Building a Bike Frame in My Garage: DIY Frame Ep 1
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Hobby framebuilder. Video series of me building a new bike frame in my garage. This will be the 8th frame I've built, but my first UA-cam video series. The new frame will be built up as a trail bike with 27.5 wheels and a 150mm fork.
DIY Bike Frame
#HobbyFrameFab
Here is the build process note from 6:18. Lots of stuff specific to my tools and process, but it might be helpful to others.
Set up jig
Mark butts
Miter ST to BB, (cut and miter 0.9 end, do NOT cut 1.65 end)
Check HT/BB alignment
Miter DT to HT and BB
Keep tube block on DT until after DT/ST miter is done.
Drill HT/DT, BB/DT and BB/ST vent holes
Layout dropper port and bottle bosses
Drill dropper port and bottle bosses
Simple Green ST, TT and DT
Set up torch
Braze water bottle braze-ons (Fillet Pro)
Check HT/BB alignment
80 Grit, IPA, ST/BB & DT/HT
Tack DT/HT, then ST/BB
Tin ST/BB & DT/HT
Check alignment of ST/BB and HT/ST
Miter DT to ST
Remove DT tube block
Check HT/ST alignment
80 Grit, IPA DT/BB
Tack DT/BB
Tin DT/BB
Check HT/ST alignment
Miter TT to ST and HT
Drill ST/TT and HT/TT vent holes
80 Grit, IPA
Tack TT to HT/ST
Tin TT to HT and ST
Soak flux off front tri
Bend yoke
Braze yoke
Layout CS subassembly (rotor, tire, crank, chainring)
Simple Green CS
Bend chainstays
Cut yoke arms to length
Slot CS plugs
Miter yoke to BB
Cut tab in yoke to fit into CS
80 Grit, IPA CS plugs, dropouts, BB and yoke
Braze CS plugs to dropouts
Braze yoke to BB
Cut CS to length (slightly longer than needed)
Cut small slots in CS to adjust for good fit
Simple Green chainstays
Drill CS vent holes
80 Grit, IPA CS
Tack CS to yoke and DO
Check wheel alignment
Completely braze & fillet CS, yoke and dropouts
Check chainstays and dropouts, check spacing, check rear wheel clearance
Rough cut monostay and bridge tube
Simple Green monostay and bridge tubes
Miter monostay on lathe (both ends, do not remove tube block)
Notch SS bridge for SS
Drill vent holes in monostay and bridge
80 Grit, IPA monostay
Braze monostay to front triangle
Check monostay/bridge alignment
80 Grit, IPA SS bridge
Braze SS bridge to monostay
Check monostay/bridge alignment
Slot SS to dropouts
Cut SS to rough length
Round tops of SS on belt sander to get correct length
Simple green SS
Drill vent holes in SS
80 Grit, IPA SS
Braze SS
Soak rear tri joints
Braze front tri fillets (3/16 rod)
Soak front fillets
File and smooth all fillets
Make serial number badge - use the arbor press and DIY guide
Bend serial number with arbor press
Bend head badge with arbor press
Drill head badge
Drill and tap HT, mount badge
Fillet Pro all guides, stops, mounts, and serial number
Align dropouts, check spacing and clearance
Ream ST
Cut ST slot, smooth slot edges
Face/chase HT and BB
Smooth fillets
Drill BB shell drain hole
Frame Saver
Prep/clean frame
Mask frame for paint/bluing
Blue or prime & paint frame
Build up
IPA = isopropyl alcohol
The miter finisher idea is really great! Love it.
Thank you!
Hey - Thanks for dropping by my channel and leaving a comment! I just subscribed and look forward to following along on your bike frame build journey. This will be really helpful to me and I'm sure lots of other aspiring frame builders.
I’ll be doing a lugged bike on my channel in the next couple months too. Looking forward to seeing some fillets here while I move along!
@@bkefrmr That's going to be fantastic! I subscribed to your channel a while back too. "Your Bike Sucks", and the "Bicycle Mechanics are Assholes," videos were gold!
Thanks Hey! @@Henrywildeberry
Thanks @Henrywildeberry Do you have a plan for your build?
@@ThriftyFramebuilder I've designed an idea in BikeCad. It's a road bike with slightly relaxed geo.
Excellent! More framebuilding on youtube is never a bad thing!
Thanks, I agree!
Looking forward to this. Thanks!
Thanks!
👍👍Great video series!
Thanks!!
Yep I am a big fan of Pauls vids.
They are really well done, both in the production and the content. Super cool to be able to see into the world of a professional framebuilder.
Really enjoying this series. Thank you!
Is it absolutely necessary to draw/print out the design to scale? Why? What are the other advantages of BikeCAD pro?
Thanks 🙏
Thanks! Making a scale drawing (either drawn by hand or created in a CAD program) is the only way I know to determine the lengths of the tubes and the angles between them. I guess if a jig allowed you to set actual geometry angles and lengths you could just use that, but I’m guessing it would be extra work and you’d be more prone to mistakes.
I’m sure there are many more advantages of BikeCAD Pro… there are a bunch of features I don’t even touch.
@@ThriftyFramebuilder great, thank you so much for your response. Keep up the great work! All the best 😊
Wonderful video and explanations. I like your jig, any plans for that anywhere online? As someone interested in building my own frames this will be an invaluable series, thanks so much for sharing your story. Subscribed and will eagerly follow along.
No jig plans online that I know of, I just looked at pics of other jigs and kind of made it up as I went. I’ll eventually do a “tool” video with more info on it. Maybe sooner than later… it’s supposed to be COLD this weekend. My plan at this point is a video every other week. Thanks for subscribing!
