PolyTube Cycles

[e-RICHIE]

Incredible how fast time flies.

^

needs pictures atmo.

[datas_brother]

^

needs pictures atmo.

Your wish and so on...


The indoor shop in progress.


Same shot after (almost) finishing. You can see 9 of the 14 repairs I currently have in the shop.


The Outside area.


The compressor I bought with the new shop.


The art corner The small one was painted by my daughter (11).


A 17 year old Staiger Red Arrow in for restoration.


A Trek Y11. What needs to be done is obvious.

[Malzbier]

My Red Arrow looks great as a picture on a website.
Take all the time you need. Iam sure you will do a great job....hopefully.

[datas_brother]

busy couple of weeks. I've been trying to catch up on all the repair jobs that have piled up due to the move while at the same time getting the last bits of the shop up and running. I've managed to get a little over half of the frames repaired and either back to the owners or to the painter but I've also received as many new jobs so I'm still at the same point as before.

I don't paint but all of my repairs need protection against UV so I built a paint booth to do small jobs in. I limit myself to clear or the occasional black or white touch-up. Never a complete frame. just the repaired tube. Anything els goes to Colors Unlimited in Erkelenz, Germany. They do a great job and manage to give the original look back in about 10 days. Here's a shot of the booth:



The boarded panel is a turbulence filter so the larger mist-droplets stick there. Behind it is a fiber pre-filter to keep the fans from caking up. Behind the fans is an active charcoal filter to keep the smell down. The air passes through another fiber filter before being expelled out the back. To keep incoming air clean it passes through a paper dust filter, or at least it will once I get the door installed. I also need to make quick release manifold for pressurized air.

The guy who owns the Trek found a new one on ebay for € 100.- more than the repair so he decided not to go through with the repair. Still debating if I should make him an offer and keep it as a show piece. EHBE is coming soon (I hope).

Malzbier, your frame is in the works and will go to the painter next week.

[Malzbier]

Thats great news.Thanks for that! :)
Also i like to wish you a merry x-mas,and alot of more jobs to be done in the next year.

[datas_brother]

Almost everything I get in for repair is bike related. Yesterday a customer brought something completely different in. This is the side panel of an Audi R8:



For those who don't know what an R8 is, it costs more than some pay for their house.

The owner had an accident and the panel got cracked. The damage on the front is the smallest but also the most expensive to repair since the entire top layer needs to be replaced:



The crack on the back will just be repaired locally.



As the repair progresses I'll post more pictures.

[dgaddis]

That's very cool. The R8 is a baller ride, there's one or two here in town I see every now and then. Very cool car.

Audi of America > 2012 Audi R8

Is this the biggest thing you've had to repair?

[datas_brother]

Is this the biggest thing you've had to repair?

As far as size goes, yes but I've had bike frames that were more difficult. In fact I have a "Simplon puzzle" that I bought to fix. It's beyond financially reasonable so I'll do it as a show bike. Basically, it is now a tube set.

[datas_brother]

I got the opportunity to buy a used frame jig. It has been sitting in the attic of a Pedersen frame builder very close to where I live, who does some very nice work. Since, it hassn't been in use for awhile, it has collected a good coat of dirk, dust and rust. It's been here a couple of weeks but I'm just now getting around to cleaning it up so I can put it to use. If anyone can tell me who the maker is, I would very much appreciate it.

6845887273_fbc8210271_z.jpg

The backplate can be adjusted in height as well as the angles of toptube, downtube and seattube.

6845887495_1960d6fc51_z.jpg

The position and height of the rear dropout post can be adjusted.



I started clean up using a wire brush in a cordless drill. The battery was full but quit on me after 15 minutes. It doesn't like - 8°C (17.6°F)



In other news, Malzbiers frame is finished:



My painter (Colors Unlimited) did a great job making this look as good as new. This job was allot of work. I had to rebuild part of the bottom bracket area, Fix a problem with the bottom headset bearing cup as well as some other cosmetic issues. After 17 years of riding this one will have another couple of decades in it. More pictures here.

[Malzbier]

Fantastic job,man.
She really looks like new again.
Just have to say,if your frame has some serious issues,then polytube-cycles is the choice you wanna take.
Thank you.

