Thursday, July 21, 2011

At last... a post about bikes!



Thanks to Joel for the pictures. I miscalculated something when building Joel's frame and didn't do enough seat tube offset (the chainstays here are a very short effective 41cm/16.1" and I goofed, basically). Solution? Do a cutout in the seat tube. I think it came out ok for a first attempt, and I'd even do it again, albeit ideally before building the rest of the frame (doing the cutout with the entire front triangle+chainstays already welded up was nerve-wracking!)



So yes, you can have 16" chainstays on a 29er and room for a 2.3" tire, though Joel won't be running a front derailleur (and can't, no matter how much he wants to). Also check out the nice disc rotor brace that Joel specially requested (and sent the sacrificial rotor for) - I am only doing those by request anymore, since some folks think they look terrible, and others love them. So the default is tubing unless you ask for something else.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to finally see a non blue WW. Love the green, and nice cutout on the seat tube......

FixieDave said...

sweet!

edwin cycles said...

looks good! that has happened to me and what a drag it was! (ha ha, literally!)

John said...

Wow, what a hack (literally)! And it looks good! Is that DOT green? I'm still grooving on my DOT green WW!

Unknown said...

not DOT green, but moss green....It all turned out quite perfect IMO! Thanks Walt!

Osman said...

Without more information, it's hard to diagnose.

- Year and Model?
- Automatic tranny, yes?
- Previous issues (warning signs)?

The good news is that it's probably just a blown seal, since you mentioned defiling the Table Mesa PNR. Even if you need to R&R the tranny, they are cheap and relative ubiquitious assuming you have a pedestrian model (accord or civic).

Drop me msg offline and I'm glad to help.

Osman said...

Without more information, it's hard to diagnose.

- Year and Model?
- Automatic tranny, yes?
- Previous issues (warning signs)?

The good news is that it's probably just a blown seal, since you mentioned defiling the Table Mesa PNR. Even if you need to R&R the tranny, they are cheap and relative ubiquitious assuming you have a pedestrian model (accord or civic).

Drop me msg offline and I'm glad to help.

Anonymous said...

Walt, your frame building philosophy page used to be pretty frank about not modifying tubes by such means as bending and, presumably, cutting away some of the material as you did for this bike. In rereading the "philosophy" page in preparation for this post, I found that these parts have been removed (or I just missed them). Have the tubes been getting better to the point where you feel these are viable options? Have you become more familiar with the materials and more comfortable with their strength properties? Do you care just a little less about our safety? :)

I'm sure that the durability and safety of your frames are still top priorities for you. (Since you gave me bent chain/seat stays, I at least *hope* this is the case!) I'm just curious about what's been most influential in refining your philosophy.
Bryan

Walt said...

Hey Bryan -

Chainstays and seatstays are *always* bent on mountain bikes. It's either that, or don't run anything but cyclocross tires - so the stays are just made a bit beefier to allow the bending. Nothing wrong with that.

In this case, the cutout (which I have actually done before for other purposes) is in a low-stress area where I'm not worried about compromising the strength of the seat tube a little bit.

And of course, like most people, I have become less dogmatic as I get older!