Friday, January 14, 2011

Gravel Road Monster Cross

Starting my wife's gravel road slayer today. There seemed to be some interest out in the inter-webs on how this all happens in the basement of this mad-man. So here it goes:

First, I start every design session with some homebrew to set the mood and get the juices flowing. : ) I do a full size drawing cause I can do it faster than on the 'puter and its nice to have a life size plot to visualize everything. I work up he overall design from studying other manufactures bikes, my own ideas on bike fit and design, and input from the the rider. This bike is going to have a mtn drivetrain, 700c disk wheels, ridged fork and clearance for 44c tires. I'm going for a sturdy, relaxed all day kind of machine, with low BB and long stays for stable handling in loose gravel, and a top tube that fits between flat bar and drops to give her the option. It will not be pink. Should be fun.


Second I face the BB since they come a little ruff from the factory. After the build, very little if any facing is needed.

Then comes the headtube. This ones going to be 120 mm and starts from a big ol chunk of 4130. It gets turned down so that the inside race is 33.9 mm and has some rings on the outside.


Checking the run out before boring the inside race:



Nearing the end of the lathe work:



And the finish product ready for welding.

Next up is setting the frame jig to the drawing, and cutting some tubes for the main triangle.

Stay tuned!

1 comment:

evenslower said...

Don't you mean 29" wheels?