Moisture

What sort of frames would you make? Would they be a standard shape with standard geometry? Or do you have any fancy ideas? Would you take the effort to custom tailor each frame size? Which sort of metal would you focus on using? Build different types of frames or one that can do it all?

Troul 

hybrid carbon designed for road use while allowing some unique request adds per request. Making each frame to accept a "standard" [group set brand, igh, freewheel, cassette, headset, cable/hose needs] set by the one ordering it.

Moisture

Hybrid as in , like a fitness/commuter road bike?

So stiff, mainly for road use? What sort of head tube and seat tube angles you think would work best? What about the fork?

I think id start off using steel with the goal to focus on titanium one day.

Troul 

carbon hybrid materials.
depends on what the order calls for will dictate the road frame design.

TiHabanero

I build my own frames, 5 of them so far. I use lugs and steel tubes because I like low cost of entry on the equipment side, and working with steel is what I am familiar with. I build what cannot be purchased in a store. The first frame was in 2000 under special circumstances that I will not go into. Was tired of riding off the shelf bikes and adapting my preferences to the limitations of the bike. So that is what I built, what could not be had through traditional avenues. Have absolutely loved the challenge and riding a frame that no other person in the world has, and all the while it is exactly perfect for my body and preferences without a single compromise.

shelbyfv

https://www.bikeforums.net/framebuilders/

Rolla

Steel singlespeed monstercross. Four frame sizes, lots of paint choices.

unterhausen

It's better here because the question is hypothetical. Framebuilders build the frames they (or someone else) want at the time. It's no good to build a frame that you don't want, just sits around collecting dust.

Seems to me that the real question is if you wanted a custom frame built.

indyfabz

Money, hopefully.

unterhausen

I don't think that's in the cards. Better go work for Wendy's

RiceAWay

Waterford Racing is a steel welded construction that weighs very close to the lighted carbon bikes. Like carbon fiber if you crash them they are throw away but they are SO much easier to build.

RiceAWay

All those bicycles that the frame builders built for practice like the Salsa or the like ALL sold during the lock down. NO ONE could get a medium priced bike. Dealers were in tears.

Darth Lefty 

What’s the point of hiring a frame builder? Beautiful custom touches, materials like tubing chosen for the use case, individual sizing. If you want to try weird stuff, it’s easier to make it out of Walmart bikes and a mig welder. There’s an entire Internet subculture devoted just to that, and it seems like it’s not very closely connected to framebuilders per se.

indyfabz

I’m good with what I’m making now.

In all seriousness, when my frame builder told me how many hours he estimated he spent building my ti frame I was quite surprised the cost was as low as it was.

indyfabz

Yep. Three visits to the shop for consultation and sizing. Another to check out the custom mixed Cerakote test tubes the outside “painter” produced. Unfortunately, you can’t see the LOVE statue decal on the left chainstay in this photo, but look at those rear dropouts.

Darth Lefty 

like clockwork

steine13

>>What Would you Make as a Frame Builder?
Rent, if you're good AND lucky.
Much like a professional musician or writer, it'll be easy to find adulation and hard to find paying customers.
Cynically yours,
-mathias

70sSanO

Since this is the internet and purely hypothetical, I’d would want a frame where the geometry could be slightly adjusted on the fly. Nothing outrageous, but being able to have servos that would slightly alter HA, SA, top tube length.

Program various tweaks for downhill, switchbacks, climbing to maximize what the rider wants for each section.

Since I don’t build frames, I’m sure I’m over simplifying things and have no clue how it could be done. But maybe one day somewhere down the road. Who knows when, we can’t even program a Di2 system to work with whatever.

John

Darth Lefty 

In a mountain bike this is called a flip chip (or various other trademarks). They change the length of a link or location of a pivot. Most of them are things you change at home to suit your riding style*. There are remote on-the-fly versions, they function in much the same way as a dropper post. Here's the one on the Canyon Strive, with an air spring actuator:

https://www.canyon.com/en-us/mountai...-bikes/strive/


The Scott Twinloc version works by changing the performance of the shock, with a secondary air spring function as well as the common compression lockout lever.
https://www.scott-sports.com/us/en/page/twinloc

I would not set out to prove this is good; it seems gimmicky to me. But gimmicks do sometimes lead to something. Full suspension mountain bikes were the wild frontier 20 years ago and now they work pretty well.


* author hasn't any - ed.

mstateglfr 

Built this a couple winters ago in a local class.
Did all the mitre work, file work, bench grinder, measuring, etc. Then did half the brazing or so and all the finish work.

Its my best fitting road bike(it should be since it was designed for me).
Columbus Zona OS tubing with shaped stays and a bi-plane inspired fork crown, 73deg HTA and STA, and room for 35mm tires.


As for the question of what i would make if I were a builder?...well i would make what my clients ask for. Of course it would be custom fit. It'd be dumb to make only penny farming when people continually ask me about gravel bikes and road bikes.

pdlamb

And to make money, whatever the customer wants. As long as I could build it well, there's some wacky ideas out there. Some of them are in (limited) mass production already.

I'm reminded of the old joke. What's the easiest way to make a small fortune was a bike shop owner? Start with a large fortune.

Moisture

I know titanium is hard to work with, but any benefits in using it?

Very unlikely to make any money as a frame builder. Makes more sense to do it a a hobby.

I Think it would be far more feasible to devise an on the fly adkustable stem instead. Or maybe a variable fork length design. Jack up the fork slightly to slacken the head tube angle

Thats a beautifully made frame indeed. Looks very comfortable for us tall guys. How many inches does it measure at the seat tube?

That seat tube looks slack. And in a good way. Looks like the bine really helps set your weight back during climbing.

Moisture

what you guys think of double and triple butted tubing

mstateglfr 

What is there to think about, really? Double butted is obviously preferred over plain gauge for well documented reasons.
I think triple butted was mostly a marketing ploy, sort of like a razor with 7 blades. Triple butted tubing was at times heavier than double butted because the butting profile wasnt as aggressive. Example- consider double butted7/4/7 compared to triple butted 7/4/8 or 8/5/9 with the same butt lengths for both tube sets. The double butted will be lighter, yet triple butted tubing used to be advertised as better due to more butting.

All this is largely unimportant because tubing should be chosen for the style bike and intended rider- so there is no inherently 'good' or 'bad' tubing based on butting. What is 'good' is tubing that will work best for the intended use and rider.

Also, triple butted tubing is largely non-existant now for new steel builds.

70sSanO

You mean the 100 year old technology?

John