Woody 2

I haven't had a project for a while now as I've been pretty busy over the past year or so (including riding!). So I thought it was about time I got my creative juices flowing again. My last project http://www.lfgss.com/thread81025.html (http://ligneusbikes.wordpress.com/hardwood-single-speed/photos/ ) was a resounding success and has taught me a lot about building and maintaining wooden bikes. Since then, the hardwood singlespeed is now my daily commute and has covered several thousand miles. It has survived 2 very wet winters now and rides as well as ever. It has needed some minor TLC this winter where it has had a few scrapes but nothing that 10 minutes with some sand paper and some can't fix to make it look new again.

Onto the current project. I need (want) a geared bike for some more challenging sportives this summer. I've got most of the parts now and am well under way. The following pics show where the design/ build is currently at. Wood selection is Padauk (red), Maple (white) and Ovangkol (brown) and the frame is a 58, semi aero design. The aim is to hit an all up frame weight of around 1.8kg and a build weight of 8ish kg. I'll post some actual frame photos when it has developed a bit further. Enjoy.

Look forward to this one .. The single speed was a great build thread.

This is going to be unbelievable! Subscribed

Ooo! This looks good...

Sub'd. That rear end design looks fantastic.

Very little progress this weekend. I did, however, keep a couple of photos in my back pocket from the first post.

Starting to look more bike shaped but this is the easy bit.

sub'd. this is going to be good...

Had a productive afternoon today after a few weeks off doing other things. It's looking a lot more bike shaped. The contrasting colours are awesome.

A few things that I've done differently to last time. You'll see the finger joints at the joints. I bought a finger jointer for the router and it made the joints a hell of a lot quicker than building it up in layers like I did last time. I think they look kind of cool too. The down side to the finger joints is that it's not hollow (yet). Hollowing out is going to need a lot more care than last time and will need plenty of jigs/ router guides. I need to get it to within 1mm tolerance to achieve what I'm aiming for. If I'm being honest, the plan was to get it CNC cut from the model file but I couldn't find anyone to do it without more than doubling the cost of the frame. Now needs a steady hand!

Hollowing out and making the drop outs is next on the list.

Inserts are on their way from Ceeway and I got a pretty cool donor bike off ebay for components.

Alpina full carbon forks
Ultegra shifters, and gears
Dura Ace chain set and BB
FSA Energy brakes
Swisside Heidi wheels with red anodised hubs
Carbon bars
It also came with an orange/ red anodised seat post that is a similar colour to the Padauk. I'm undecided whether it'll work or not. Will have to try it and see. Carbon seat post will be the alternative.

I think the rear end is now looking pretty sexy if I say so myself

This is incredible!

Beautiful!

Holy shit this is crazy!
Subbed.

I am in awe of your skill; the contrasting woods look gorgeous!

Small Update
Started work on routing the inside. It's a slow process and there's a lot of work still to do but the first half is coming on nicely. A lot of expensive wood being cleared away as sawdust!

Also, everyone says 'Wow you must have quite a workshop to do that' To prove how simple it is, I took a photo of my entire workshop - Home made router table using a sheet of MDF fixed to my trusty Black and Decker workmate. What's missing from the photo is the pile of router bits, guides and other tools but not a huge amount that most people don't already have in the cupboard/ shed.

There's a pile of heavy bits for the inserts that have arrived from Ceeway that need some serious attention from a drill as part of their weight watchers diet.

I am in awe of your skill; the contrasting woods look gorgeous!
This.

Oh, and it was great to see the Woodelo frames at Bespoked today. Glad my vote counted to them getting the prize for best frame builder by public vote.

skillz

Far out. Sub'd!

I'm not normally a bike weight wenie. In fact I pride myself on riding a 10kg home build and passing the carbon TT bikes when I'm training in the park. This build, however, has got to me. I guess it comes from starting the design with a frame weight goal and being an anal engineer!

So here goes:

First frame half complete, second half is work in progress:

So that's 1270g for both halves of the frame

500g for all 4 stays

Seat post insert 74g

Bottom bracket insert 71g

Miscillaneous inserts for bottle cages, rear brake bridge and cable guides

Internal cable housings.

So far that's 2060g. Then there's another 150g for the head tube insert, 150g for drop outs, 200g for epoxy sealing coats and varnish and say 50g for internal stiffeners.

All up weight is looking to be around 2.5kg which is a lot more than I was anticipating. In fact I think the single speed frame came in at 2.6kg and this is a hell of a lot thinner and I've removed a lot more material around the joints. However it does have bigger tubes. Hmmmmm.......not sure what I miscalculated in the first place!

Anyway, there's not much I can do now and I certainly can't make the tubes any thinner.

In other news, I'm also going to make up a dummy section of tube to do a crush test on and see how the actual stiffened tube compares with my calcs. I'm not worried about the strength of the tubes along the length of the tube but I'm intrigued as to how fragile they are to lateral impact. After all 3mm of wood doesn't stand up to much as a flat sheet.

Cool IKEA bike.

IKEA? Cheeky bugger!

What's the latest on this?

They close at 10

Progress has been painfully slow. Holidays, weddings, sportives, work...... but no bike building.

Here are some current pics. Internal cable guides and internal stiffeners fitted and all the inserts are ready so it's pretty much ready to be joined together and start looking like a bike frame

Having studied guitar and violin making I just want to say your level of craftsmanship is astounding. Keep up the good work