Genesis cycletruck/Tricross/Solaris MAX - KingTwin tandem

Cheers all! Very much wanting to just crack on with it now, I've got a week visiting family coming up, then it'll be full speed ahead.

Charge has been stripped down now as I'm running out of space to store bikes/framebuilding kit. It'll be up for sale shortly, when I've taken better photos.

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Progress! Work/family/being ill etc. have all got in the way, but I'm back at it and hoping to get plenty done over this weekend. A couple of hours this evening and I've got the main tubes mitred (just need to notch the DT to go over the ST).

Ended up re-drawing the frame in a free CAD program (as suggested by @M_V ) to get the angles between the tubes/tube lengths for the mitre templates, as I don't have a spare £300 for BikeCad Pro. Started mitre-ing with hacksaw/files, this descended into going at them with the grinder by half way through the first mitre and just doing the finishing touches with a file. Tomorrow I'm aiming to get the main triangle completely mitred and aligned in the jig. Then brazing and the rear end over the weekend. No pictures yet apart from a very messy yard, all very exciting for me though!

A question for anyone who has more of an idea than me (not hard!), completely braze around the ST to the BB and then file the DT to fit that joint and then braze on? Or dry fit both the ST and DT to the BB and braze both at the same time in one continuous joint?

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A question for anyone who has more of an idea than me (not hard!), completely braze around the ST to the BB and then file the DT to fit that joint and then braze on? Or dry fit both the ST and DT to the BB and braze both at the same time in one continuous joint?

I'm not really sure but I don't think completely doing the seattube joint first is the way to go. Unless you are amazingly consistent with your fillet then you'd be trying to fit the downtube up to a pretty irregular shape.

Also, once you get the area up to heat for the downtube joint, the fillet on the seattube might begin to soften and move so your fit up would then be off.

I think especially with having a jig, you'd be better dry fitting everything then doing them as one continuous joint. No idea if you take one tube right down to the bb all around and then fit the other tube to that or if you cut them both?

Don't know if you'll have seen in my thread, I had to move y downtube a bit lower on the bb shell as I'd done the seattube joint in it's entirety then realised the downtube was going to overlap the fillet. I'm using an ebb shell so a slight adjustment meant it became two separate joints for me.

Just caught up on your thread, really great progress! I've gone with taking the ST straight down to the BB then notching the DT to fit around the ST. Then a dab of braze on the front side of the ST to hold it in place for aligning. Then I'll do the whole cluster together in one go, as you suggested. No room to separate the DT and ST as in yours unfortunately due to the regular 39mm BB and a 35mm DT.

Finished off mitre-ing the main triangle last night and tacked it up, alignment seems pretty decent, just needs some tweaking in the front-back plane. Figured it would be best to align the rear end using a wheel rather than the dummy axle to check it's spot on. Very nearly had a major fuck up with a back to front BB, but caught it just as I was about to tack it.

Need to order a Chinese carbon fork and a bottom headset cup now, to use half of an existing Hope headset.

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All brazed up this morning. Waiting on a friend to return the set of wheels that'll be used on it, I'll replace the dummy axle with the rear wheel to help check alignment and clearance when mitre-ing up the stays (to be done by hand without paper guides). Should only be a couple of days, so in the mean time I'll add cable guides and bosses. Already drilled and brazed the two interior triangle bosses, going to have another under the DT and leaning towards full external cable routing all under the DT too.

Relatively happy with the fillets, DT to HT was a little messy as was the BB cluster, but even though they look agricultural I'm fairly confident that they'll be strong enough. Given I'm already risking my teeth riding a homemade frame built with minimal experience, I've doubled up and ordered an Ali-Express Tideace carbon fork too.

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Sweeeet

Yaaaas

Awesome progress.

My printer died just as I started my new frame so most of my mitres have been by eye this time.

Only thing I’d question of your frame, are you using enough flux?

Cheers, I'm excited about the progress. I put the 650b wheels on the Roadrat to use the dynamo hub, it rides well but I'm not convinced with how it looks compared to the 700x40, a bit gappy?

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Thanks! I did the DT/ST cutout by eye and it surprised me by how quick it actually was.

There's a very good chance I'm not, I'm struggling to get a decent consistency with the boric acid. I'll slap loads on the next joints. Have you found the brazing specific fluxes easier to use?

