SolarCycles

Welcome to Solar Cycles

Solar Cycles is something in the nature of an experiment....

You see, I have been riding bicycles in one form or another since about 1976. As a kid, bicycles were freedom! You could go places and see things and finally be on your own and mobile. So I started on a typical old kids cruiser. Then moved to a Diamondback Viper, BMX at it's best (at least to a 10 year old mind). Then in about 1984 road bikes became cool, and I raced with a team in Southern New Mexico for a number of years. These were the Lemond years, when Tour de France coverage finally started to show up in the US on mainstream media. It probably helped that Greg was a contender. I'll never forget sitting around the tiny TV in the back of the local bike shop (where I was working as a wrench), and watching that incredible footage -- wishing I could someday ride that well. Of course, I never did reach that level, but not too many years later, a new thing started showing up in my town, -- Mountain Bikes. Of course, I got the bug for that too! I've been riding mountain bikes now for more years than I care to think about, and find that I've become more and more fascinated with bikes the further the technology progresses.
So recently I decided it would be fun to try to build a frame myself. I've slowly been collecting the tools and researching things. I spent the first half of this year teaching myself to TIG weld, and now I've reached the point where it is time to attempt my first frame. This one will be kept simple, single speed hard-tail. I don't want anything too complex this first time around. Anyhow, I thought it might be fun to document this first build, and allow the world to observe, perhaps also learn something, and enjoy the process of shaping something kinetic out of a stack of steel tubes.
Someday I may get good enough at this to make it more than a hobby, but for now it is strictly that.
I hope you enjoy the process as much as I am. --Brian

Note: Previous progress updates are available under the Archives links on the right.

Also, special thanks go out to the guys who hang out here: MTBR Frame Forum, who unknowingly helped me through all kinds of issues as I progressed. I did not post much, but I lurked and learned and the result was that many tasks I was unsure how to tackle were made easier by searching through the archives on this forum. In particular I'd like to thank Walt and jay_ntwr whose posts were very valuable during the production of this Frame Shaped Object.

November 12, 2009
-- Singularity -- Single Speed Mountain Bike

Here it is, the Singularity.

It started out four months ago as a wild idea... Ok, so the wild idea really originated years and years ago, but this time around it really took hold and started gaining momentum about 6 months ago. At any rate, the project began in earnest about June of this year, and at that time, it was just a stack of metal tubes

and a plan.

Which has somehow miraculously morphed into a finished product. I had hoped to wrap the project up before Thanksgiving and I've managed to make that deadline with two weekends to spare. Of course I do still need to apply finish work and all that good stuff, but structurally the bike is sound.

And it is one heck of a lot of fun to ride!

November 2, 2009
-- Frame Number One -- Single Speed Mountain Bike

So, it has been a while since I updated anything at all.... I got sidetracked and had to actually work for a while. Then I had a horrible mishap with some seatstays and hand mitering, requiring replacement of the stays.
It was not pretty... perhaps best just to leave it at that.
As a result, I built a jig for mitering the stays. That proved to provide significantly better results, and lead to the photos below. At this point, the stays are tacked in place and just require finish welding. If only I could call the quality of my welding 'finish'. As it is, they will be solid and reliable, but the welds are not likely to be pretty.
How about we call them sufficient and leave that as it is as well... :)

One week later.....
It is looking shockingly like a bicycle.... in fact, I got so wrapped up in wrapping it up I forgot to take intermediate pictures, like of the welding process... or of the chasing and facing of bottom bracket and headset, or any of the nifty things one does to assemble a bike.
Yes, it is not painted yet. Consider this a mockup for the maiden voyage. One never knows, I may not even bother to paint it. This is Arizona for all that, and the odds of moisture (let alone actual rain) are minimal at best.... Maybe a nice surface rust will be all the finish work it needs.