Finished Project

Finished With General Welding! Generally

The Rear Triangle

Chain Stay Taper:

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MIG weld & grind. Place Henry James plug-in dropouts within. Place in Jig with seat tubes. Align. Weld.

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I tapered the seat tubes by cutting them at arbitrary angle and then placing a small piece of metal on top and then welding and grinding. The seat tube to seat stay weld was by far the most difficult on the bike.

Butt Welding

Nope

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Yep

Finally! In the God-Damned JIG

Is the inspiration for:

This bike.

He's tall, it's tall, everybody's happy.

The tubes came from two old JCPenney bikes, a male and a female pair. These bikes were pretty rusted and broken (pulverized). I chose the bikes because they had the same diameter tubes, so I could butt-weld them together to get a taller frame.

The frame design:

(You have to click on it and zoom in to see the actual design)

Is loosely based off of the Surly long haul. It's not the most novel bike around, but the information on sizing was easy, and I know from reviews it's a solid bike. Here are some of the specifics for the bike:

Seat Tube Length (Center-Top)									630mm
Top Tube Length (Center-Center)									625.0mm
Head Tube Angle									72.0°
Seat Tube Angle									73.0°
BB Drop									50.0mm
Chainstay Length									460.0mm
Wheelbase									1085.3
Head Tube Length									210.0mm
Fork Length									390.0mm
Fork Rake									45.0mm

I followed the Paterek method for designing the bike. You do this once, you get it down pretty quickly.

Mitering is tough and I thank cutting fluid for its help. I love you, cutty. Special thanks also to TI, Usher, and Aaliyah for their musical support. Now - the rear triangle. Tall bike is welded, being painted now as a giraffe by a friend.

(Apologies to the female friends)