Introduction Thread

Tim-Ariel · March 27, 2023, 4:58pm

Hi, I’m Tim (he/him), I hand build steel e-cargo bikes in South Scotland, UK. I’ve got a small workshop and make big bikes in it. Ariel Bikes is me.

I’m a long time bike mechanic and I got into fabrication around 5 years ago when I acquired an e-cargo bike and realised how awesome and life changing they are. Basically I got hooked. I took some TIG lessons and started making things. Covid gave me loads of time to work on fabrication and welding and I’m hopefully better than when I started out!

I build out of steel because it’s tough and resilient and I want to make things that are useful for a long time and therefore have a more significant environmental / climate change impact. I ride cargo bikes, gravel bikes, mountain bikes, single speed, bmx and anything else that’s available. I crash with confidence and style.

I like this forum as it all seems quite fresh and forward looking and the information sharing and decency seems really nice. A nice little corner of the internet to know about. Thanks to all those who have put the time and effort into creating it.

Would like to see more people building practical/utility bikes and using the magic of e-bike motors to get more done.

And I’m very keen to learn more about 3D printing for workshop/work holding use and to get pointers on improving my poor 3D CAD skills.

And very happy to chat cargo bikes and concepts and to share the little I know….

That’s me avoiding ice this winter. And some more bike pics:

Smoothsailor · March 27, 2023, 5:33pm

Great stuff, around the corner from where I live there is an e bike cargo bike parking spot. Lined out on the pavement. First one I ever seen. But that’s the way to go.

I’m in the proces designing a mini velo cargo bike

Daniel_Y · March 27, 2023, 6:47pm

Welcome! Great work! I would love to learn more about cargo E-bikes. I have been interested in builindg urban E-bikes for a while now, but motor assemblies were so hard to come by during covid. Even now, I think it’s hard for custom builders to get access to the components.

Maybe we can start a separate thread on E-bike builds!

PS: I accidentally edited your post and reverted it back . The moderator powers are too powerful fo rme

wfournier · March 27, 2023, 7:09pm

Welcome, Quebec City is a beautiful place, I visited about 5 years ago. I have a personal connection in that one of my ancestors was one of the first settler’s of the city (who’s name was also Guillaume).

bushtrucker · March 27, 2023, 10:57pm

Love this! E-cargo bikes are defo the future.

maxwellkeegan · March 28, 2023, 3:16am

Love it! I want a cargo ebike, I will definitely be following your build threads!

KWebb · April 2, 2023, 9:33pm

I’m Keith and I’m right in the middle of Missouri. I worked in bike shops for almost a decade and now I work as an engineer.
I build for myself and will make anything that I will use. I am only 2 bikes in at this point.
I ride single-track, gravel, and cyclocross but have ridden/owened and enjoy pretty much every type of bike.
The biggest thing that I want to learn is how to build faster. The easiest way is for me to quit filing fillets.
It took me a long time to build bike 1 because I made most of my tools and got a mill and lathe. My jig is homemade. I use a modified 105 bender for seatstays and chainstays. I’ll include a few pictures and I’m happy share details any of the stuff I’ve made.

KWebb · April 2, 2023, 9:37pm

DEVLINCC · April 2, 2023, 9:42pm

Nice use of the brakes. I was just literally starting to design something similar for my jig. I sm thinking of building a whole new jig now though.

KWebb · April 2, 2023, 9:52pm

They lock when you release the lever. I really like that! Been following your full suspension builds on insta. Very nice work👏

DEVLINCC · April 2, 2023, 10:55pm

Thanks mate.

Nice. Have you set it up with a foot release? That was what I was going to do. So when brazing I can just stand on the pedal and rotate the jig to where I need it. I was also going to make a free standing brazing/welding holder thingy. Where it can be rotated on all axis.

KWebb · April 2, 2023, 11:42pm

Yep the nod part of it is on the foot lever and the rotation part lever is made the same way but mounted on the jig for hand release. Normally I can use the hand release and rotate the jig with the same hand. Everything is balanced and you can see the concrete counter weight in the back and a few round pieces added to the right side of the jig. The springs are from the 2 inch squeeze clamps shown. The extrusion for the stand was free but is kina light for this…

Dave_PMW · April 4, 2023, 4:48pm

Who you are and where you’re located

-Dave Taylor, Oakland CA.

