You need a well stocked shop full of expensive tools and parts to build bikes.... NOT!

[Radical Brad]

Found some fun footage from 15 years ago showing off my "shop" when it was actually in good shape!
A few years ago the rain rotted the roof the rest of the way out.

Every single Bike and Trike on the main ChopZone.com page was made using these "facilities".
Now I do most work outdoors, and my pile of junk parts is a lot more rusty!

Point of this video... If I can do it then so can you!
Cheers,
Brad

 

[jonrev]

Interesting glimpse Brad. Your fitness levels are way higher than mine for obvious reasons. I don't think I would get a whole lot done if I had to trek backwards and forwards from leaky shed to alfresco welding station to semi-floored grinding bench. Hell I object to having to walk 50 feet to my kitchen to make a cup of tea every hour or so.

My admiration for your welding skills is even higher now I've seen where you do it and with what! You run those rods at a low amperage by the sound of it. I'm guessing they are good quality rods which does make a big difference. Even so I would not want to use stick welding on my bike frames. Give me my MIG any day.

Thanks for the interesting insight.

 

[Trickytrike]

Thanks that looked epic, low tech well before it became a trend.

It is about manual skill more than tooling.
Often you are better off spending a little time by hand if you dont have a series of parts to justify tooling investment.

I am glad i learnt to cope tubes with a good saw blade and a file it is fast and accurate. A cheapo tube notcher would probably do a worse job.

The only thing is welding, much prefer tig welding, it has become more accessible financially than before and i have tried my best with stick ( which way worse than your worst ) or flux cored wire, i just cant manage to do domething decent under 1.5mm thickness.

Especially when reusing bottom brackets and head tubes, i dont want to put too much heat and cause distorsion so i find welding short beads at higher amperage fast enough and let cool before the next works better for me.

Thanks again for sharing your work conveys a very positive message that one can build good and original bikes with minimal tooling, a lot of perseverance and it has the virtue of upcycling old parts.