Finally coming around to putting up this post of my frame building project over the summer. Below I have dumped a ton of (lo-fi) process shots in roughly chronological order, and above are (hopefully) more professional looking shots of the finished product. This project was an immense undertaking with extremely high rewards. I could not have completed it without my good friends Laurence of Boxy Bikes and Joe of Cobra Frames. I am overjoyed to have finished this project and to have produced an extremely fun and light bike that I get to ride hard each day.
The jig used for this project was initially made by Glen Swan, and much of the tooling was provided by the Ithaca Generator. The tubing is mostly Columbus and was passed on to me by a friend from school. The frame is modeled off of a Surly Pacer size 54, with slight variations to some of the lengths and angles. The initial design was created in BikeCAD Pro.
Mitering was performed using a drill press along with a custom tubing fixture, which was pretty squirrely. This was a super non-ideal way to make cuts but definitely got the job done in the end. I decided to braze my bottle bosses since they seemed too small to TIG, though this was an adventure in itself since I had never actually brazed anything before. You can visibly see my brazing improvement in one of the photos below. All other braze ons were TIGed.
Finishing the frame, I purchased a Shimano 105 gruppo wholesale from Chain Reaction Cycles, and sourced out the rest of the components from my parts bin and craigslist (shouts out). I had the frame powder coated in what was supposed to be more of a clear coating but ended up looking like a stormy grey which was supposedly a biproduct of the sandblasting process. Before installing parts I also had Joe ream/chase/face the frame and also check/adjust some minor alignment issues. He also graciously gifted me one of his old steel lugged forks.
Overall I must have spent hundreds of hours designing, cutting, welding, thinking, and stressing to finally finish this product. It was a really large undertaking to fit in just under a couple months, especially without a direct mentor providing support. I am extremely proud of how well everything turned out, and am constantly amazed by how much I have invested in this singular physical object. The bike is a blast to ride, and I hope to begin racing it this upcoming Spring.
Nadav Hendel 