Friday 16 August 2013

Summer progress

I've had a full summer, so the bike has plodded along slowly. 

The foam core has been covered with one layer of glass.  This stabilised the foam, and while it still isn't anywhere near strong enough, the foam can now survive the odd knock or two. 

Next, holes were cut in the frame to accept the hard points for the suspension, pedals and steering.  These were aligned carefully and set into place using automotive body filler.  Surplus filler was ground down before another piece of glass was laid around them.

The swingarm is still wooden, but will be reinforced with carbon.  So now I've got something that is actually starting to look like a bike.  Tonight I assembled the major components to see how they look together.

Well the rear end is at the correct height, thanks to the lump of wood shoved in where the shock absorber should live.  The swingarm is still two lumps of wood and relies on the back axle to hold them together.  The swingarm shock mount is next on the list.  The bottom bracket is actually a bb30 bottom bracket adaptor, which was an ebay find.  This was easier than getting a framebuilder to supply me with a tube with the appropriate thread.  The head tube is at the correct angle, although for the purpose of this demonstration I have left out part of the headset assembly. 

More will follow...