Reader Story: Making a Custom Bike By Recycling Old Frames

Words: Jackson Green
Photos: Blissfield Photography and Jackson Green

Many Pinkbike readers may have a few, cracked, out of warranty, or out of date frames frames lying around. They no longer have a use, but you remember the good times you had and you can't bear to throw them away. Well, how about turning them into something you really want?

I have built bicycle frames for a long time. I started building frames using steel so my partner and I could feed our tandem riding addiction. That is a good story too, but building frames that way is pretty slow. Once I became a dad and started building bikes for my kids, I wanted a way to make frames more quickly.

Most of the time building a frame is spent mitering tubes and making small, uninteresting parts like chainstay yokes and bearing seats. By using old frames, ready made parts can be put straight into the jig to give whatever geometry and suspension design is required. Wet layup carbon fibre, like you might use to build a sailboat, allows these parts to be stitched together with sections of tube formed in-situ in the frame jig - no mitering required.


The Pinkbike comment section is full of people with opinions on mountain bike geometry and suspension design. By making my own bike, I get to put my ideas in to practice.







Once the critical points were all jigged up, forms for new tube sections were made using florists' foam and held in place with hot glue. The pieces were then joined using wet layup carbon fiber wrapped directly around the frame pieces and foam. After a first layer to provide enough strength for handling, the frame was de-jigged and a second layup was performed to achieve the desired composite thickness and strength. Each layup was wrapped in peel ply or insulation tape to compress the laminate and squeeze out excess resin. The tape was removed before the resin was fully cured.

After a bit of trimming the bike was structurally finished so I was able to take it for a test ride. Once it was confirmed that everything worked the way I wanted, I stripped the frame for finishing and painting.



The Mountain Bike's middle-of-the-road geometry gives a very familiar feel right from the first ride. It is an all-rounder with no outstanding strengths and no glaring weaknesses.


While climbing, the cockpit feels short but not cramped, with a relaxed, upright riding position. The moderately long chainstays help to keep weight on the front wheel and avoid excessive vague feelings while cornering on less steep terrain. The antisquat hovers around 100% giving a neutral feel with plenty of grip, and no need to reach for the climb switch. With 170mm of travel and burly tires, the Mountain Bike doesn't have the pep of a cross country race machine, but it climbs well for a bike in this category and is very comfortable tackling all day epics with elevation measured in the thousands of metres.

The Mountain Bike also delivers no surprises while descending. It's reach and chainstay length centre the rider on the bike, helping to weight the front wheel and giving a confidence-inspiring feeling while cornering. The moderately progressive suspension design combines well with the Super Deluxe Coil's hydraulic bottom out to provide a predictable and supportive platform. It is reasonably sensitive off the top with good traction, but has enough midstroke support to provide a platform for jumping and pumping. On rougher ground and through g-outs it rides high enough in its travel to keep something in reserve for bigger hits.

On the other hand, the rear end is on the flexible side for a bike in this category. While this flex feels great on natural terrain but can be a bit vague in high g-force bike-park terrain. That trait suits me fine as I have a DH bike for the park, but had I wanted to make the rear end stiffer I could have added extra carbon fibre to the chain and seat stays, or have sourced the chainstays from something more burly than an 18 year old Stumpjumper.




Building a custom frame this way certainly won't be for everyone. Unlike construction using steel, there are few rules of thumb or established practices to ensure the frame will be strong enough. Instead, the framebuilder has to decide for themselves how much carbon fibre cloth to add, what weight and weave to use, and at what orientation. A conservative approach is required to ensure the result is safe. Nevertheless, for an experienced builder it delivers good results in little time. It is also very satisfying to be able to creatively re-use frames that would otherwise go to landfill.

Ride Safe

Jackson Green