What you enjoy building

-Not a framebuilder, but I’m a machinist and bike rider

What you enjoy riding

I’m mostly a commuter these days, but I do love mountain biking, and gravel.

What you’re excited about learning
I’m enjoying seeing what people are doing with framebuilding, and hope I can help the community from a machining perspective.

A little bit about your background
Hi, I’m Dave. I’m a machinist at Paragon Machine Works and a bike nerd. I ride bikes and have since childhood. I don’t build frames myself, but love the custom and am engulfed in the industry. I may have some questions from time to time, but I am mostly interested in bringing a shop floor/manual machining/CNC manufacturing perspective to the forum. I have been Machining since 2006. PMW is the 4th shop I have worked in and I have been here since 2017. I spent the first decade of my career as a manual machinist. The other shops I’ve worked in were a pump/compressor/fab shop, a food industry production shop, and an electric motor/fab shop. I hope to be able to field hobby machining questions and shed insight on what it takes to manufacture parts.

dave720×960 219 KB

1lluma · April 10, 2023, 12:58am

Hi,

I am Guillaume from Quebec City, I am currently a buyer/planner at Hawley-Lambert Cycling (HLC). Also worked in some bike shop here in Quebec city as a warranty/service advisor and buyer. Currently not looking to get into framebuilding but love the scene and recently been thinking about ways to help the scene from a distributor pov.

I enjoy riding enduro/road/track.

Got the chance to meet a few here at PBE 2022 and hopefully meet more at Made 2023.

terraformbicycles · April 10, 2023, 1:19am

is it possible for a Canadian framebuilder to open an HLC account? I’ve heard it’s really difficult through others.

1lluma · April 10, 2023, 1:45am

Since I am on the purchasing side, I have no idea what are the requirement to create an account with HLC. I will contact our sales team next week to see what are the main requirement and how that can apply to framebuilder.

Daniel_Y · April 10, 2023, 4:07pm

Welcome!

It’s great to have people in the industry on our side.

SoyWater · April 13, 2023, 1:19am

Hi! Fashionably late, as usual.
My name is Nate. I’m in Albuquerque, New Mexico, despite being a frequent visitor to the “top 10 most dangerous cities in America” list, I really love it here.

I’m just dabbling (screwing around) with Framebuilding, I rode bikes a little with my dad, in New England, in the 90’s. Hadn’t ridden a bike since I was 16 and got a drivers license. Fell back into it hard, like addict hard, about 5 years ago. Learned steel bikes were a thing, seemed like a fun something to try after playing old cars for way too long. Sold the old cars and just do bikes stuff these days.

I’m currently working on my 3rd frame, something for the Angel Fire Bike Park. Gonna be 26/27.5, jack shaft, inverted dual crown, single speed, silly on top of silly.

My first was this ridiculous hard tail that I love. 29er, 540 reach, 63 hta, 450 cs, 76 sta, 160mm coil fork, sparkly pink, awesome
pinky

pinky2

Currently riding frame the second, 127/140, 29er, 64.5 hta, 445 cs, 79* sta, 540 reach, high pivot, microshift advent x, magura mt5, wheelbarrow parts, sparkly purple and also awesome. Fast, stupid fast.

My background is pretty varied, I’ve worked on old cars, owned my own shop, loaded airplanes, drove forklifts, built medical devices, painted cars, painted houses, I’m a licensed master falconer, currently fun-employed (sorry)

I got a small, unpopular YouTube channel that deals with the building of the purple bike that I keep threatening to shut down because it’s a shitload of work for not a lot of reward. Haven’t done it yet, though. Here’s a link. Smash that thumbs up button (kidding)

I’m hoping to learn whatever I can here and maybe keep a few people from making my same mistakes. I don’t feel like I have a bunch to offer, I’m just stubbornly making most of this up as I go along.

Mikesbikester · April 13, 2023, 1:42am

Relatable, coming to terms with the scale and quantity of car projects brought me back to making some bikes too. I think I’m at a good place with both hobbies now but often consider condensing the car quiver down to just one.

Mad props for documenting your frame building on the YouTube! That’s ambitious and awesome.

SoyWater · April 13, 2023, 1:57am

I had mine narrowed down to one, then it sat in the yard, not getting driven for an entire year. Decided that car and hobby was providing zero joy. It was just a time and money sink and I hated it by the time I sold it. A lot of that came from having the business, customers can really ruin anything.

Thanks, it’s definitely ambitious. I’m unsure about that other word.