# Made my own



## bicyclos (7 Mar 2009)

Been busy this last 2 weeks. Decided to build myself a swb bent. Got plenty of materials and the like. Bought a 1mtre x 2mtre length of trampoline material, cut to size and webbed the edges and added 32 eyelets. Fixed it to the tubular seat I made and went for a spin around the block. 

The bike handles really well and the seat is sturdy / comfortable. Just need to tweek the crank lenght and handlebar height by a few mm's.


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## Redmountduo (7 Mar 2009)

Very nice. Very satisfying building something yourself.


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## Arch (13 Mar 2009)

Nice! Looks good. Well done!


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## Hilldodger (13 Mar 2009)

Well done. all you need to do now is pop down to the Cyclemagic open weekend in April to show it off to like minded people


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## bicyclos (30 Mar 2009)

Because of the recent bad weather i was unable to paint the bike until this Sunday which was fantastic. I purchased a while back some acrylic trade paint from Wilcos which I have kept at room temp. On saturday I prepaired the frame and other bits ready for spraying. I was going to use my father in laws garage as a spray booth but come Sunday morning I was able to do the job outside no problems. The main frame got 4 coats of paint and a spray or two of lacquer. 

I purchased online some water slide decal paper and designed my own logos for the bike to make it look more finished off if you like. I am pleased with the result so far. The decals will go on after the paint has dried and hardened fully.


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## col (31 Mar 2009)

That looks great, nicely done.


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## bicyclos (8 Apr 2009)

All finished and ready to ride.....Had a good go on it yesterday and rides well. I am over the moon with it. I will be commuting to work on it shortly after I give it a good test and check over. I have got the seat tensioned just right, I could nod off in it, its that comfy Put the decals on and all lacqured up. I had a pair of new rear panniers which would not fit on my other bikes but fit on the steely a treat.


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## xpc316e (8 Apr 2009)

+1


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## betty swollocks (9 Apr 2009)

Congratulations. That's impressive.
Happy riding!


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## MacB (9 Apr 2009)

Impressive!!! I want this guy living nearby, oh I'd so be his friend


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## ianrauk (9 Apr 2009)

Brilliant work


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## bicyclos (9 Apr 2009)

Many thanks for the feedback

Had another go on the steely after breakfast this morning. I had a good 3/4 hr riding around the block. I must be more relaxed riding the machine because the twitchy steering wasn't evident this time and it just felt natural turning into bends at speed(well not too fast). I fixed and calibrated one of my sigma computers to the bike and a water bottle holder which compliments the bike as well as being practical. 

I am in the process of building a MK2 steely which is in the drawing stage at present but all the components, wheels, gears etc will be brand new. Even though I have a small number of df bikes which I will never part with, I can't see me buying a new df bike in the future, only baskets full of components I think I have tapped into a whole new world of cycling.


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## Crackle (9 Apr 2009)

Got to admit with being really impressed with that.


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## Sun Superlight (28 May 2009)

Brilliant bike, Congratulations, Are you an engineer by any chance?


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## bicyclos (31 May 2009)

Sun Superlight
Brilliant bike, Congratulations, Are you an engineer by any chance? 


No, I am not an engineer at all. It was a trade I wanted to go into at 16 but ended up down the Landscaping / Gardening route. I have from a young age (11yrs old) learnt how to repair and tinker with bikes including motorcycles. I only acquired the knowledge of mig welding last October and gained a lot of advice from a welding forum. 

I am slowly turning my garage into a decent workshop. Its just money thats slowing me down. I have been using the bike a lot for commuting to work recently and nothing has dropped off yet.....I bought a pair of wrap round bars from Norfolk last week which makes the bike handle better plus made a bracket for the front double pulley so the chain dousnt jump out the pulley when riding over bumps.

regards


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## mickle (31 May 2009)

Very impressive indeed bicyclos.


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## Bigtwin (2 Jun 2009)

That's a tremendous bit of work. Hats of to you Sir - looks like it's just popped out of a pro production shop.

Hard question to put, but how hard is the welding aspect. Been thinking of buying a welding set-up for while, but am insure how hard it is to get to a stage where I'd trust my life to my work on a fast long downhill. Do you just test everything with a big FO hammer, and if it hold, that's strong enough?


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## bicyclos (4 Jun 2009)

> Bigtwin
> Hard question to put, but how hard is the welding aspect. Been thinking of buying a welding set-up for while, but am insure how hard it is to get to a stage where I'd trust my life to my work on a fast long downhill



How do I start with this one? I took a gamble after a bit of searching on the web before buying a welder. Mig welding is fairly easy to learn and fun too. I am hooked on fusing metal together now. For welding bike tube I had to buy a welder which could be turned down to less than 30 amps output or you would just blow holes in the thin metal. For the hobbist level and reliable make, the Clarke range seem to be most reliable. I bought a Clarke 90EN which you can use with an argon/Co2 bottle or fluxcore gasless wire. Because of lack of funds I went down the gasless route. I will have to admit, the welds are a bit messy compared to gas but I have just developed a way to gain decent welds then just tidy them up with a flap disk.
My brother tried to pull apart two bits of metal I welded together after he laughed at the work in hand but could not break the joint which made me smile...

I have done stress tests on off cut pieces of tube etc before welding the main pieces so I dont foul the project and have a warm up session on scrap metal before starting on the project. It has worked for me and it is the first of many. I have done nearly 100 miles on the Steely so far and it just feels more comfortable the more I ride it. I went to work on the DF bike today for a change and it didnt feel a good a ride as the bent. Ive been spoilt A few pics with the new bars and bags fitted.

Please feel free to pose any questions and I will try and help if I can.


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## Bigtwin (6 Jun 2009)

Top info - many thanks.

Will now expand my "when the missus isn't around" reading to various suppliers of welding comestibles' websites.

Stand by for idiot questions aplently...


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## peanut (6 Jun 2009)

very impressive well done. Your welding looks a lot like mine  (I used to weld up my classic cars .) gas is such an improvement


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## bicyclos (6 Jun 2009)

Cheers for the replies. A good place to browse is http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/ which I have gained a lot of knowledge regards welding and fabrication plus a great friendly site like this one.

Had a good chat with my brother this morning about electric powered bikes and kits you can buy. Thinking about buying a cheap second hand electric bike for the bits or buying a kit. I am going to look into this side a little deeper.....

Regards

Leon


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## dan_bo (8 Jun 2009)

Been on the ceeways site at all Bicyclos?


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## bicyclos (8 Jun 2009)

> dan_bo
> Been on the ceeways site at all Bicyclos?



Yes I have come across this website before. I am thinking of buying some plain steel crank shells sometime from there.
There is a good place near Pontefract where I get my stock mild steel. Because of my setup and lack of funds I can only play around with mild steel tubing. Its cheap easy to work with and I can build a bent which is comparitively light. I am not a weight tweeny as I am not into carbon fibre or burnt plastic as its sometimes called.
My type of cycling is not to break the hour record but to have fun and enjoy cycling to work and back, more so now with bent riding.


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