Have you found the brazing specific fluxes easier to use?

Massively.

I know boric acid powder is super cheap but I found it pretty horrible to use.

Sifflux powder a lot nicer to apply, can be stubborn to remove if you’ve overlooked it.

Using Cycle Design Low Fuming Bronze paste now. Dunno about low fuming, it seems to be the smokiest! But it’s so nice to apply and washes off really easily too.

I’m still using Sifflux powder for dipping the rod into as I didn’t seem to pick much up when I dipped it into the paste.

Very helpful, thanks. I've just read the 'ask a framebuilder anything thread' and seen some more stuff some Coldharbour on using boric acid. I think I'll persist with this frame and lather loads on.

Made a start with gathering bits for the build, it'll look something like:

Chinese carbon fork/SLX double crankset/Sora R3000/9spd XT/Ritchey Venturemax drops/Novatec hubs w. WTB i25 rims/TRP Sypres + compressionless outers/WTB Ranger 2.25

If I find the frame fits me and doesn't drop to bits then I'll look at a hydraulic road drivetrain, likely Rival/Force 1.

Coincidentally the geometry looks pretty much identical to the frameset Konga Bikes are advertising on Insta.

Near live action shots. I've got a full day on the frame so hopefully I'll see plenty of progress. Chainstays mitred and tacked so far, appears to have worked well aligning them off the wheel.

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Seat stays mitred and tacked now too. It's not perfect but I'm happy with it as it is. Lunch time and then onto fully brazing the rear end.

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And it's frame shaped! Fillets are on the messy side and I've definitely headed towards overheating some of the tubes, but it's the right shape at least!

Still needs cable guides, under DT bottle bosses, disc mount, seat collar, and a chainstay brace. Then onto reaming/facing.

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Looks awesome man, well done

Forks have arrived, visually I can't fault them/they seem well finished, but we'll see how they ride. All the other little bits and pieces are here too (headset/cables/bar tape), it's going to be most de-logo-ed black components with the odd bit of silver and the frame will be clearcoated with a rattle can for now.

Still got the last few braze-ons to do and I'm waiting on a seat tube reamer. Once it's fully built up I'll make a full size framebag for it too.

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Nice job, well done.

Bet you can’t wait to get your first spin on it.

Thats really nice. Forks look good.

Cheers both! It's all very exciting. I've got the full day Saturday on it, I'm hoping it'll be built up for a ride on Sunday. Only slight complaint with the forks are that the lever on the axle sticks out quite far.

This evening so far:

Cable guides
BB drain hole
Under DT bottle bosses
Chainstay brace and mudguard boss
Seatclamp slotted and drilled
Headseat fitted
Seattube reamed

Still to do:

Caliper mount
De-logo all the finishing kit
Get BB threads chased (left side side appears to be out of round by about .5mm)
Tidy/polish fillets
Paint
Build up
Ride!

Love it, can’t wait to see it finished.

Am I alone in particularly enjoying the way the steel looks where it’s been heated? I really enjoy that, to the point where I’d want to leave it raw.

Great stuff, nearly there!

Nearly there. Finished off everything on the frame this morning and I'm most of the way through building it up. Left side of the BB will need chasing so it's off to the LBS on Monday. After that it's just indexing and bar tape.

I'm leaving it raw for now, as I like the colour of the steel/brass as it is. Once I've had a few rides I will strip it back down and clearcoat it with a rattle can though.

Once it's fully built and I've had my first ride I'll get some better photos.

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Well nice this. Give it a wipe with an oily rag or it might start rusting sooner than you think!

Ta, it's had a once over with a light rub of linseed oil to hold the rust at bay for now.

So close now, took it to the LBS after work and had the BB chased and faced. BB/cranks/chain all installed now. Only had the indexing left to do and while fitting the cable I got the end block stuck in the shifter, completely jammed it. Set about disassembling the shifter, terrible idea. Springs and tiny washers everywhere, cable still jammed, job's fucked and I'm kicking myself. So now I need another Sora R3000 right hand shifter, I've put a wanted add on here and Singletrack, but if anyone reading this has one or a pair lying around I'll happily take them.

Once I've got a new shifter it'll be ready to roll, hoping for a ride this weekend!