Now in its second year, the
Handmade Bicycle Show Australia (HBSA) is a place for Australia’s thriving maker community to come together and show off their wares. Every 10th bike in the room was a gem awaiting trails. Here we bring you eight bikes from the show, seven of which are Australian.
Dave Rome is a tech editor at CyclingTips.com, Pinkbike's sister site. Find dropbar coverage of the
Handmade Bicycle Show Australia over at CyclingTips.
137 Comments
Cool bike, crappy joints.
Pretty cool none the less
At the same time... "22-year old Hayden Francis of HTech is changing what you may think of wooden bikes....." When I was 22, definitely wasn't inlaying carbon into hand built, CNC'd jointed wood bike frames! give the kid a few years experience and see what he comes up with. Gotta start somewhere, this is one hell of a starting point
It seems these comments have got a bit out of control, normally I don't bother answering comments like this, but in this case I think it is best to do so.
First, thanks James you are all correct.
To Bikethrasher yes everybody can improve, and we are currently evaluating a new manufacturing technique that will allow us to produce tighter joints. However for a few reasons we will never be able to produce joints as your google search provided.
1. The the images you have found are mostly renders and the actual photos and joints made using various jigs on solid timber, compared to our thin walled tube are not possible.
2. Our CNC will not produce our complex tubes as usable parts straight out of the machine, and therefore need to be hand finished so they will fit in together.
3. As a woodworker you will know that epoxy is a very broad term for a range of adhesive and fillers. After extensive testing, we have decided on 6 different adhesives and variations to use for bonding different parts of our frames were they are best suited. The adhesive used in the IsoLoc is a thicker, but very flexible epoxy, that needs some adhesive to remain in the joint. As a tight joint that you are after will cause a dry or starved joint that is very dangerous. This has been told to us by the manufacturer and has been backed up by our own testing.
I hope this helps you understand the reasons for the larger than usual woodworking joint.
So while titanium 3D printing (SLS) doesn't require infill, I'm not sure I'd refer to the manual use of it as "genius"...
In all fairness, lattice structures are rarely used in MTB industry and honestly as dentist bikes are already breaking 10k price point, this is doomed to change. Looking at cutting edge industries and performance oriented products, carbon-alu-carbon sandwich seems to be the way to go for load bearing structures that want to utilize benefits of both materials. Before you know it there will be that one bling bling sub 100g XC handlebar made that way. And relative fragility of carbon frames can be easily addressed that way too - with lightweight lattice infill of metal.
Then of course there will be a 3-5 year period where none will sell because we shop with our eyeballs and they'll 'look funny', but we'll eventually come around.
I am the owner and rider of the wooden bike. I’m glad some of you appreciate the effort that Hayden put into the build.
So......just to be CLEAR -
I weigh 100 Kg (220lb). I have ridden the bike extensively, including the EWS course in Derby, Tasmania. It handles all terrain without issues. Of course it rides like a hard tail, because it is
It has and continues to perform perfectly. The ride feel is somewhere between Ti and Steel.
It’s a work of utterly functional art and should be appreciated as such.
Cheers
James
Cheers
m.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=165425
Quite happy with the final weight. Compared to my previous frame/bike that I've ridden for almost 2 years (and is still going strong), most weight savings were in the component choice.
a 9 year old bike. Do they still make the Bighit?
Being able to ride in and hang the bikes up in the foyer was pretty sweet.
Only part that was a bit of a shame was there werent more vendors or brands there for if you want to build your own bike. Columbus tubing was there but that was about it. That to me would have been awesome to see.
Definitely worth a visit next time round though, some great works to see first hand.
But printed seat clamp, GTFOOH.... No way no how.
Seriously though, you have to automate some processes to create new and cool bikes.
It is in a ti bike, so if there were impurities and then you welded it, the rider would have a real bad day later.
Giant pain for welding set up and I would not hesitate to consume from it after you give it a cleaning. Don't know if anyone makes the right sort of bottle brush for that though.
Tires?
brake's disc?
Ball bearings?
*scoffs*
What's with the listicles on pinkbike? Fingers crossed pinkbike doesn't become a site where every title has a number in it.
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