Well I have run into some hiccups for the bamboo bicycle. I ordered some extra nice bamboo specifically selected, cured, and double butted for strength and bike building however when it came in on Monday it arrived cracked. AHHHH!!!! With the switch in materials I am in a bit of a time crunch. I quickly contacted the supplier who is supposedly send me a new tube ASAP but we shall see if I have enough time to pull this off. Without the main tube I am in a bit of a holding pattern although I have been using this time to tweak my frame geometry yet again.
I am on the lookout for a workspace to epoxy this guy which will require a 3ft by 3 ft table and some place I can protect from all the mess I am going to make. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
I have a far ways to go but here is what remains:
- Mitre tubing
- Fit tubing in the jig and verify fit
- Epoxy and wrap joints
- Sand and finish joints for aesthetics
- Seal frame for protection
- Assemble bike
4 Comments. Leave new
Hi Daniel
There is a small room in the Idea Forge just waiting for you! You can safely glue your tubes there. See Shirley Chessman for access.
This may not be the best solution, but if all else fails, you might try this. Apply epoxy or a adhesive (gorilla glue maybe) that requires you to clamp the bamboo together, onto the broken bamboo. Then clamp them together, apply zip ties and tighten them down. You might even try putting some PVC inside the bamboo since it is so large if you need support. Wait for the adhesive to dry, cut the Zip ties along the adhesive and see if worked well enough.
Great idea for materials for bike construction. I think maybe you’ve seen this already, but I will post it anyway. http://imgur.com/a/SbtRy
From the looks of your image, the pipe diameter seems quite large for a bike frame. Was there any reason for choosing such a big diameter or do my eyes deceive me? Definitely check out that link though because they reinforced the joints with an existing steel joint which gets the rid of having to make a jig. Plus, once you wrap it you won’t even see the steel piece anymore and you can easily add your handlebars, crank, wheels and so on.
Are you going to use a jig? How do you plan to hold all the angles together while the epoxy cures?