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[foo on patrol]

Foo

[slowK]

Hi folks,

Thought I would share my wooden bike. Took me about 7 months to make. I only got the chance to work on it on weekends.

Ummm... wow! You gotta tell us more about such a unique bike! There must be a fascinating story behind its design and construction. How does it ride?

[ironhanglider]

Hi folks,

Thought I would share my wooden bike. Took me about 7 months to make. I only got the chance to work on it on weekends.

Oooohh, unprocessed carbon. Pretty.

Cheers,

Cameron

[mikeyg63]

[/quote]Ummm... wow! You gotta tell us more about such a unique bike! There must be a fascinating story behind its design and construction. How does it ride?[/quote]

The seed was planted when I caught a look at wooden bikes made by a US company called Renovo. I just thought they looked beautiful.

Although I'm in finance now, I started out in life as a Cabinetmaker. Finished the apprenticeship and haven''t worked with wood since (I'm 53 now). Anyways, I thought that it wouldn't be too hard and it would be fun to re-engage some of those old skills.

What really appealed to me after listening to the brief from Renovo was that wood has fantastic vibration absorption qualities. This was important to me as I'm an everyday commuter and do about 250k's a week. Comfort means quite a lot to me.

Ok, the bike weights a ton. It's been hollowed out but still weighs a touch more than a steel frame. Not too bad. You notice it when you move off from a standing start.....compared to say carbon. Aside from that I don't really notice the weight at all.

I have to say though, it's the smoothest ride I've ever had. It's also very quiet. A joy to ride.

I'm running Ultegra Di2, 11 speed, which was a bit of a gamble as I wasn't sure if it was gonna ride nicely. I had the option to put the Di2 on another bike if it was a dud ride but thankfully it's exceeded my expectations.

In it's construction, in the main triangle, it is basically two laminated halves glued together, after rebating the insides. The inner most layer is Victorian Ash, the next layer (the dark brown stripe) is African Wenge and the outside layer is spotted gum. Seat stays and chain stays are 3 x 6mm Arican Wenge, hollowed out.

Thanks

[Ferrovelo]

Wow. Thats awesome. Good stuff.

[slowK]

Ummm... wow! You gotta tell us more about such a unique bike! There must be a fascinating story behind its design and construction. How does it ride?[/quote]

The seed was planted when I caught a look at wooden bikes made by a US company called Renovo. I just thought they looked beautiful.

Although I'm in finance now, I started out in life as a Cabinetmaker. Finished the apprenticeship and haven''t worked with wood since (I'm 53 now). Anyways, I thought that it wouldn't be too hard and it would be fun to re-engage some of those old skills.

What really appealed to me after listening to the brief from Renovo was that wood has fantastic vibration absorption qualities. This was important to me as I'm an everyday commuter and do about 250k's a week. Comfort means quite a lot to me.

Ok, the bike weights a ton. It's been hollowed out but still weighs a touch more than a steel frame. Not too bad. You notice it when you move off from a standing start.....compared to say carbon. Aside from that I don't really notice the weight at all.

I have to say though, it's the smoothest ride I've ever had. It's also very quiet. A joy to ride.

I'm running Ultegra Di2, 11 speed, which was a bit of a gamble as I wasn't sure if it was gonna ride nicely. I had the option to put the Di2 on another bike if it was a dud ride but thankfully it's exceeded my expectations.

In it's construction, in the main triangle, it is basically two laminated halves glued together, after rebating the insides. The inner most layer is Victorian Ash, the next layer (the dark brown stripe) is African Wenge and the outside layer is spotted gum. Seat stays and chain stays are 3 x 6mm Arican Wenge, hollowed out.

Thanks[/quote]

Thanks for sharing. It must give you a lot of satisfaction to ride something so beautifully crafted with your own hands. Congratulations!

[mikeyg63]

SlowK, Thanks. Yes riding with a permanent smile.

Forgot to mention that the geometry is based on a medium sized Noah Ridley Fast. The shape was hand drawn on MDF, which was then cut out to use as templates for all the pieces. See below:

[ft_critical]

Wow. I would be interested to see this in a thread on its own. Do you have in construction photos? how much does it weigh?

[mikeyg63]

Wow. I would be interested to see this in a thread on its own. Do you have in construction photos? how much does it weigh?

Mate, I'm too scared to weigh it! But my feel test against a steel frame tells me that it's a touch heavier....a touch!

[Tim]

Brilliant job mickeyg63.
I'm interested in your choice of timber species.
Was there any rationale in using say Spotted gum which is very weather resistant but dense and heavy whereas the ash is fibrous, less dense and prone to moisture swelling. I don't know anything about the African wenge but I wonder what governed your selection process eg. straight grain, structural strength, workability or other factors?
I'd assume the whole thing is sealed and finished, what with?
What sort of adhesive did you use for the laminated sections?
I'm intrigued, I love it.

[jasonc]

^ deserving of It's own thread and discussion

[Tim]

^ deserving of It's own thread and discussion

Most definitely.
Can the mods separate off all the relevant posts and pics?

[g-boaf]

Wow. I would be interested to see this in a thread on its own. Do you have in construction photos? how much does it weigh?

Mate, I'm too scared to weigh it! But my feel test against a steel frame tells me that it's a touch heavier....a touch!

Very, very unique! Well done.

[ironhanglider]

Wow. I would be interested to see this in a thread on its own. Do you have in construction photos? how much does it weigh?

Mate, I'm too scared to weigh it! But my feel test against a steel frame tells me that it's a touch heavier....a touch!

Very, very unique! Well done.

Umm no. It is unique. By definition there can be only one.

Weight is overrated.

