HunterBee

A bicycle frame made from PVC would make a pretty interesting art work (the kind you hang on the wall) and Testor's model paint is designed specifically for use on plastic. It (a PVC frame) would be cheap and easy to make (no welding skills required). I don't think I would ride one, tho.

PanPanX

when i say ride one, i mean down the street, or around the block or something like not.. stuff thats under a quarter mile..

mtbikerinpa

Aww, no freeriding?

2manybikes

Plastic bikes were made and sold. They were discontinued because they were too flexible and handled poorly.

Until CF, now lots of bikes are made of plastic. Pcv is not the same though. Not at all.

Hhowdy

Howdy,
Commercial PVC pipe is probably not your best choice, I'd go more to the Lexan end of things. Lexan is available in tubing and is eaily worked and bonded. The draw back is probably the cost, I'd guess the material will cost 4-5 times as much...

M.R.

Applehead57

Now this makes sense. Aim your inspiration to be a water bike.
Otherwise, you're going to have this cool, strange bike that drew a mild interest from passer-bys and then got stuck in the back of your barn, forgotten.

Dirtbike

once its complete, we need to find out how high we can do a drop with it

PanPanX

maybe i can make one that can handle 6 ft drops.

and a waterbike would be too easy. made lots and lots of those in highschool physics.

myxbyx

having recently used a lot of pvc pipe in my basement (drains) i would not like to be sitting on a bike made of it after a 6 foot drop, depending on your body weight, you might continue on through the cross bar without stopping.

however there was a bike i believe was called the Itera.....

bluewolf

It's been done for 4 wheel bikes.

https://www.americanspeedster.com/

n4zou

If I were going to build a bike frame from an alternative material I would use wood. I found this link quite by accident and book marked it. It makes interesting reading and I think someone could look at his photos and figure out how to build one without sending this fellow $25. Then again $25 is less than you would spend at a fast food joint to feed the family so if I were going to do something like this I guess I would pay the $25 and save design time.

https://mysite.verizon.net/res88kr1/

urbanknight

I disagree. Shedule 40 PVC can be run over by a truck or stomped on by a 250 lb guy with steel toe boots and not crack. Class 125 is about like cardboard though. Either way, I'd agree that the bike could still break since a compression load isn't the same as the forces on a bicycle frame, so it's the land of the unknown to me.

My main concern is this...
The ride would probably like a car with springs but no shocks. I'd still up your health and life insurance, though.

wroomwroomoops

Unintentional sarcasm - brilliant!

You gotta love the Internet.

supcom

I'd leave the bike design to the experts. You can buy a real nice bike for the cost of a single trip to the emergency room.

geo8rge

electrical conduit? Probably bends before it fails. Tube benders and fittings already exist.

2manybikes

Building a bike out of an odd frame material still means you have to add all the normal bike parts. Compared to buying an entry level mountain bike a PVC frame bike will cost more if you buy the components at near retail. Then you have a heavy weak bike. Lots of things won't fit the pvc pipe so you will need some parts made special just for that bike. If you can't do it by yourself, and need to pay someone to make parts for you, (meaning you don't have access to a machine shop for free)
the price of the bike will easily be more than double the price of an entry level MTB. The diameters of the plastic pipe will be different than steel or aluminum, so most things won't fit.

You could build a lousy $300 bike for $600, maybe more.

JustBrowsing

Isn't it amazing how quickly a 2+ year-old thread can be resurrected. That said, I seem to recall seeing a story in the summer of '05 about a guy in California who was impaled on a piece of PVC after trying to make a bike out of the stuff... ; )

badfishgood

There is a man here in Hermosa Beach who has a bike frame and wheels made of wood. It's pretty cool, shaped like a chopper... You should see him ride it up hill...

urbanknight

DOH!

vpiuva

Me want plastic bike to bomb down hills. + plastic wheelset. plastic calipers, plastic bars. please build. me pay lots for plastic death machine.

Lurch

I saw a plywood bike once. It was a kid's size and made basically of two plywood triangles more or less side by side. The wheels were solid plywood circles with small circular cutouts for the schrader valves. It had rubber tires and plywood forks. It appeared well made and finished, not a homemade job. This was in a small town in Italy last October.

carcassonne

PVC bike:

Well, at least you won't need any suspension like shocks and frame suspension :-) The whole thing should bounce away merrily.

n4zou

EMT conduit is a very popular material for custom bicycle frame builders and it will not bend after its welded into a frame. Follow this link as an example.
https://bikerodnkustom3.homestead.com/brad_overkill.html

vpiuva

Like to climb with that rear wheel? Talk about your rotational weight issues.

2manybikes

Leaning the bike over in a hard corner would also be interesting with a tire like that.