bikes

Hi fellas,

sorry for the long wait, life has been extremely hectic with school and work. I have managed to make some progress on the bike frame. I got some help to correct the miters on the tubes with a hand file, and the tubes now fit correctly in the jig. The chainstays have also been increased in diameter from 1/2 inch diameter to 5/8 inch diameter. This change was made because the chainstays bear more cantilever loads that the seatstays, and increasing the diameter will help ensure more power from the pedals goes into rotating the back wheel rather than bending the frame. The brake bridge for the seat stays has also been mitered with an end mill. I have also been working on improving my TIG welding skills, which are currently one of the largest remaining obstacles towards a finished product.

Fuck yea you are tig welding! Get it!! Heheh

I don't get it unfortunately.

Drilled relief holes into tubes. These holes help prevent air from expanding inside of the tube during the welding process. This is especially important for the top tube and down tube, which are welded shut on both ends.

Not exactly construction related, but I recently discovered wikipedia has an article on the stability of bicycles and motorcycles, which includes a section on open loop/ no rider stability. I think the presentation of the info is fascinating. I also found this gif of an ideal bicycle in a stable weave oscillation to be very cool, especially because it demonstrates the ability of a bicycle to, atleast on paper, remain upright even without a rider placing input at the handlebars.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_and_motorcycle_dynamics

I got some unicycle bearing caps in the mail recently. I am hoping to make a unicycle soon. I have realized that a unicycle has much fewer joints to be welded than on a bike frame, and thus may potentially be a good warm up exercise for building a bike frame.