Cheers,

Cameron

[mikeyg63]

Brilliant job mickeyg63.
I'm interested in your choice of timber species.
Was there any rationale in using say Spotted gum which is very weather resistant but dense and heavy whereas the ash is fibrous, less dense and prone to moisture swelling. I don't know anything about the African wenge but I wonder what governed your selection process eg. straight grain, structural strength, workability or other factors?
I'd assume the whole thing is sealed and finished, what with?
What sort of adhesive did you use for the laminated sections?
I'm intrigued, I love it.

Thanks Tim,

Prior to choosing the species I had pretty good idea of which colours I wanted. I was actually a bit disappointed with the Victorian Ash, in terms of colour, as I wanted a more paler finish. This became obvious after applying the lacquer coats.

Once I knew the shades and colours I wanted I then researched timbers based on structural strength, applications, workability, gluing ability, moisture etc. There was always a trade off, e.g., Spotted Gum is excellent strength wise but geez it's a bugger to work with. There are plenty of websites that provide excellent research on the qualities of most hardwoods.

The glue that I used is widely used in the marine industry. The brand is Bote Cote. It's basically a two part epoxy, which can be used as a stand alone glue or can be strengthened with powder fillers. I used a combination of both. My concern was always going to be the strength of the Head Tube area and the Bottom Bracket area. At these areas I have metal inserts, e.g., bottom bracket shell and Head Tube. I have reinforced these areas using the Bote Cote two part epoxy and fibreglass matting.

The Bote-Cote epoxy resin can also be used as an undercoat in the lacquering process. I applied three coats of this. Finally, I applied three coats of Aqua-Cote (mostly used in conjunction with Bote-Cote for outdoor marine finishes. The Aquacote is also a two part clear coat and has high UV resistant qualities and is non-yellowing.

Cheers

[Tim]

Spotted Gum is excellent strength wise but geez it's a bugger to work with.

I know exactly what you mean.
In a previous work life I used to lay, sand and finish timber flooring (a mongrel of a job).
Spotted gum was amongst the hardest to install. Closing the gaps in adjoining, often bowed boards, especially short lengths took all sorts of ingenuity, and brute force.
Another thought just occurred to me. Spotted gum was very prone to shrinkage. Did you have to acclimatize or season the SG before joining it to the other species? I know from bitter experience the horror of seeing a vast timber expanse shrink and gaps open, everywhere.
I don't miss that business one bit.
Anyway, there's obviously a large amount of planning, thought and effort gone into your bike.
The result speaks for itself, brilliant.

[P!N20]

This is fantastic.

Mikey - would you ever consider doing a timber fork or is that another level of difficulty?

[mikeyg63]

Spotted Gum is excellent strength wise but geez it's a bugger to work with.

I know exactly what you mean.
In a previous work life I used to lay, sand and finish timber flooring (a mongrel of a job).
Spotted gum was amongst the hardest to install. Closing the gaps in adjoining, often bowed boards, especially short lengths took all sorts of ingenuity, and brute force.
Another thought just occurred to me. Spotted gum was very prone to shrinkage. Did you have to acclimatize or season the SG before joining it to the other species? I know from bitter experience the horror of seeing a vast timber expanse shrink and gaps open, everywhere.
I don't miss that business one bit.
Anyway, there's obviously a large amount of planning, thought and effort gone into your bike.
The result speaks for itself, brilliant.

No, I did not seasoning as such. I noticed early on in the piece that the Spotted Gum off cuts were very susceptible to heat and moisture, bowing markedly and quickly in the heat, then returning to shape out of the heat. I was very thorough with the gluing during the laminating process (read liberal doses of glue) and not clamping the pieces too tightly. I would generally do this inside, out of the heat. I was also careful not to expose the work in the sun while it was still un-lacquered.

[mikeyg63]

This is fantastic.

Mikey - would you ever consider doing a timber fork or is that another level of difficulty?

Hi P!N20,

No I wouldn't consider that. The area is a massive stress and shock area. To compensate you would have to use larger than desirable pieces to ensure strength is not compromised. In my frame I was always conscious of having a bike that still looked like a bike, if you know what I mean.

Can you imagine that insecure feeling you might get barrelling downhill on somewhere like, say the three gorges ride. It would be in the back of your mind something could go wrong and you would be sitting on the brakes. I thought it was safer to purchase a set of good quality columbus forks.

Cheers

[fat and old]

JHC. The talents in this place!

[alh9a5]

Mikey that bike looks gorgeous...bit of N+1 going on overhear

[Rural Rider]

Cheers all,

Just joined the new Bike club this week - bought a Specialized Allez e5 Sport - 2016 Model. Very happy ...

Best. RR

[BradL]

This is my recently finished do-many-things-but-realistically-not-everything bike. It's built around a custom Ti frame, by Waltly. I'm really happy with the quality of the frame, the ease of the process by which I ordered it, and the fact that I was able to get a custom frame within my limited budget. The process of designing a frame was an excellent learning experience, and thankfully it performs as I intended it to.

It's running 5800 with a compact Tiagra crank from another bike. I'm looking to buy a sub-compact 46/30 along the lines of the Sugino OX601D in the near future to lower the gearing further. It has the capacity for front and rear racks plus mudguards, so it will take on touring duties at some stage. Wheels are Mavic A719 32/36 laced to 5800 hubs.

It's no lightweight, coming in at around 10kg, although this build is more so about durability, comfort and versatility than weight. That being said, it might be nice to have a lighter wheelset to swap in for hooning.

Yes, I chose rim brakes over discs. Looks like there's already a few topics on here that are adequately covering that debate..

[jetglo]

I've been lurking here for ages and thought I'd better post a pic of my favorite bikes

[Ferrovelo]

Not so much a bike pic, but I snapped this one the other morning and it turned out great (imho anyway).

I'm calling it "Perfect Morning".