Here attached is something I found online. Looks butchered by someone to make a sort of mini 20" wheel fixed gear. I love it. I wanted to get into frame building and bike design in general. Just to build something cool for myself and try different crazy geometries out.
Does it make sense to get an old frame I have laying around and butcher it. Weld it back and figure out the crazy geometries I'm after?
Most references/videos I find online are about framebuilding starting from scratch – expensive machinery and new tubing. Does anybody have any idea on resources regarding repurposing existing frames, and whether that's even a viable strategy?
by sktrdie
10 Comments
>Most references/videos I find online are about framebuilding starting from scratch – expensive machinery and new tubing.
You would need most of the same equipment whether you chose to work with an existing frame or new tubes. Tubing is a small fraction of the cost of that equipment, so you wouldn’t save much by working with new tubing versus an existing frame.
Seems extremely safe.
Most of the designing process revolves around the relative angles of the tubes, so cutting up an old frame won’t help you much when it comes to designing.
It will help you in learning how to weld super thin walled tubing, though
Checkout r/frankenbike
Lots of people doing cool stuff by butchering old frames
Ive heard of framebuilding courses, where you build your own frame. But i think it was pricey.
Best to ask someone whos real good at welding to give you a crash course, looking over your shoulder while you butcher an old frame into a new one 🙂
I smoked and drank some and wow … your bike now makes me feel like I did acid or sumthin 😀
Sick
I can’t imagine that some of those welds and curves in the frame were intentional? It definitely looks butchered. I have a minivelo that uses roughly the same proportions but is actually comfortable to look at as well as ride.
Way better to build something that’s standard and is likely to work than to start off with a wacky project. Get a shitty old cromo frame, braze/weld stuff to it until it’s scrap to hone your skills. Then go about making a rack probably. Then try a frame. If you have someone teaching you ofc just go straight to framebuilding.
The concept may be acceptable, but the fabrication and the welding, especially the welding, is horrible on that bike. 30 years at a fabrication machine shop with 15 to 20 excellent welders over the my years there means I am a very harsh critic of welds.
Now I have no problem with using existing frames, if you have them, to try some re-engineering. Just don’t use a rare frame. But please get some help or training before trying the welding. Don’t want a mess like in that picture.