CR#4
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After I signed up for the night school course I learned that
we could choose our own projects. The Counterpoint Presto was the bent at the time which I
really liked, so I decided to copy it. One of the biggest hurdles was figure out how to do
all the bends in the frame. I simply used a square tube and cut out wedge shaped pieces
and bent the tube and re-welded the tube to form the shape. The tubing was mild steel
bought from a place called the Metal Supermarket which sold small quantities of steel. The
dropouts where cut from 1/8" plate steel. The 'elevated' chainstay design was done to
get the stays to miss the chain. The idler pulley was made from a hard plastic climbing
pulley which was skinned with a section of inner tube to make run a bit quieter.
The seat was made from 7/8" aluminium tubing rivetted to copper pipe elbow joints.
The webbing was 1" nylon strapping which was inspired after looking a Kingcycle over
at a Ride for the Heart ride. The webbing was held in tension with just slide buckles. The
seat failed after about a year and was replaced with a seat frame brazed toether from
7/8" steel tubing.
The biggest problem at the time was trying to get a high enough gear, this was partially
solved with a 54 tooth chainring with a Suntour 6 speed freewheel with 11,13,15,17,20,23.
At the time this was the only way I could get an 11 tooth cog, economically. The bike was
really fun to ride even though the weight of the frame was such that I almost didn't
finish it. The 2" square mild steel on the mainframe made it very heavy. The one
downside to the bike was the harsh ride of the 20" wheels. I installed a BMX
suspension fork later which helped a tiny amount. In it's final guise, after I discovered
Mapp gas torches, I put braze-ons on the frame for cable housing guides and built a custom
stem which mimicked the way the Kingcycle h-bars were. This solved the sweaty elbow pits
problem and the aching in the elbows.
Specs.:
Wheels 20"/20"
Wheelbase 35"
Head angle 69 degrees
BB height 25"
Seat height 23.5"
Weight 38 lb.s
Built: March 1994
Fate: Sold to Wayne Fong, August 1995
