First off - new name for the blog. "The Triathletes Wit" worked, but it lost most of it's meaning after the whole "triathlete" thing fell off. And it's also debatable whether I have ever been witty. Changing it to "The Formerly..." also was just long and pointlessly complex. So here we are with "Crispie Pursuits"
- Crispie - Something one of my buddies calls me.
- Pursuits - As in... pursuit races on the track - but also pursuits as in random weird projects. And that makes a great segue to...
The Disaster Projects:
At this point I think I'm a relatively handy "maker" in regards to the bike space. Lots of modified / custom parts, at least so much as you can do on a cheapskates budget. Most of them are pretty simple things, but sometimes hubris gets the best of me and I really botch a project. Long time readers (or if you just look back far enough) will remember one of my first big undertakings... stripping down my Scott CR1. I did that in the absolute most convoluted, pointless way possible and it didn't even save me any weight by the end. Still... so long as you learn something no project is a complete waste of time I suppose.
Well, this is one of my most recent, and most egregious disasters.
1.) The Bamboo Gravel Bike
Something I have had a passing interest in over the years is building a bike from scratch, but it's been something I've long thought was just outside my skillset. I know how to weld (arguably... I know the absolute basics of putting two pieces of metal together) but not anywhere near competently enough to build a steel or aluminum bike. I'm most familiar with composites, so carbon fiber seems like a natural choice, but after reading Damon Rinards old blog posts and seeing some other folks diy bikes, it seemed like it made a little more sense for someone who grasped the basic concepts of frame building better than I do (as you'll see later on, I was right to think this) - but then, stumbling around on the internet one night, I saw it... a diy bamboo bike kit. It ticked off all of the right boxes for me... it had it's own "jig" that came with it (another sticking point I had) and it used epoxy/hemp to make the joints, which was basically the same principles as composite work. It was also all inclusive, they just shipped you what you needed and you followed along with the instructions. It was like IKEA for bicycles. It would also be a cool, different looking rig. Worst case scenario I figured I would learn a lot (this also proved true)
So first off I want to put this out there - don't take this as a "review" exactly, nor a criticism. (Not that I might not do some criticizing) Just my experience. I did not reach out for help (although I did e-mail asking about headset sizing and got a reply very quickly, so I do believe post purchase support is available and seemed positive) primarily because I really just wanted to "work through it" myself.
I purchased the Gravel Frame Build Kit from Bamboo Bicycle Club in Size Large.
The kit included
- The Jig
- Metal Headtube, Seattube (insert not the post) bottom bracket shell, dropouts (including bolt on solutions for a thru axle, regular skewer and rear facing dropouts) and extra bits
- Bamboo tubes in varying diameters (some extras, mainly of the thinner tubes)
- Hemp for binding the tubes
- Epoxy for the hemp
- 2 part glue for the seatpost insert / tacking tubes.
- Instructions / some extras (gloves / popsicle sticks / etc)
Obviously you need some other stuff of your own. A table large enough to build it on (and don't mind ruining with screws/epoxy runoff) saws, files, sandpaper, a knife/box cutter, other things I'm not thinking of and the general knowledge of how to work around such items. Also, you're going to need a lot more gloves than the pair or two that come in the kit.
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| The kit ready to begin |
The first step is setting up the Jig. The reason you're going to need a throwaway table is that you need to bolt the pieces down to keep them from moving. For fairly obvious reasons... if things start moving it's bad. The instructions are pretty straightforward at this point, just follow along and build your sense of confidence.
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Then the real work begins. A lot of measuring and test fitting, along with sanding, is the first test. You need to cut the bamboo tubes to roughly the right length... but you need to account for how much material you'll be taking off to make it sit between the metal pieces. Unfortunately, it's not 100% math...there is some eyeballing that is just going to take place. The front triangle, and especially the downtube, are going to be important to get right... as there aren't many viable pieces in the kit that will work for the DT you can't really afford to mess it up. You're also going to need to make rounded cuts into the DT in differing directions (vertical where it meets the head tube, and horizontal where it meets the bb shell) so pay attention to your angles.
In my "I'm smarter than the system" moment, I ruined my first downtube getting a little to overzealous using my drill press with sanding drums. The second one I was much more cautious with... but it split when I was sanding it (which bamboo can do if you aren't careful... or if you just have bad luck) - which led me to a day or two at a standstill while I tried to source another piece of bamboo that would work.
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| aye yay yay |
Once getting the feel of the medium down a little better I was able to get the front triangle built up pretty quickly. Measure twice, cut, sand (at this point I had moved back to hand sanding as to not ruin any more tubes) and test fit.
Test fitting was my first taste at the limitations of the jig. Look... jigs are very expensive pieces of equipment, so thinking cnc'd fiberboard screwed to a flat board would be a good substitute is obviously flawed thinking. That said, it works, you just need to be kind to it and not try to force anything, because the fiberboard will not necessarily hold exactly where you thought it did if you forced a tube into a tight fit. I ended up reinforcing mine with some L-brackets.
Once I had the DT roughly where I wanted it I tacked it on some of the 2 part and then filled the gaps with a mix of epoxy and sawdust, making a not so tasty peanut butter substitute.
Of course, next time I'll start diving into the rear triangle, where it all starts to fall apart.
As always, thanks for reading!
