Frame building

[motorhedfred]

Again I'm not quite sure where to put this so in GD it goes....

After looking and looking at exsisting bicycle frame designs new and old, I've come to the conclusion that there must not be an available frame out there that looks convincingly like an old board tracker. If you mix in enough visual cues, you can get close....perhaps at casual glance passable, but not really.

I'm considering building a frame from scratch and I wondering if anyone here has any hands on experience with EMT (electrical metal tubing) i.e. conduit.

It seems fairly heavy gauge, relatively easy to bend, inexpensive and readily availible. I know it's not very good on a strength to weight ratio compared to CroMo and well design aluminum, but without the proper tools to bend, shape and weld those kind of materials, EMT might be a good alternative for home builders.

Here's a couple of links I turned up....

http://forum.atomiczombie.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110

http://www.ihpva.org/Projects/DBEconBent/index.html

The second link is for a recumbent bike that actually uses exhaust tubing for the main backbone.

MHF

 

[AussieJester]

Might be good ifdea to also check the Freakbike forums every second bild over there is a custom frame, theres even a sticky on building frame jigs.

I have made 3 1/2 frames and am about to start my 4th in comming days if your the diy type i can't recommend this enough, you get exactly what you want and a HUGE sense of satisfation when you finished ...

Best of luck

KiM

P.S pipe benders can be bought for under 200 bucks OR made for next to nothing

DIY effort by a member on Endless Sphere