Rob Leech

Im sorry, but thats just not good enough...... no worries pal This is true, forgot about the skye

My man! Those are spot on ^^^^^^ Loving the orange

I was also thinking this, but probably not quite a baby blue, something a touch darker. ohhhh, im not a monster fan im afraid, would probably look tasty if done right though.

How do all, having a bit of a problem deciding on a colour scheme on a new frame, a good amount of it i want to keep black, but im thinking of going for a bright flat colour on the rest of it. Heres a pic showing it, quite obvious which bits staying black - Uploaded with ImageShack.us What do you think? I'm going towards a bright, out-there colour, like a sun yellow or kawasaki green. Cheers for any help, Josh. Right, sprayed it today, went for green mixed by "yours truly" in the end, what'cha think? Uploaded with ImageShack.us Still needs flatting down and lacquering, so will hopefully be on it for the weekend .

Wouldnt call it a bodge, just a bolt with washers, pretty much everyday practice. It wouldnt harm it at all, still doing the same job as the first step on the hope bolt . Cheers, Josh. EDIT- Also, if you just wanted the head doctor for it's advantage in ease of usage and removal, why not just use a standard top cap? Maybe drilled out and counterbored to suit an 8mm if im right in thinking that this is what they are? "nd EDIT- Which i have just seen that they are not so you should be able to use a standard top cap

From having a look at the hope top cap, you would be able to run a standard cap head if you put washers underneath it, i think anyways, dont really see the need for the steps . Btw, never had any experience with them, but at the end of the day, how often do you replace your starnut? Mine hasn't seen light for atleast a year now. Cheers, Josh.

No problem, pop me a pm if you need them doing .

I'd say 10 bob, this one took me (minus smoking time oh, and painting) about half an hour, so the cost is basically just the material .

I cant remeber doing an ally one, i could do, but i wouldnt recommend it as a solution as it could only last 20mins, or 20 months, you just dont know with re-welded ally products in this game . Cheers, Josh.

How do all, found a few topics where people have asked how they can do this, just so happens that i had one in today so i thought i'd make a guide to it . This is probably something that not many people on here can do, but if you know the details, its a lot easier to explain to a machinist/welder. Right, what we started with- Uploaded with ImageShack.us Pretty standard set of pashleys, steerer just under 190mm, the man (Mr Hopps) wants a higher bar and stem, but is not too sure on how much higher, so, to get started, we need to think about measurements of diameters and lengths- Uploaded with ImageShack.us As shown, pretyy straight forward, you want the extension the same diameter as the steerer at one end and slightly larger than the internal diameter on the other ( about 0.1mm to achieve an interference fit, which is needed to keep the extension square to the fork). Seeing as I didnt have a specific length, I made it to a round 100mm. Next is to bore the extending side out to the same dia. as the steerer- Uploaded with ImageShack.us I would recommend leaving around 5-10mm before the internal section undrilled, or with a smaller drill put through both sides ( I've done 10mm here, just incase he needs to take the extension off, having a center helps ) Uploaded with ImageShack.us When the section has been machined and fits nicely, its time to set up for welding- Uploaded with ImageShack.us I leave a 2-3mm gap between the steerer and the extension to help increase the weld area on the extension and to help get a flatter weld. Also note the chamfers around both the steerer and the extension, again, these help the weld sit flatter in the joint. Weld fully round the joint, running over it a second time to ensure penetration. If you wanted to, you could also drill the steerer where the bottom of the extension sits and add a couple of plug welds, but this isn't really neccessary as we have a good amount of internal material already. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Once this is done, clean the weld off with a file/sander/whatever you've got to hand and smooth into the steerer- Uploaded with ImageShack.us You can just about see the weld, a gold band running round the steerer, as i used stainless wire due to the steerer being cromoloy. And after a bit of sanding and spraying, the finished product- Uploaded with ImageShack.us Hope this was helpful to someone I've also just got quite a difficult frame repair in for myself, was thinking of doing a guide to that, heres a sneak peak- Uploaded with ImageShack.us Anyone want to see that? Any questions, pop them up, will be happy to answer . Cheers, Josh.

