RikeBike 004 – Karen’s Mountain Bike

This sweet little ride is my fourth frame from scratch, and my second fillet brazed frame. As would be expected, this frame turned out much better than my first mountain bike frame. This is my wife Karen’s mountain bike and replaced her Cannondale Raven 800SL from 2001. Quite a change!

I started out brazing with some flux I had from Henry James, but it was old, and dried out, and not working well. I ordered some new flux from Henry James and the brazing went much better. When the frame was nearly completed, I ran out of the brazing rod I had previously ordered from Henry James and finished up with some rod I had left over from the welding store. Yuck! The rod from Henry James flowed much better and was much easier to use. Two more examples of how the right materials make all the difference. Below is the bottom bracket joint immediately after brazing, and the finished frame before the powder coat.

This was the first frame I built using my homemade frame jig. I built the first 3 frames off of my granite surface plate. That worked well for the main triangle, but I had trouble keeping the rear dropouts aligned. My new jig was very helpful in keeping the rear dropouts aligned and centered with the front triangle.

I built this frame with a Nova tube set and some slider dropouts that will accommodate a single speed setup too. The frame has a 72 degree seat angle, and a 69 degree head angle, designed to work with the 5″ travel fork. The finish is a two-coat powder coat from a local provider. I built it up with a 1×10 drivetrain which gives it a really clean look. The titanium handlebar matches the stainless King Cages well.