Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - The 2 week Penny-Farthing.

[Dman]

Yup, I'm an idiot.

D: "Ratrod Ratrod can we have an open buildoff? Please please please!"
Ratrod: "Okay. Go."
D: "Oh crap, not quite ready yet..."

So yeah, here I am with two (?) weeks to go. If I had any sense I would've just continued with this...

But I've already shown you Guys pics of it so will start something from scratch instead :roll: .

Here's what I've got (courtesy of Unicycles.co.nz, an ancient Morrison exercycle, and my steel pile):

Was gonna just post teaser pics in anticipation of a big reveal but time is not on my side so it's probably pretty obvious where I'm going with this. It's an idea that's been bangin around in my skull for a bit now. I'd probably much rather take a bit of time with it, but that just wouldn't be in the spirit of things . Especially after prattling on about a unrestricted buildoff...

Anyway. Criticisms, suggestions, "You're a moron"s, and encouraging words are welcomed! Cheers Guys! Into it...

 

[Dman]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

New headtube and steerer from a donor Raleigh that I need to adapt to the unicycle frame...

 

[cody-james]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

a bone shaker in 2 weeks? awesome!

 

[SSG]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Good start! I'm sure you can pull it together in 2 weeks.

 

[Dman]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Yesterday's mission: Bending the main tubes. Instead of the inch and a half tube I usually use, I thought this bike would benefit from something a little finer. Unfortunately it didn't bend as nicely as usual. However the clock is ticking so I'm not doing it again. In fact I'm totally over this technique of pipe bending and have promised myself no more until I build or procure a tube roller of some sort...

Tubes packed with sand and plugged...

and after a whole lot of heat and persuasion...

Hmm, not great but we'll see what happens. More soon.
Cheers Guys.

 

[Dman]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Got the basic frame (not including rear stays) tacked up today. And drank a lot of beer. Man, I like beer.

Winmiter templates for the head-tube notches...

Bottom tube sliced and tacked in...

Tacked up frame showing bottom tube, head tube, and seat tube installed...

Am starting to think this might just be doable :?

 

[Dman]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Progress:

Cut down the unicycle frame and machined the donor steerer for a tight fit before MIGing it up into a (hopefully) solid item...

Creative juice...

Set up on the jig with lower rear stays tacked in (welded joins are where I had to shorten the frame to get a bit more ground clearance)...

More soon. Cheers Fellas...

 

[SSG]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Looks amazing.

 

[Markm]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

cool!

 

[Gdcast]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Man that´s looking good !!
I started my project 150 years ago and you´re already biting me...

 

[Dman]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

More:

Notching the crossmember that supports the upper rear stays...

Rear stays all bent up and tacked in...

Clock is ticking...

 

[Dman]

Re: Doctor D's Ascent into Madness - A late (!) entry.

Almost ready for paint:

Rear dropouts welded in...

One Penny-Farthing frame welded and ground...

To do: fit a step for mounting it, prime and paint, source handlebars, grips, pedals, Brooks saddle, and learn to ride the thing!

 

[stretch]

is that a 26" front wheel?

 

[Dman]

36 inch unicycle wheel. Biggest I could find for "reasonable" money.

 

[FunkyStickman]

Anything bigger than 36" and you'd have to use solid rubber tires, which aren't too cool to ride on...

Killer job! I've wanted to build one of these for quite a while.

 

[Dman]

Aaarrrgggghh! Spray gun "issues" have resulted in my worst paint job ever! Nightmare. Am really feeling the pressure now.

Good news: Purchased lovely Brooks saddle, organised bars, grips, pedals, brake, etc. Doing some nice photos on Sunday, so will leave any more pics to the Completed Bikes section.

SSG, Cody-James, Markm, Gdcast, Stretch, Stickman - cheers for the kind words Guys, and good luck to all the Builders.

See ya'll for the voting!