After building, modifying and generally working on bikes for the past few years I've decided to step things up a notch, and have a go at designing,fabricating and building my own custom bike frame.

I went through about a dozen designs, before finally settling on this one.

This is a cross between an American beach cruiser, and a chopper motorcycle.

I've decided to use only materials I have in my garage for this build. Luckily I have some round steel tubing, which is ideal for the frame. I'm going to incorporate the rear fender into the frame, so will probably use sheet metal for the rear fender. The rear dropouts, where the back wheel goes, is going to be the front forks off a 1970's racer. The handlebars are from the lawnmower which donated it's engine for the lawnmower bike. The front end comes off the free blue bike I got last month.

Before I cut the front end off the frame

After I cut the front end off the frame

Sweet!....as long as you don't plan on maneuvering through any tight turns. Those handbars are pretty radical!

Thanks Roger! I plan on using it just for cruising in, not for taking into town and finding small parking spaces!

I spoke to my friend today who's going to do the welding for me. He's away at the moment but should be home on Monday. I spent about an hour earlier working on the frame.

Since I haven't got access to a machine that can bend metal I've resorted to cutting small notches into the tubing and bending it into the desired shape. I'll weld the bends in the frame to give it extra strength.

The forks I'm using to hold the back wheel fit perfectly over the tubing. I didn't have to do any cutting or shaping. All I have to do is grind the area around the joint down and it's ready to weld.

I also made a start on the bars linking the front of the bike to the main frame. I just need to grind the front part down and it'll be ready to weld!

Recognize these? Of coarse you do. The were originally on the recumbent bike, then moved on to the wheelchair bike, and now it's final resting place will be on this bike. I've just to grind down the area that needs welding and I'll be ready to go!

I spent today cutting, bending, measuring and grinding.

Whenever you need to weld something, the two surfaces have to be clean. I saved my friend the trouble of grinding down the areas to be welded. I also bent the back forks slightly to accept a 5 speed rear wheel.

A quick mock up of how the frame should look when it's been welded. The pedals and seat are just for show.

You're off to a good start!