I got a good enough glue bond at the joints!
54 cm Aero road bike together.pdf
-
Don't forget the drinks bar.
-
maybe lashing of rattan parts would be lightweight and resilient enough?
Advertisement