West County Custom P2 Making the fork

[@mistersmith158]

All the production budget was blown on that rad intro HWB hopefully you can use it a few more times. No room for craft services on this shoot folks! Happy holidays to you and Ms Cools. Ride on strong into 2025 guys

[@felixjackson2670]

Brilliant. What a great project. You are doing something I have had in my mind for decades!! Look forward to the next video. Thanks

[@Desi365]

Congrats for having the guts and dedication to get into this. I can't even get past how to lace a wheel , myself.

[@ericwetteland8542]

Good video. I’m just getting to this point in my life where I’m will to try things and if it doesn’t work try again. I used to get hung up and never got started. It’s nice seeing you fail and start over. Very inspiring.

[@Henrywildeberry]

I was getting tool paralysis. I found myself needing yet another tool in order to start. You won't know what you need until you start. Don't worry about the tools, some hand files, a hacksaw, a vise, and most importantly a desire to learn. Also, the full sized drawing is definitely the most helpful especially if you're like me and you don't have any fancy machines. Also, I found this fork fixture for sale used and I think it's a big help getting everything aligned. But it's not required, you can just be very careful cutting the fork legs to the exact length. The worst thing that can happen is you fail and have to start over, but that's how learning works.

[@benc8386]

​@@HenrywildeberryI've made several frames and forks now with basically an angle grinder and a TIG (and some simple fixtures I also made with the above tools). Don't know how you're planning to mitre the tubes when you get to the main triangle, and maybe you've already done it, but paper templates work really well for me. This is what many framebuilders are using the big milling machines and things for.

[@Henrywildeberry]

@@benc8386 Thanks Ben! I don't want to spoil too much, but I did use the paper template method. I also bought a nice half round file with about the same diameter as the top tube for final miter shaping. Everything fit together pretty snug, maybe not a perfect as a mill.

[@benc8386]

@Henrywildeberry I bought all the hole saws and a cheap mitring fixture for my first frame. But then found I much prefer to use the templates. One frame I made was an MTB and had the DT mitring up against a tapered headtube. Try doing that with a holesaw :) I managed to write my own computer code to generate the template 💪.

[@ScottCopeland-yh9lm]

I admire your courage. Merry Christmas. 🎄

[@DavidRains-j4u]

Well done for taking on a project like this it will be so satisfying to ride a bike you have built from scratch yourself. It’s years since I have done any brazing but it looks to me that you could do with a bigger torch to get the volume of heat required so that it doesn’t get too hot and burn the flux, it would give you more time and control, that small hot flame is locally burning the flux.

[@Henrywildeberry]

Thanks David! I'm very anxious to see how rides. That's going to be either aa very rewarding day or one filled with a lot of disappointment.

[@charleslicha2770]

I thought the same thing.

[@benc8386]

@@Henrywildeberry It will ride great. Even if the alignment ends up a bit out (which it probably won't) that isn't even something you would notice. I recently rebuilt my first frame, because I wasn't quite happy with various details nobody would notice except me. The new one rides almost exactly the same (although I think I can feel the slightly thinner walled tubes I used).

[@garyfirmin8054]

Good lead in tune!

[@donttouchthisatall]

This is amazing! thanks for taking us along for the journey! I will live vicarously through your bike build until (if ever) I can muster the tools/workshop/materials/knowledge/skill to build my own! Lugged forks look specatcular! I much prefer them to unicrown forks. Just a classic look :) LFT part 3 to n :)

[@benc8386]

Wow, great work! Too bad there are no rack or fender eyelets on the new fork ends though... I made my first fork nice and wide for plenty of tyre clearance (it was a segmented TIG fork) only to realize later that you can't just put V-brake posts an arbitrary distance apart :) If you ain't breaking stuff you ain't making stuff.

[@markyoung950]

In October of 1991 I was riding my bicycle on Rt 100 in Wardsboro, VT and the steerer tube snapped at the fork crown. I was super lucky. that I was not hurt at all The steerer tube cracked from the back to the front. I would take your finished product to work and perform a rockwell hardness test to ensure that nothing was embrittled.

[@Henrywildeberry]

That’s terrifying! Do you know how many miles were on the fork? Also, was it a threaded steerer or thread less? What type of fork crown?

[@markyoung950]

@@Henrywildeberry Thread-less did not come out until 1993. Over 10,000 miles. It was a seamed forkcown with mangalloy fork blades that was mass-produced in Japan. I had a Cinelli stem and handlebar and could not stop them from creaking. Then the fork snapped.

[@Henrywildeberry]

@@markyoung950 Thanks for sharing! Don't ignore the creaks for too long. With steel, if it's creaking it could be the beginning of a failure. Not always, but still worth checking the frame and fork to be safe.

[@willbill9683]

Just curious, does repeated heating of the metal affect its strength?

[@Henrywildeberry]

Good question. Hopefully, someone with a materials science background can answer this more directly.

[@PaulResor]

Can the strength of metal be tested after completion for your safety on your local roads? I want to see you make more videos!

[@markyoung950]

About the disc brake comment below. I do not race any more but from what I understand hydraulic brake master cylinders lack the travel and modulation of rim brakes. Would cable shift/brake levers and Tektro C550 cable actuated brakes possibly resolve this issue?

[@charleslicha2770]

If you lived closer I would offer to paint it for you, or walk you through painting it yourself.

[@tmagee27]

Where is part 1, the one where you lay things out? Can you not get Jon Fitz to teach you the basics, some frame builders will do a reduced cost build where you build some or all of the bike together under their paid supervision?

[@Henrywildeberry]

I wanted to take a first pass on my own. I think it's good to make some mistakes. Then when you meet with someone that's willing to show you you'll have a better point of reference.

[@bonus5512]

You need a new shirt. Have you ever considered buying yourself a bicycle with disc brakes?

[@Henrywildeberry]

I've got a new shirt! Come back to part 3, so you can see me wearing it. I bought myself a bike with disc brakes back in 2009, it's a 29er HT. I rode it over the summer, you should check out the video here if you want to see me riding it.