@@ThriftyFramebuilder thanks for the reply. I keep looking at more and more jigs and will use the 80-20 profiles when I build one. I am unsure whether to go with a fixed ht jig like yours, or one with adjustable angles, which will definitely need more parts to function.
A tool video would be cool to see.
Thanks again for sharing what you are doing :)
@@ThriftyFramebuilderlove your video, very inspirational! I was thinking about making an 8020 jig similar to yours the other day .
👍👍 Thanks!
These videos are amazing - so great for people with modest tool setups. So thank you for that! I'm starting tube prep for my first frame tomorrow :) Is there any chance you could post the note on your phone with all the steps? I would really appreciate that! Cheers
Thanks!! Here you go... lots of stuff specific to my tools and process, but I hope it helps. Good luck with the first frame, and have fun with all the problem solving and trial & error!
Set up jig
Mark butts
Miter ST to BB, (cut and miter 0.9 end, do NOT cut 1.65 end)
Check HT/BB alignment
Miter DT to HT and BB
Keep tube block on DT until after DT/ST miter is done.
Drill HT/DT, BB/DT and BB/ST vent holes
Layout dropper port and bottle bosses
Drill dropper port and bottle bosses
Simple Green ST, TT and DT
Set up torch
Braze water bottle braze-ons (Fillet Pro)
Check HT/BB alignment
80 Grit, IPA, ST/BB & DT/HT
Tack DT/HT, then ST/BB
Tin ST/BB & DT/HT
Check alignment of ST/BB and HT/ST
Miter DT to ST
Remove DT tube block
Check HT/ST alignment
80 Grit, IPA DT/BB
Tack DT/BB
Tin DT/BB
Check HT/ST alignment
Miter TT to ST and HT
Drill ST/TT and HT/TT vent holes
80 Grit, IPA
Tack TT to HT/ST
Tin TT to HT and ST
Soak flux off front tri
Bend yoke
Braze yoke
Layout CS subassembly (rotor, tire, crank, chainring)
Simple Green CS
Bend chainstays
Cut yoke arms to length
Slot CS plugs
Miter yoke to BB
Cut tab in yoke to fit into CS
80 Grit, IPA CS plugs, dropouts, BB and yoke
Braze CS plugs to dropouts
Braze yoke to BB
Cut CS to length (slightly longer than needed)
Cut small slots in CS to adjust for good fit
Simple Green chainstays
Drill CS vent holes
80 Grit, IPA CS
Tack CS to yoke and DO
Check wheel alignment
Completely braze & fillet CS, yoke and dropouts
Check chainstays and dropouts, check spacing, check rear wheel clearance
Rough cut monostay and bridge tube
Simple Green monostay and bridge tubes
Miter monostay on lathe (both ends, do not remove tube block)
Notch SS bridge for SS
Drill vent holes in monostay and bridge
80 Grit, IPA monostay
Braze monostay to front triangle
Check monostay/bridge alignment
80 Grit, IPA SS bridge
Braze SS bridge to monostay
Check monostay/bridge alignment
Slot SS to dropouts
Cut SS to rough length
Round tops of SS on belt sander to get correct length
Simple green SS
Drill vent holes in SS
80 Grit, IPA SS
Braze SS
Soak rear tri joints
Braze front tri fillets (3/16 rod)
Soak front fillets
File and smooth all fillets
Make serial number badge - use the arbor press and DIY guide
Bend serial number with arbor press
Bend head badge with arbor press
Drill head badge
Drill and tap HT, mount badge
Fillet Pro all guides, stops, mounts, and serial number
Align dropouts, check spacing and clearance
Ream ST
Cut ST slot, smooth slot edges
Face/chase HT and BB
Smooth fillets
Drill BB shell drain hole
Frame Saver
Prep/clean frame
Mask frame for paint/bluing
Blue or prime & paint frame
Build up
IPA = isopropyl alcohol
@@ThriftyFramebuilder Consider making this its own comment, and pinning it to the top of the Comments Section, so everyone sees it. Thanks for creating this helpful and inspiring content. Hope all is well,
@@SlimOneable Done! Thanks, great idea. I'm still a bit of a UA-cam newb.
@@ThriftyFramebuilder You’re doing a great job refining production values, as you’ve refined your frame building process. Well done.
Really looking forward to this. Apart from the acetylene class, did you have any prior metal working experience? Perhaps as the series progresses you can discuss what tools you used on your first frame, and what tools you added along the way (and why).
Thanks! No real prior metalworking experience, other than shop class in junior high 30+ years ago. I was planning on just such a video! Might happen sooner than later if it stays cold in my garage.
First like!
Thanks man!
Second like!
Thanks!!!
Ive been debating buidling a frame that resembles my Jamis Renegade or simply ordereing a set of seat and chain stays and just elongating and widening the rear traingle to accept some 700x55/29x2.2 tires, by the way I think I just binge watched all of these episodes about 3 times already lol
THANKS!! I’ve definitely been tempted to rebuild the rear end for more clearance on a production bike. That might actually be my next project after this frame is done.
Almost all of your frames have interesting connection of chain stays to the BB is that called yoke? I am looking forward to see how you do them!
Thanks! Yeah, it’s called a chainstay yoke. I’ve used a few different types. All the frames except for my current fat bike have a chainstay yoke.
Where did you start to learn?
Basically I learned from the internet and a local Intro to Welding class. Check out my “Everything You Need for a DIY Bike Frame” video for more about how I got started.
Do I spy the River Bottoms in those pics?
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👍👍😎👍👍
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