Charles Ramsey

I would like to build a touring frame using steel tandem tubing. I thought about the united bicycle institute but after talking to them realized there was a good chance the tubes I wanted would not be available in the 2 week window of the class. I also checked out bohemian cycles his class is very expensive I have the money but prefer to spend it differently. I want to use nova cycle supply tandem chainstays this will let the chainstay lenght be 19.5 inches and either the burley tandem tubing sold by catoregon or tange 1.2 .9 1.2 mm tubing. The comotion americano is not strong enough or stiff enough for what I want to do. Also I will be using an american bottom bracket with a coppi european adaptor and eventually will have a custom made adaptor to use the BB 30 standard with 30 x 47 mm bearing. It will of course take time to locate this disparate tubing. I'm semi retired and can work around any schedule.

Live Wire 

You really can't beat the one on one instruction you'd get with Bohm- you have two full weeks, more class time, and materials are included. And don't forget, his class is the only one that includes a pro paint job!

Nessism

Couldn't you just bring your own tubes with you to UBI?

Charles Ramsey

The problem is the wholesale distributors won't sell to me. https://www.catoregon.org has some old burley tandem I hung around their shop for a week tried to sign up for their classes and offered to volunteer but still they will only sell to framebuilders. Right now I'm on a tour and don't have a stable address.

bikinpolitico

Take a look at my write up of Doug Fattic's class: https://austinontwowheels.org/austin-...uilding-class/.

Less expensive than UBI and a bit more flexible in teaching style. You'll have to contact him to find out the next class.

NoReg

Nova sells tandem stuff. I'm not sure about it in the main triangle there is plenty of stout regular tubing, but the Chainstays they sell should work. Sounds like you are building a similar bike to me. I got a couple of sets of their tandem stays, and the lighter set seemed appropriate, the heavier one was like a baseball bat in size, far too much for a touring bike in my opinion. I am using straight wall 4130, not much difference in weight, and having stouter pipes is good for other stuff a touring bike goes through. The frame is currently in the jig and with the weather here probably won't see the road until next year. Not sure what the ride will be like. Long time since I had a bike that wasn't butted.

Nova also sells stuff that isn't on their web catalog, so call them and ask them.

bellweatherman

There are lots of great ways to learn, from self-taught, to a individual class, to a group class. It bugs me when I hear people say that one way is better than another. It all boils down to personal preference.

If you are the type that likes to share and learn from others, then a group setting such as UBI might be more beneficial to you.

If you are the type that like low-class size to individual attention, then I think any of the builders such as Yamaguchi, Fattic, Bohm, Hot Tubes, Brew, etc. would all be fantastic. I'm sure there are other builders out there, but those are the only ones I know of that do small classes.

If you are the type that likes the slow, go-at-your-own pace method, then you can absolutely be self taught. If I am not mistaken, I think our fellow user Nessism falls into this category. There are good online sources and books (ex: Paterak Manual) that would prove helpful.

GOOD LUCK!

Charles Ramsey

I will check out the Doug Fattic class the main problem will be camping out with the noseeums.