Stuff thats really just a distraction

I am working on a big show right now and had to put this frame-building project on hold. In the mean time, prepare to be dazzled by this bike I keep at my parent's house in Cleveland.

Its about 80% post consumer. The frame was obtained through a local bicycle co-op in Cleveland and the rest of the parts were in that basket of goodies that every bicycle person has. I think I bought the front brake. In fact, I think that's all I bought. I'm re-evaluating this bike at %95 post-consumer.

For the record, my rear wheel is awesome and survived landing into a hole that was the volume of a 42-gallon garbage can. This sculpture had somehow been excavated from part of Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland. So the rim dented, but I'd bet any rim would have done the same; East Cleveland is a tough town. It was bad enough that it made a thump every time it went around and I had about 7 uphill miles left to get back to the heights. I quickly replaced the old rim with another old rim which, I predict, will find a similar fate.

The front wheel has been appropriated from my dad's bike. He was not happy about this until I returned it. Since this photo was taken the bicycle looks slightly different.

Oh, and the orange is for the Cleveland Browns. They hold a place deep in everyone's heart.

Fork

This is the fork brazed into one piece. I've started cleaning it up in these photos.

After finishing this much I realized how bad I am at measuring and reading numbers. The mystery device is a pipe bender I fashioned from a couple cut-off bits from a 2x4. I cut an arc that I approximated from several different radii. I then carved a 90 degree grove along the center of the curved edge. This was a clumsy process that involved chisels and an angle grinder, but years of ice carving more than prepared me for the subtleties of carving a small groove into an old 2x4. To avoid collapsing the tube I also packed its end with nails while bending it.

The second image is the fork ends domed into this shape so the bits fit into it.

Shapes

Leaving a lot of important steps out I magically wound up here.

Cutting Miters

Using a right-angle piece of metal I found laying in my neighbor's studio, I marked a center line on all of the tubes. I used the lugs as a template for the joints and then rough cut them with a hacksaw and finished them with a half-round file. Also cut a lot of new shapes into my hands.

The layout ink is Sharpie marker.

Drawing

After reading a book on frame building, Caroline helped me with a to-scale drawing.