Hardwood Single Speed

Linc, people like you are the reason that I love cycling and all things bicycle related. An amazing project, keep up the very good work!

Beautiful can't wait to see it finished. An amazing project and very inspiring!

amazing stuff!! Keep it up and I look forward to updates :)

amazing project, looking forward to seeing it finished

wow, nice nice project. keep it at home on guy fawkes night

Fantastic stuff, Canine and testicles come to mind. Love the cad plans.

How are you going to finish the wood ?

Ever heard of, or seen, 'Le Tonkinois'

The chap who sells it lives in Maidenhead. I have a tin but been waiting for a special project, to use it on.

Well done mate, truly inspirational.

Honestly now, did you do all the stress calculations on the wood
(we know you did)

Thanks for the encouragement and enthusiasm! The one thing that keeps me awake at night is.... is it actually going to work?! I'm still worried that the head tube might disintegrate at 40mph down a hill. I saw this video and thought I should probably do something similar before I do anything serious on it when it is finished. Anyone else got any good ideas for simple frame tests?
Bamboo Bike Frame Deflection Strength Test #2 - Daisy - YouTube

This is a truly inspirational build, like the touch of using fibreglass glass tape for reinforcment at the alloy/wood contact points. I reckon this will be solid as a rock, personally I wouldn't bother stress testing, just ride and listen.

Incredible work... Astounded!

As Jay said, I wouldn't stress test personally... Test ride instead, unless you really feel when you've finished that you'll die riding it :P - or test with calculations?

My university built a bamboo bike like the above. I've not seen it, but apparently it is incredible. Next level light and incredibly strong!

Shall be watching this with interest!

this looks absolutely awesome, keep up the good work!!!

I haven't made a lot of progress recently but here are some shots from this weekend. I've been working on the drop outs and brake bridge. The bridge is going to get a Bubinga facia to make it thick enough for the brake bolt but you'll still see the aluminium behind.

You can also see my attempt at inlay. It was meant to look like the BMW logo (Bubinga, Maple & Wenge!) but it looks more crash test dummy like. Which might be more appropriate!

Still to do: Glue up the stays, final sanding, seal and varnish. I've made up a logo to put under the varnish and the thread about head badges in the General forum has got me thinking.......

4 Attachments

This is looking super cool, can't wait to see it varnished with the dropouts and all in place!

Can you make me a wooden spok afterwards? :)

Just get a ceiling fan and jam it into a rim.

Just get a ceiling fan and jam it into a rim.

hmmm, the fan wood* need to be the right diameter. is there a ceiling fan blade length calculator you can link me to?

*this is a joke

Amazing project this! Ive always felt wood is attractive a build material, but it also reminds me of boats also. Fear of not being able to construct a proper rear triangle has also deterred me from giving it a go, as well as the enormous amount of labor. Do you have any idea how many hours have gone into your project until now?

I started over Christmas and have spent at least a day per weekend since then so probably somewhere around 100 hours so far but hopefully not too much more to go.

You're right, getting the rear triangle straight is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I spent a whole evening the other day sanding the ends of the stays to get them to align properly. Still haven't glued it all up but I think it's nearly all in the right place. All done by putting the frame on it's side on a flat foor and measuring everything relative to the floor. Very fiddly though and would obviously be easier with a proper frame building stand. I'm going to clamp it all together and stick the rear wheel in before I do the final glue up, just to make sure.

I just got an email from a guy in Spain who's getting a CNC router to build his first wooden bike! That would be sooooo much easier.

Definitely looks more crash test than BMW!
You could engrave the head tube badge with a bit if care?

The bottom bracket area is so cool, amazing job

An external bb will look nice I guess.

im not surprised with 100 hours and I get the impression that it has been well spent. When you ride your bike it will be worth the smile a mile wide! And I see you have also made a website to document the whole process.

Dont be envious of the cnc machine, as a dedicated amateur with household facilities you can accomplish more then a craftsman. Working on the floor pushes you to be creative and think good about what youre doing and why youre doing it, and thats a good thing and a guarantee for succes. If the quality of the wood is good and the glue sticks well you will end up with one beautifully good bike!

What glue is it that you use anyway?

pritt stick.

Any progress on the build?

There were a couple of wooden bikes on EHBE last week, always interesting.

Yeap any updates - keen to see this!!

I've stalled recently. It's all glued up, sanded and sanded again. Looks bloody great so I'm really happy. All it needs is varnishing. I want to put a logo on the down tube and have spent ages trying different techniques which have all failed. So far I've tried printing onto spring roll rice paper and laying onto epoxy. That went completely clear with the black texy showing through nicely but was too thick and didn't wrap around a curve very easily. I tried thinner rice paper which didn't go clear and i tried thin white tissue paper which nearly went clear but not quite. I also tried iron on transfer paper which went on to the wood nicely but then the epoxy sealing layer didn't go through the clear bits of the iron on patch so the wood came out lighter under the logo and looked shit. It was also really hard to iron on a curved surface without ruining the logo.

My next test is going to be: Seal the wood with epoxy, apply the printed logo on waterslide decal paper and seal over the top. I'm hoping this will work as i spent a week trying to get hold of the bloody rice paper.... and that was the worst of the lot!

Any more suggestions for getting a text logo onto a curved wooden surface that will then be sealed with epoxy and varnish? I could stencil and paint it but I thought printing would give me a crisper outline.

What glue is it that you use anyway?

West System Epoxy. It's the strongest, most reliable stuff you can buy. Quite expensive though.