Genesis cycletruck/Tricross/Solaris MAX - KingTwin tandem

Massive Dredge but just read this thread and realised we we're riding near each other for a lot of the TNR- I was in a group of 3, me on Ti Plug, another on a black PX London Road and third on a canyon hardtail - particularly remember riding near you (you were in a pair?) over Izoard and Agnel on the big road day. Would recognise the fade & GB jersey combo anywhere!

Sweeet. Is that dented YT for the bin now? Barely a scratch that!

@sykodrama cheers!
Approximately something like:

1. Oxy/pro kit (https://www.weldequip.com/oxy-propane-brazing.htm) + tips + lighter - £180
   
2. 9kg oxygen + 13kg propane - £175 (deposits on bottles ~£100/gas the rest)
   
3. Various misc (files/hacksaw blades/grinding discs/drill bits/workmate) - £50
   
4. Boric Acid 1kg for flux - £15
   
5. Ceeway order (0.5kg Sif 101 rods/couple of practice tubes and a heap of braze-ons) - £60
   
   

All in for about £500 at the moment, before any actual tubes for a frame or bits for a jig. Already had grinder/cordless drill.

@Fforiwr ah no way! I remember, man I was struggling near the top of the Agnel. I was riding with my friend who just had a pair of red Ortleib front panniers. Any chance that's you or one of your friends at the top of the Agnel in the photo below? (My friend Ben on the left) I remember cloud rolling in from the Italian side as we made it to the top, after a scorching ascent. We stayed in a campsite/under an open barn in the town down the other side of the Agnel before staring on the Sampeyre and the Death Road the next morning. https://www.instagram.com/jakd1995/p/BnW1-PbBk8b/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=a5bx3p6079s1

@PhilDAS unfortunately I sold the YT for next to nothing before Xmas to a guy who was cobbling together a ski-bike. Wish I'd kept it now to have a go at making a new front triangle!

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GB jersey + pink/blue fade combo

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I know the feeling, I’ve sold countless things in the last couple of years that I know would be super handy now! Ah well
Following the thread with interest

It's always the way! Got rid of a 29er Inbred frame last year that would have been ripe for fiddling with too.
And likewise, good to know there are several of us in a similar place in the process.

Ha, excellent - yeah we were in the same campsite that night, forgot about that!

Found a shot of your bike on the Izoard too. That probably is one of us in the background - we did the same, but took the off road decent instead of death road off the Sampeyre. Good times.

Rods arrived on Monday but due to the outside work space (currently with no working light) any sort of fiddling had to wait until today.

Picked up some 10mm mild steel tubing from B&Q to start practicing with before making a front rack. Reasonably happy with a couple of simple 90° mitred practice joints. Undoubtedly overheated and didn't get very good consistency with the size of the fillet, but overall I'm happy with it considering it's my very first attempt and there's not a huge amount of space to play with with 10mm tubing. Also happy with the Boric acid as flux, seems to work well, can't remember who recommended it in another thread??

Hopefully some more practice tomorrow, maybe with frame size tubes too, if the weather stays clear.

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Made a start on savaging the front rack from the Roadrat to improve it. Chopped off everything apart from the outermost tube and the rear brace. Going to add two tubes running fore/aft and then fixed legs off the front of those to an axle mount, then a horizontal tube from the leg to a mid-fork low rider mount. Should be a lot more stable with no adjustable elements and beefier tubing. Only one tube done so far, should be a good opportunity to practice more brazing. Again too much heat with the torch I think, brass is spreading too far.

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Doesn't look too bad.

I've been using the tip of the inner flame to get things to the point where the brass starts to melt then pulling back a bit and use the feather to direct it from there.

My fillets are stillpretty untidy though so...

Cheers, right at the bottom of the learning curve at the moment so every new joint I do I learn something new/improve slightly which is encouraging.

Added a pair of low-rider mounts to the fork of the Roadrat, as well as a cable guide for the brake hose, after work this evening. Happier with the brazing, a lot tidier, even pre-filing. Held back with the flame once everything was up to temperature and it definitely helped, moved more quickly too, to hopefully reduce how much heat was put into the tubes.

Spray.bike paint does not like heat at all though compared to the paint on the frame! Frame and forks will be off to be powder coated once I've added the braze-ons I want to the frame.

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Had some more time this afternoon so finished off the front rack and brazed in a threaded boss to the crown. Turned out well, very stable and secure, if a little agricultural looking.