I wouldnt say so, i think that the only way that this could happen, considering that the connections are spot on, is if another tube were to fail, ie, the seat tubes or chain stays, but then again, what would you do if this were to happen to a normal frame? I wouldn't call it a potential problem on a project like this, i'd call it a definate problem that needs a lot of thought and testing put into it, which Mike has worked pretty hard at to solve and, from the first proto, is getting around quite quickly. I think you've got to look at this frame differently to others, like pretty much everything else that has come around, people don't agree with it at first, but once it has been properly developed, tested and is shown to work, they tend to warm to the idea (not saying that everything "new" works btw ). I have got to say to the people in the thread that have said that this will kill all other frames, ofcourse it won't, there will always be people that prefer a normal trials frame to this, just as there are people that prefer a bash plate over a ring, maybe you want the security of knowing that whatever happens, your frame cant just come apart . Anyways, that's my take on it . Cheers, Josh.

Yeah, this could happen, but aslong as the seatstay/bb yokes were aligned with the headtube yoke and it was all clamped acordingly, it would be very hard to do as the tubes shouldnt be able to move in that axis, or any infact. Very true, but this is where the buisness side of the project would come in, i'd of thought anyways. I know mike has said if you want to, you can with this frame, but just like anything else, thats not always the case and some things have to be sent out/ordered in.

Got to agree with Ali for the first point, but the proto that was made was quite simple to piece together, just had to get it in the right order. The jig was only used to align the main connections for welding, ie, the bb yoke, headtube, dropouts, getting the frame straight when assembled with all the other tubes wasn't an issue as these pieces held them at the requiered angle . The bent tube option would have to be a made to order job in my eyes, i dont think it'd be too hard to calculate the radia, especially with the CAD programs in use today. Cheers, Josh.

Would you be able to post a picture of the freewheel with the insert in it? Surely if the insert is externally threaded, you can screw it out of the freewheel? Or even cut it out and chase the threads in the freewheel? Anyways, pictures would help alot Cheers, Josh.

Larrrvly mike, get it going, will be a market place winner! Cheers, Josh.

Highly appreciate the comments here fella's, cheers . Josh.

Lancaster road, or any of the surrounding roads, 3.20 for the day .

Ritey o chap, hope it gets sorted for you . Cheers, Josh.

None taken good sir, get in touch with Frankx2005 ( ithink, something like that ), have done quite a bit for him, think he's got 2 more in the works aswell . Would like to know a bit more about this plan, even if im not involved, always like to see what others are up to . Cheers, Josh. Oh, and phatmike, have done alot of work with him recently .

Ah haaa, she works! Awesome . Josh.

How do, If you do end up welding it up, this is what i would do- 1) Get a thin cutting disc and cut along the full lenth of the crack, going around 5mm past the end of the crack on each side (opening it up ). 2) Weld that up and grind flush. 3) Cut the gusset just before the semi-circle section and grind the welds off either side. 4) Fabricate a section to continue the gusset about 25mm past the crack. 5) Weld the section up fully. Think thats the best way to get around it, you could make the section so that it covers the welded area (crack) if you wanted, might look a bit out of place mind. Cheers, Josh. Edit- If you need someone to do it for you, let me know, sure we can sort something out

The guy that started the thread chap .

Yesssss, i worked that one out and said it further up. This is the main reason that it wouldnt work, why heat treat a frame and not get it up to its optimum working capacity? (if that makes sense ). I'm not saying it's easy either, i'm saying it won't work If it did, why hasn't anyone made a business out of it already, or even tried it? Look at the other types of frame that also have this problem, downhill, freeride and cross country, areas where they spend much more than we do on frames and still replace them once they've cracked. I have given him probably one of the best and easiest alternatives, which is the carbon skinning, the only way you'll get a cracked frame to work for a decent amount of time . Kid, dont bother trying to find an oven, it wont help you, either weld it up and see how long it lasts, skin it, or do as everyone else does and buy a new frame end of. Cheers, Josh. Edit- Oh, and you do know that aluminium age hardens naturaly over time? Precipitation (or artificial age) hardening simply speeds this process up to reach it's peak on a much smaller time scale.

Did this happen to you?