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Popular Posts
- Heat treating bamboo
- Bamboo Bike #2 – The Daisy
- Why not to buy a titanium bike frame
- Choosing the bamboo for your frame
- bio-resins – alternatives to epoxy resin
- Bamboo Bike Frame Strength Test
- An all carbon bike?
- Foam & carbon
- Bamboo Bicycle Club Live Challenge – another great initiative!
- The progressing Panda
Category Archives: carbon fibre
An all carbon bike?
A while back my awesome LBS gave me a box of carbon tubes and lugs and said “You’re the right person to give these too!”. And with that I had 4 frames to build, one of which I’ve completed. Take … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, finishing, Frame building
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3D Printed Bamboo Bike?
So I’ve been bunkering down in the Melbourne winter in front of 3D CAD programs designing various parts for the next bamboo bike. My aim is to reduce the amount of manual labour in the manufacture of the bikes and … Continue reading
Posted in accessories, bamboo, carbon fibre, frame design, parts, Uncategorized
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It’s not always plain sailing
The Samurai, my fourth frame was going well until I discovered that the seat-tube had developed some cracks around both the bottom bracket and where the seat-post sleeve inserts into it. Luckily I hadn’t yet carbon fibered up either of … Continue reading
Posted in bamboo, carbon fibre, Frame building
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Panda progress
Bamboo Bike #3, dubbed The Panda by its eventual owner is nearing completion. I’ve laid up 95% of the carbon fibre and just need to do some final cosmetic layers and then lots of finishing. Then comes the tricky things like brake … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, Frame building, wrapping
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Top Coats
The frame’s all done except for the top coats of epoxy resin. I’ve applied the first and it’s hanging up to dry. This will be sanded back and then 3 more coats applied. Check out the pics: I’ve tried my … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, finishing
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Foam & carbon
I’m using expanding filler foam on this frame as lightweight way to make the joints more curvaceous (and thus stronger). It’s super easy to sand back and shape and doesn’t take long to set. I’ve done the initial wrappings of … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, Frame building, wrapping
4 Comments
Bamboo Bike Frame Strength Test
Above is a video of my homemade frame testing apparatus. It’s far from scientific, but good enough to satisfy my curiosity as to whether or not the frame passes the AS/NZS 1927:1998 Frame & Fork Assembly test. The method described … Continue reading
Posted in bamboo, carbon fibre, Frame building, testing
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Wrapping & Heating
I’m continuing to wrap the bottom bracket joint today. I’ve now done a total of 9 layers, which I’m pretty sure will be enough for a sturdy and stiff BB. After wrapping up each series of layers in cling wrap … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, wrapping
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Wrapping the bottom bracket
The headtube’s pretty much done so I’m now starting work on laying up the bottom bracket area. It’s a much more complex shape to work with, which made the template cutting all the more fun. I’ve figured out a better … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, wrapping
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Carbon fibre wet layup – stage 2
Unwrapping the first layer this morning and it’s all gone well. The cling wrap’s left lots of wrinkles in the resin, which isn’t ideal, but for these base layers it’s ok as it’ll all get sanded back. Hopefully by the … Continue reading
Posted in bamboo, carbon fibre, Frame building, wrapping
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Carbonfiberizing
So tonight I’ve started down the road to the final wrap. I didn’t document last night’s fibreglass layer, but it’s very similar to this process, just with white fabric instead of black. The layer of fibreglass is used between any … Continue reading
Posted in carbon fibre, Frame building
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