Standard Bykes back in the flat game?!?.....

[The Brown Sound]

Dear Furry - and others -

I'm in the process of trying to come up w a design for a custom. Few questions - why no capped seat/chainstays? Does anyone have a pic of a fluted seat tube? Very educational thread..

Rick, here are some suggestions:


1. Small Batches

Short frames, long frames, frames with brake mounts, frames without brake mounts, frames with removable gyro tabs, cable guides, and brake mounts, etc. (the old supply and demand thingy).


2. Seat Tube

No externally machined seat tube (they tend to crack; see photos below). Use a fluted seat tube instead. And no built-in seatpost clamp either (you don't want that if you're doing decades).




(before anyone asks, yes, those are Sick Child frames)


3. Dropouts

5mm thick with 3/8" slots & 14mm cutting lines. Either weld the seat and chainstays on the inside of the dropouts (St Martin "Eiffel", "Diamond", and "Gaia"), or make sure they're flush with the dropouts (Ares "Garuda"). No capped seat and chainstays.

St Martin "Eiffel" dropouts


Ares "Garuda" dropouts





 

4. Bottom Bracket

No Euro BB. Small bearings do not handle loads well. Especially side loads. And Mid BB is overkill for flatland. If you're riding Flatland, Spanish BB is the way to go. Post-weld bearing seat machining on the bottom bracket shell (I hate ovalized BB shells!). 11.5" height.


5. Tubing

Rustproof coating inside and outside prior to painting/powdercoating.
Diameter: TT (double-butted) / DT 1.25" (single-butted), SS / CS 3/4".


6. Seat and Chainstay Bridges

No plates. Use crosstubes instead of plates to reinforce the rear triangle. The plates tend to crack on most frames.


7. Head Tube

4-3/8" rise (this allows for a low TT), 74.5° HA, integrated head tube (Campagnolo-style) with removable gyro tabs for the dudes with brakes, and no gyro tabs for the brakeless riders.


8. Tire and Sprocket Sizes

Max. tire size: 1.85" (the inflated width of a 1.85" Odsy Frequency G is about 1.9"), max. sprocket size: 25T (the age of pizza and dinner plates is over). Make sure people can use micro drive gearing.

Here's Luis Elias' Instrumental with a 15/9 gearing (15-tooth sprocket/9-tooth driver).



9. Weight

Somewhere in the neighborhood between 4.25lbs-4.5lbs.


10. Thanks for reading!

[TJ Perry]

Dear Furry - and others -

I'm in the process of trying to come up w a design for a custom. Few questions - why no capped seat/chainstays? Does anyone have a pic of a fluted seat tube? Very educational thread..

They get in the way for pivots and they absolutely kill your feet. My quamens are capped, but they're at an angle so that there is no way they're going to be in the way.

[The Brown Sound]

Thx TJ! The first thing I thought when I ready Furby's (love ya dude) post about capped cs/ss's was my Quamen..Are you rocking the Delta4? or Cyphr? or? I'm not near the level of having to worry about pivoting (until I start doing stubbleducks or the such) but really good to know..Thanks man!

R. //

Dear Furry - and others -

I'm in the process of trying to come up w a design for a custom. Few questions - why no capped seat/chainstays? Does anyone have a pic of a fluted seat tube? Very educational thread..

They get in the way for pivots and they absolutely kill your feet. My quamens are capped, but they're at an angle so that there is no way they're going to be in the way.

[Furball]

Does anyone have a pic of a fluted seat tube?

[The Brown Sound]

Hey do you happen to have a pic of the outside of it? Or is it just fluted on the inside? Trying to figure what it looks like on the outside. Thanks furball!

[froghammer]

Hey do you happen to have a pic of the outside of it? Or is it just fluted on the inside? Trying to figure what it looks like on the outside. Thanks furball!

Inside. Outside looks like a regular tube.

[tod miller]

Hey do you happen to have a pic of the outside of it? Or is it just fluted on the inside? Trying to figure what it looks like on the outside. Thanks furball!

Inside. Outside looks like a regular tube.

They made fluted seat posts BITD too.  Do they still make them?

[Furball]

Hey do you happen to have a pic of the outside of it? Or is it just fluted on the inside? Trying to figure what it looks like on the outside. Thanks furball!

Inside only. The inside of the tubing is shaped more like a star, so there are beams to support for example the fork legs. This method actually removes material from the tube to make it lighter, but the beams actually make it stronger. In other words, fluted tubing is a great way to shed some weight without sacrificing strength.

P.S. You're welcome!

They made fluted seat posts BITD too.  Do they still make them?

I don't think so. I remember those, but they were fluted on the outside, tho.

[The Brown Sound]

Kick ass guys. I do remember those fluted posts from bitd now =) good stuff

[Budz]

this thread is not goin on unnoticed.
Rick has been watching and gettin some good ideas from u all.
keep the thoughts, ideas, and opinions pumping!

[Stereolab]

this thread is not goin on unnoticed.
Rick has been watching and gettin some good ideas from u all.
keep the thoughts, ideas, and opinions pumping!

I hope he won't be upset with me that I'm posting this picture of his new prototype.  I think they are on the right track here.





The double chain stays are for pivots, and the fork pegs make whoppers easier.

[TJ Perry]

You know inevitably someone will get on here talking about how "rad" that bike was and still is or that they remember cruising down some beach somewhere with a mullet all SEND ME AN ANGEL or some sh*t, and then like 2 posts later they will demand that I take them seriously.

[tod miller]

That MCS Styler ^^^ was the most awful bike...EVER.

Edit:  I just read TJ's post.   NO TJ, we all knew it was an awful bike then too.

[ancientskool]

Most of the bikes with the WAY oversized platforms and useless standing areas didn't last long because most everyone realized that wasn't the way to go.

After maybe 1987, nobody was coming out with junk like that because it wasn't selling, because it wasn't practical.  Most every bike with platforms either had a tasteful double top tube or a smallish GT/Hutch seattube platform.  Those bikes are the ones that normally people talk about liking back in the day.

[pulsar]

wow your lawn is in rough shape