My girder & frame project - Anything blatantly wrong?

[Nero]

Ok, I'll start from turning the cups and the neck - then I will go on onto girder's tube bending (bending only, just to get some feeling with the bender - they're easier) and then on to build the frame. After this I'll assemble the girder, realise that it isn't right, and then build the second one...

And now, just because you were all so kind, you will be the first to have a sneak preview on the finished bike (worked crazy night hours to finish it....)
Vote the color combination that you like the most! (off course any kind of suggestions are always welcome.. )

Ah and what about the thrust washers? Waddaya think about teflon? (extra voting points for whoever answers lol... )

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[curt]

im thinking while it looks cool havein the headlight mounted down low there your gonna be replacing bulbs like mad

[concrete guy]

Looks good....proportions seem off the the distance between the bottom rails. You have mad skills with that software. What are you using?

My head light has been mounted there for a few years now ........same bulb.

Teflon washer?????? Wouldn't do it. I have some on my forward controls....and I think they suck. They seem to really gum up badly from road grime and rain water. You could also run two short flanged oil lite bushings in one link hole. But before you go to all that trouble, I would just mail ya some.

[hansgoudzwaard]

The blue is great. What do you think of the frame blue too?

[Nero]

I draw it with Solidworks. Solidedge should be another good one, but I've never had a chance to try it personally.
Otherwise there is Google SketchUp which is a good choice for a newbie, at a good price also (it's free... - just be sure to download the right version, there is also a payment version). It's less powerful compared to the other two, but very easy and quick, once you get a grasp on it. (less crowded with buttons also).

As far as the washers, I would need a total of 16 of them (4 per link), 18mm ID, 25mm OD, 3mm thick, or something like that, if needed I could turn them down, or enlarge the hole.. Let me know if you can find them in metric, in case I've got a good freight forwarder in Miami so that you don't have to go through the hassle of the international shipping..

[Jeff L]

I think the blue looks good too.What I think would look cool is to polish the frame & girder, & have them cleared.

[rakeNtrail]

The only thing that bothers me is that the girder legs are too short for my liking.
As a rolling frame with no motor, trans, tins, tanks, fuel or rider/passenger your
lower frame rails are sitting level. The only movable parts in the suspension is the
front end. So, where are the lower frame rails going to be after all that weight is added?
Far too low I'd suspect. JMHO

[budoka]

on the link angle, the way Gary mentions that he likes to set them up in the girder build cd, and consequently the way i set mine up, is to block up the front of the frame 1" above level to take all the weight off the forks, and weld in the shock mounts so that the links are level. that way, when the weight of the bike and rider and all are on the links, they are just slightly pointing upwards (like what you quoted).

now i can't speak for any other setup, and certainly am not trying to say the way anyone else has theirs set up is wrong, but i *can* tell you that this method described by Gary on the girder build CD both works, and is simple to figure out. if you have the CD, read it front to back, and then reread from page 105, where it's talking about link geometry. not saying it's the only way, just something for you to look at and think about. having more viewpoints is always good.

your CAD looks amazing, i'm in awe too. the only thing i'd ask is, do you already have all these parts you're talking about? judging by your measurements, i'm assuming you do. if you don't have them in hand, i'd advise you not to set anything too firmly in your head dimension wise until you do. what looks good on paper (or CAD) has a nasty habit of being a different creature when you actually start building.

and i would definitely use 2 nuts on the stem. i think vibration and constant loosening of the nut might be an issue if you only use a single nut.

i'll be looking forward to seeing your progress. anything i can do to help, just let me know.

-dan

[Nero]

I've got the wheels, the shock the brake calipers and pumps. Oh and I've got the headlight also...
All the rest will be hand made (well, at least I will try.. )
I completely agree that from theory to practice there's an ocean (my bender isn't very precise to begin with.. :( ) and rakeNtrail make a good point too.. I think that I will definetly need to build the frame first, perhaps place some weight on it, and try to figure out the girder's legs length accordingly if the lower rails sit too low.. holy $hit, I'm afraid that I will need to build 3 girders to get one right.. :P

[Maz]

I'm sure you'll get it right fairly easily dude, you seem to be going about it the right way - you'll certainly gain some useful experience from this and I'll bet the next one takes you half as long

Maz xx

[rakeNtrail]

Wait till the end to build your girder legs. You can always do a mockup of the legs with some 3/4" plywood.
In most cases if the front of the lower frame rails are @ 1.5" higher than the back at the roller stage then
the stance is about right with the final load on the bike. Still a killer layout to go by though. Nice work!

[Nero]

Olite bushings just arrived, I should start the frame build in 2-3 weeks, if everything goes right.
In the meanwhile I've done another render, this time more "classy" look..

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[Nero]

Hi guys, I've started building some parts for the bike, specifically the girder's axcle plate, and a little doubt hitted my mind...
This is the axle&spacers I'm gonna use, taken directly from a Kawa ZX-12R:

Axle

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And this are the girder's axle "plate":

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The complete assembly will look like this (imagine the girder's legs welded on top of the axle plates):

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The question is: do you think that I should provide something to prevent the axle from rotating inside the fabricated sleeve (like a pin, or something, you know, commercial forks have that sort of clamping system to avoid it...), or once the axle will be tightened to the appropriate torque, it will not be a problem?

Many thanks guys!