• RME Gear & Apparel

Any Mtn Bikers on RME?

jsudar

jsudar

Well-Known Member
Location
Cedar Hills
The filler is nickel bronze. I brazed it mostly because I like the look of it and it’s fun to do and different. We have a couple TIG machines at work so I could have if I had wanted to. Most aluminum frames really ought to be heat treated (some alloys don’t need it) after welding which is far beyond my garage building capabilities. I would need a lot more practice on aluminum too. Sometimes I can stack dimes and sometimes... it’s just bad.
If you use high end steel you can build a frame that will be within a few hundred grams of a similar aluminum frame. Aluminum is not as strong so the tube wall thickness is way thicker.
 
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frieed

frieed

Jeepless in Draper
Supporting Member
Location
Draper, UT
are there online sources for machined head tubes and bottom brackets ? or even complete kits for beginners ?
 
jsudar

jsudar

Well-Known Member
Location
Cedar Hills
paragonmachineworks.com sells head tubes, BBs, dropouts, cable guides etc... Reasonable pricing and very nice stuff.
bikefabsupply.com is out of Arizona. I bought tubing and brazing supplies from him
cycle-frames.com is a good place to buy inexpensive tubes. They have most things you need to build a bike and are less expensive than Paragon. I believe you can even get a "tube set" to build a standardish 29er.
I would probably plan your frame and buy individual tubes though. If you are really light or heavy you will definitely want to adjust the tube diameters and wall thicknesses to refelect that. Otherwise you end up with a frame that rides like a freeway bridge I beam or a pasta noodle.

My down tube is 38mm diameter with .9/.6/.9mm (tubing is butted) wall thickness. I weigh 200 lbs and will beat this bike.
If I built it for my 13 year old son who weighs 90 lbs and is very much a cross country rider I could do a 32mm diameter downtube with .8/.5/.8mm wall thickness. I could maybe even go .7/.4/.7mm but that's sooo thin it starts to be challenging to make the joint.
It's fun because you can tune the frame to ride how you want. Any production bike has to be built to take a beating from a heavy rider regardless of the frame size or the actual weight of the end user.
 
benjy

benjy

Rarely wrenches
Supporting Member
Location
Moab
I'm thinking hard about pulling the trigger on a Canfield epo. I've always wanted to build my own bike from the ground up, and this seems to be an awesome starting point. Hard to beat $800.

http://canfieldbrothers.com/frames/epo-carbon-hardtail-29er

I've only ridden full suspension bikes for the last 10 years, anyone care to talk me out of it? I have a giant trance 2, but I think I'd sell that to help fund the build, so this would be my only bike.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
The only downside I see is that the frame isn't boost spacing. Not a problem if you're buying new wheels anyway, but if you already have boost wheels. They won't swap over.

I love the 414mm chainstays. I'm a big fan of hardtails.
 
jsudar

jsudar

Well-Known Member
Location
Cedar Hills
I can’t talk you out of it. I used to ride hardtails exclusively and it really helped to make me an awesome rider. I actually had people comment on group rides that they liked following me because I could pick good lines. I had to pick good lines to keep up with a bunch of good riders on full suspension bikes. Riding a hard tail forces you to up your game. You will generally have to ride more aggressively on a hard tail but I find it very rewarding.
Same with building up a frame. Somehow it’s more fun on a bike when you put it together. Canfield makes cool stuff. I looked at their bikes for geometry ideas for mine. And $800 is a steal for a carbon frame like that.
 
benjy

benjy

Rarely wrenches
Supporting Member
Location
Moab
Rode Dino/Church Rocks from the Highland Park water tower entrance. Most of the rocks had been cleared on the descent from Grapevine to Church Rocks.... I was pretty disappointed as this was a really fun section. When I got home I did a little internet venting and the post was deleted within 5 minutes. I posted this on MTBEU - what I see as the biggest MTB audience in Utah. This is not word for word b/c the post was deleted, but you get the idea.

Thanks to the trail maintenance heroes that neutered the descent from Grapevine to Church Rocks.

Let me know when you setup the GoFundMe for paving Zen and I'll send you a few $'s.

Let's keep StG techy!
Click to expand...

Inappropriate? Maybe. I have no idea who did the trail maintenance - I guess if it was DMTBA than it is sanctioned maintenance? It's crazy to me why anyone would clear out that section of trail. Yeah, there were big rocks, but it was still very accessible by hikers. Last time we rode it, Kami was stoked that she was able to ride the whole thing.

I don't know that I've ever had a post deleted on any internet group/forum, but I think this is #3 on MTBEU :rolleyes:
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Cool. I'll be excited to hear what you think about it and how it helps. I saw a recent post by ryan leech on instagram about how manual machines are a good balance tool, but don't quite mimic a true manual since you can't pus the rear wheel forward. I'm sure the balance gained doesn't hurt at all!
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Yeah, Eric Porter is a stud and an amazing rider. Such a down to earth guy, and he lives in your neck of the woods. Cody Kelly is a manualing beast too. I've been working on manuals for years and I still suck at them.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
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