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That looks great, hardly agricultural, it’s got no bailer twine. Good work

Great job. Did you manage to get it level?

@Tallboy Cheers both! Each joint I do seems to improve in quality, I finished off with the two horizontal stays and they're really quite smooth.

@Rasmussloth yep, pretty level. Tacked the struts in after some rough measuring of length, then tweaked the angle until the rack sat level (using a cheap digital protractor) before fully brazing them.

Rack held up nicely this evening with a 50l bag of compost on it, about the limit weight wise though, I'd guess about 20kg.

Stuck together my first two bits of actual frame sized tubing after work this evening. Filing was a bit rough and ready due to failing light and rushing, but I'm reasonably happy with it as a first attempt. Could do with more flux and moving around more with the torch to get even heat on all sides and help the brass to wet out, I think.

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Finished off the frame mods on the Roadrat this afternoon, swapping the closed cylindrical cable guides for zip tie style ones for the rear brake and ditching any for gear routing. Frame and fork can go off to get powder coated sometime soon. Swapped the bars for On One OG's for more rise and sweep, very comfy! And ignore the really dodgy front brake routing..

Also did a couple more frame tube practice joints, much happier with the fillet on these. Number 3 pictured below.

As an aside, does anyone know how I go about changing the title of the thread?

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That filket is tidy as man!

Makes mine look remedial.

Slow progress on the brazing front due to holidays and work, but I've made a couple more bags (one medium frame bag to work with the double bottle cage set up and a small top tube bag) for the Solaris. Doing the Welsh Ride Thing in a couple of weeks so need some more packing space, combined with a seatpack and a bar bag it should be plenty for 3 days. Then a fresh pair of WTB Rangers for some easier rolling, set up tubeless incredibly easily.

Did find time to braze on a little mount to the rack on the RoadRat to bolt a front light to.

Tidied up the Plug too, de-stickered the rims, trimmed the steerer and spent an eternity threading the dynamo wiring up the inside of the fork.

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Welsh Ride Thing was a treat, if a little cold, wasn't fully prepared for it to drop below 0° overnight. Great riding though and the Solaris was perfect for it, good to see that LLS geometry is comfortable for bikepacking too. Can fully recommend the Alpkit Exo-Rail to use a seatpack with a dropper, rock solid.

I'd hit a bit of a mental block with the frame building, feeling overfaced with not knowing what I'm doing but @PhilDAS and @M_V have provided great inspiration with just getting stuck in. So, to that end, I've ordered the ali extrusion/some cones for a jig and trawled through the Ceeway catalogue to pick out tubes/braze-ons. Waiting on a quote from them and hopefully by next weekend I can start piecing bits together.

Frame will be made out of cheaper/thicker walled tubing that'll hopefully be more forgiving, mainly Colombus Cromor with a few Life tubes. I'm not expecting a fantastic frame but I'm happy to use it as a learning experience and if I get a rideable frame that'll be a great bonus. Basing the geometry on the Genesis Vagabond/Salsa Fargo, to replace the Plug.

1. Clearance for 2.2 29"
   
2. High stack/shortish reach/drop bar
   
3. 100x12/142x12 bolt thru
   
4. IS disc mounts
   
5. Full external cable routing
   
   

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I'm not expecting a fantastic frame but I'm happy to use it as a learning experience and if I get a rideable frame that'll be a great bonus.

This. But I’m looking forward to seeing it! Good job dude.
Be aware that you’ll have to really nail the alignment if going for thru axle. So I’ve read.

Plenty of metal has arrived in the post this week. A full set of tubes from Ceeway, plus plenty of braze-ons (already had to order another seat tube as I forgot the external butting for the top end). Frame design is just about finalised, then I can translate the dimensions onto the jig.

And the aluminium extrusion for the jig arrived, which is nearly bolted together. Managed to find some cones for a headset press that have worked nicely for the head tube and a plug made from an offcut of an old seatpost for the seat tube. Rear dropouts are spaced with a dummy axle and an extra tube through one of the hanger mounting bolts to keep the two dropouts in phase. All the dimensions will be referenced to the BB. Just need to make a mounting point on the back of the jig to attach it to the workstand.

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Very much looking forward to seeing this come to fruition.

Dang! Jig looks really nice.

Last time I looked in on this thread you’d done those two wee bits of tubing, now you’re all set to go on a frame! It’s awesome!

So stoked on this. Don’t slow down now