Wooden bike
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cheers for the links.
Whenever i see that wooden super car i always marvel at how easy all my projects seem in comparison
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I know a bit about bicycles and a bit about wood. I think you can build an interesting bicycle out of wood, but I don't think wood is really a good material for the application.
The three main tubes on a bike could be made of wood with little difficulty so long as the joints were still made from steel. But it would not last long because you can't bond wood to steel without making allowances for wood movement and any such allowances would require a loose joint.
As you look at a bike, you will find that there is really very little tolerance for material. For example, take a careful look at how the area around the bottom bracket keeping in mind the space taken by the tire, wheel, chain (in various gears), crankset, and chainstays.
Some decent bicycles have been made with bamboo, and I've read about efforts to do precision work in hardwood, but I suspect that they are basically carbon fiber bicycles with a bamboo/wood substrate. If they are taken care of well and the wood is completely isolated from moisture, they will probably be nice, but heavy bikes.
Bicycling puts surprising stresses on the frame and some components and the tolerance for failure is low.
All that said, I can imagine a market for high end "comfort" bikes made of wood, or with wooden accessories. I've also looked at what would be involved in making wood rims. Wood was the original material back at the turn of the last century, and for a tubular tire it's not terribly difficult.
Good luck - be careful - prove me wrong.
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One of the guys in my shop did this with one of our cutoffs and something he found in a dumpster...
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A true lightweight masterpiece!
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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 solvingā 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
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@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.
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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.
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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
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Don't forget the drinks bar.
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maybe lashing of rattan parts would be lightweight and resilient enough?
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