sourcing metal/ materials?

[iTGbuDeeV]

Where you you all source your materials from? Specifically various diameter tubing for frame mods/ stretches, and appropriate sized plugs for said frame mods to help join the pieces together?

I am totally new at this and got very lucky with my first build happening to match some spare pipe (yes, pipe, but it worked) that I found in a friends garage.

I have many ideas for several bike I have laying around but am struggling to find some basic raw materials.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

If you are just starting out, the best thing is old junk frames, lots of different size tubing available. You can cut a small slit in a piece to squash it smaller to make sleeves for inside joins fairly easily too.

I have used everything from old fence pipe to bunk bed frames to get sizes and curves I wanted in the past, these days I usually buy full lengths from a metal supplier and get custom rolling done for curves, but it is still cool to find just the right piece of tube in a junk yard to use on a build!

 

[iTGbuDeeV]

Thanks. I have been keeping an eye out on the Garage sale/ Free sections of the local craigslist pages for exactly this reason. Managed to score 5 bikes and a few extra parts for $40 this weekend. Guess i'll keep on keeping on!

 

[SSG]

I just picked up a porch swing which had about three different diameters of steel tubing just the right wall thickness for bicycles. I avoid galvanized pipe for the obvious reasons, but just about anything else can be used.

 

[dracothered]

Just keep your eye out for anything made of metal and see what it tells you it wants to be a part of. You may be shocked at what you find that you can build a bike from. For example I built the frame of a bike from a Reese hitch car tow bar.

 

[Indyjps]

Old bikes for sure, curves you need, diameter you need, find some decent frames and get a stash of chromoly tubing going.

Early mountain bikes are weird crossover roadbike geo that no one wants now, but many were built with really nice materials, good donors for chromoly. Univega? Nashbar?

If nothing else, theres a ton of magna and roadmasters out there for $10-$20 cash. You cant get the metal supply house to answer the phone $10 in material. Most of what they carry is much thicker wall than what you need.