Dalsnibba

This bike was shown at Bespoked 2014 where it won the Steve Worland award for "Most innovative design" for the use of conductive paint (essentially powdered silver in varnish) to form the power and signalling circuits for the Di2 groupset.

http://talbotframeworks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/innovative1.jpg

I mention this because it was something we did purely for the fun of it, because we had the idea and thought it would be cool- and for no other reason.

With that said, one of the nicest things about the show was the validation that yes, other people thought it was fun as well.

On to the bike!

This bike is called the Dalsnibba after a mountain in Norway- a mountain that has an annual duathlon run on it's slopes.

I'll be racing this bike (or the second version of it- more on that later) in the duathlon this June.

That had some input on the overall design- we wanted the frame to be very stiff around the BB-Chainstay area for power transfer (what little of that I have I don't want to squander), and also to steer very precisely for the descent- again, I need all the help I can get there as last year I was shaking so hard that I could barely hold the bars.

To that end we used a 38mm Columbus Spirit downtube, with at one end a Paragon Machineworks 44 headtube and at the other a Paragon Machine Works PF30 bottom bracket.

The fork chosen was an ENVE tapered steerer unit, again stiffness was a key consideration.

We used a Columbus MAX bi-axially ovalised top tube, in the reverse orientation than is normally seen.

The thinking behind this was to ensure that the joints to the 44 headtube at one end and the 28.6 seat tube at the other were allowed for in the orientation of the tube, and provide nice large contact areas for the fillets.

We also thought it looked cool.

The seat tube we chose was Reynolds 853, swaged from 28.6mm at the top to 31,8mm at the BB, in order to keep the frame stiff around the BB cluster but to allow some flexibility nearer the seat cluster.

Chainstays and seatstays were a mixture of Columbus Zona and Life, and a wishbone was chosen for the seat stay.

This connected the two 14mm seat stays to the 16mm wishbone, the idea being to take advantage of steels ability to flex without work hardening and becoming brittle.

As an old man I liked the idea of comfort, without sacrificing stiffness.

The dropouts were Paragon Machine Works, and I think that concludes the tubing choice and design- it was all mitred on the Talbot End-Mill, and then fillet brazed by Matt on the Anvil Journeyman jig in his workshop in Crystal Palace.

Once the frame was finished it went to Mario Vaz who primed it, painted it brilliant white, then painted the blue sections on the top tube, seat tube and seat stays.

The frame then came back to us, where we bonded on flexible terminal pads just behind the head tube, and on the seat tube and DS-chain stay.

The bare circular patch of metal you can see is because we used the frame itself as one of the circuits- it is the negative.

I'd spoke to Rob Hoops about the circuits- without letting on that that was what I had in mind, he'd recommended going to a Pin Striper, so we found one in Croyden, a lovely guy called Neil, who we took the frame too in order to have the circuits painted on.

We then used the services of the "masked engineer" to solder on the (remnants of) the Di2 wiring harness.

He did a very neat job- which because we ran out of time had to be left visible:

The plan was to pot these joints in epoxy, then wrap then in vinyl dressing tape, and then clearcoat the whole frame.

That we didn't have time to do that was a blessing in disguise at Bespoked as people could see what we were talking about.

Although it did look distinctly "prototype", which is fair enough as that is what it was.

As it stands the bike weighs in at 7.2kg, with HED Stinger 4's and an electronic groupset from 2009.

I'm happy with that- we could hit the UCI minimum with a change of wheels and a modern group.

Man do I want one

http://talbotframeworks.co.uk/bikes/dalsnibba/

How do you pronounce it?

Ask Smallfurry!

I believe it's pronounced as it appears, if that makes sense.

I guess so. But I'm rubbish at reading words I don't already know.

So whats the deal with the mkII?

You pronounce it as you were really happy. Like all Norwegian words :)

Killer bike! Great idea, great execution.

Amazing,

WOW
So Scandie
Much bling
Very 2014

Wow, what a novel project. Will be interesting to hear how it performs/feels to ride.

A great project! I love the paint / circuitry, such a charming idea.

It's loads lighter than I'd have guessed.

I've just read it's 'Tesla Di2 paint'.

Awesome.

I love that the Tesla paint name is both scientific and sentimental to you.

Ace project, 10/10.

I guess so. But I'm rubbish at reading words I don't already know.

So whats the deal with the mkII?

Some slight tubing changes, and we're using current gen Di2- we're making two right now, one (mine) will go to Road.cc for a long term test when we get back from Norway.

Do you know what the cabling is like inside the Di2 units - repeating my comment on the other, other, thread, I feel like you could get a really neat joint with some ribbon-cable.
I've been taking my phone apart recently - because I'm a klutz - and I cant get over how easy it was as everything was wired with strong ribbon cables and press fit connections, the only exception being the battery which was the same, but secured with two tiny screws.
I think it could be a neat interface, as well as providing a user-changeable interface that is easier than re-soldering the whole thing - or if something breaks.

Also, I love how all of the tube choices are totally logic driven, and then:

We also thought it looked cool.

&

On a serious note - would you be able to combine the contacts with the derailleur mounts in some way? Would carry on the neat lines

really interesting from the technical side and a great idea.

however, i don't like the massive looking crank/chainring and the golden chain.

Is Dammit going to have a bike built for every ride that he does?

Of course!

really interesting from the technical side and a great idea.

however, i don't like the massive looking crank/chainring and the golden chain.

The gold chain is possibly a bit challenging aesthetically, but the reason is not to get a bit of bling- the chain is titanium nitrided to reduce friction and increase longevity.

The cranks are Cannondale SiSl arms, arguably* the best available cranks, with a Power2Max Type-S powermeter, fitted with Praxis chainrings.

*This is, after all, The Internet.

The gold chain is possibly a bit challenging aesthetically, but the reason is not to get a bit of bling- the chain is titanium nitrided to reduce friction and increase longevity.

The cranks are Cannondale SiSl arms, arguably* the best available cranks, with a Power2Max Type-S powermeter, fitted with Praxis chainrings.

*This is, after all, The Internet.

well, still good, i just meant the look of it. :)

This is one of the most impressive and innovative bike builds I've seen in a long while. Really nice.

I wonder if we'll see more of this kind of thing but done cheaply... i.e. standard conductive strips instead of cabling.

For version 2 we are using gold leaf- which sounds ridiculously over the top, but is actually pretty cheap- the amount used is very small.

This came from a conversation that Matt had with the Pinstriper, apparently they (where they means people who paint custom hot-rod, Harleys, helmets etc etc) have used gold leaf under paint for years, and Neil had an example on a panel in his workshop.

Matt put the multimeter on it and got near zero impedance across the whole panel.

Moving to the current Di2 we only need two circuits, but they have to be low impedance - gold will do nicely.

In terms of connectors the soldered/BTP units were fine for the prototype, but we're moving to 3D-printed collars with terminal strips inside for production- we'll cut the standard e-Tube wires, solder them into the collars, and those become off the shelf parts.

They'll clamp over the circuits just like a front mech clamp- albeit significantly lower in profile, with the wire coming out of one side to go to the mech etc.