With the frame in the right place, held with wood supports and a tack of epoxy, it was time to wrap with Hemp fiber (bought from Denman island). I watched a video of Japanese bamboo scaffolding tying and it reminded me of my old Scouts Canada days.
Time to go. Lay on a bit of epoxy, pull some fiber into strands and then brush a thick layer of epoxy. I was no sure about the direction of the wrapping but thought about the forces in play and how the hemp was there to hold things together and transfer the forces of my bunny hopping landings.
Here are a bunch of pics of the whole frame wrapped up. I drilled holes in electrical tape and wrapped the wet mess to compress the hemp-epoxy overnight. Worked really well.
And after the epoxy has hardened and the tape removed…
Problems? Of course! How to get the seat tube and clamp to hold? It was a bit messy but I jammed some epoxy down the sides and tapped the tube into place. With a dremmel, I cut the seat tube clamp relief notch and it works!
Another problem? I had originally thought to make is a disc bike. However, I was getting itchy to ride and there was some interference with the disc. Also, how to position the disc tabs? I am a bit of a hack. I’m sure I can figure it out but I was running out of steam. So I added a rear brake bridge and stole from my parts bin.