[datas_brother]

I just don't post here enough.

I'm starting a new project called Simplon Pavo Puzzle. The reason for the name should be obvious:



The original owner got into a mass crash and this is how it ended. He is OK. He asked if I could fix it and I said yes but it will cost a bit. In the end, he decided to buy a new frame so I asked him to sell me this one. Not being satisfied with just putting it back together, I plan some changes. Over the next few weeks (months) I will be moving the cables inside the frame. At the same time, I will move the RD cable to the TT and SS. Darren sent me a box full of Ti cutoffs that I will use to make some bling.

I originally planned this just for demonstration purposes but I've been asked to speak at a symposium for "AVK - Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e. V.
Federation of Reinforced Plastics" in August and this will make a good object of discussion.

Feel free to ask questions and I will try to post more pictures as the project matures.

[datas_brother]

The Pavo puzzle project is continuing. I recieved the carbon tubes for the internal cable routing and will start the repair next week. On Tuesday I have people from the University of Bayreuth (Frauenhofer Institute) coming to watch me work. It's part of a research project for carbon repair, which I am involve in.

The official program for the seminar at which I'll be speaking is out. You can find it here. It's in German but Google translate will get it close enough to understand. I'll post pictures of my progress next week. Currently I'm swamped so things are going a bit slow.

[datas_brother]

Well, pictures didn't work out just yet. They are still on the camera. Current Status: The frame is a frame again. I've changed the geometry a bit to fit me. The cables are also running internally. I used carbon tubing as a guide and Al tubing in the corners to redirect around the seat cluster and BB. The housings end where the cable enters the frame. I still need to do some cosmetic work before I can start cutting some Ti accents. In the end, I intend to run this with as many repaired parts as I can just to prove that most things can be fixed.

This week has been slow in the shop due to the seminar on Tuesday. As mentioned above, The Federation of Reinforced Plastics held a seminar about Repair of FRP. I was asked to speak about carbon fiber repair. It was interesting to see the spectrum of people there. Attending were people from several universities, companies selling FRP products and materials maker. I was slotted just after a guy from company servicing wind turbine blades up to 80m long. He had pictures of some of his employees hanging halfway down a blade repairing a crack that must have been close to 10m long. They do this on sunny days while the blade is still mounted. All in all a very interesting day. I was very happy with the positive feedback I received.

[datas_brother]

I have too many things going on at the same time. I'm still working on the Pavo puzzle (see above). The frame is now ridable. Only cosmetic things left.

I made some molds to make tubing with. They still need to be waxed and have semi-perm release applied but soon will be used to make the first testing prototypes of my road frame. If they work well, I'll have them CNC out of Al.


Before I get to use them I need to finish making (converting) an oven. My wife didn't like the large stove that came with the kitchen in our house so I switched it for a better one and now I have a basis for a curing oven. I'm extending the oven cavity with sheet metal. It's too thick to use snips so out comes the angle grinder. It will also get a digital programmable temperature controller.



In addition, I also had some work to do for customers. See pics here.

[datas_brother]

I am currently cooperating with a research project at the U. of Bayreuth - Frauenhofer Institute looking at the effectiveness of different repair techniques for carbon fiber. The other day I received the first test tokens. They will sanded down layer by layer leaving an overlap of 7 mm per layer. Each layer is 0.12 mm thick. It takes a very steady hand not to damage the underlying layer. Here's a shot of the tokens:



and a closeup of one finished token



It takes about 45 min. to do each tab. They will be sent back and then repaired with the same prepreg used to make them.

I also had a visit from a journalist who is writing a report about frame repair featuring me. It will be a 4 -5 page spread in the Jan/Feb issue of "Bikesport" and "RennRad". For the report he brought 2 frames, a MTB and a road bike (both Stevens). The articles will be written around the respective frames. There will also be about a 1/3 page in "Aktiv Radfahren" to compliment the two articles.

Here's a shot of the raw repair of the road bike. This is mid-process. The damaged area has already been removed and the patch applied. The compacting tape has just been removed. Next step is to sand a bit and apply the topcoat epoxy before going to the painter.

[savine]

Look forward to reading the reports when the mags come out. Silly question but is there any oarticular brand you prefer to repair and is there such a big difference in build qualitys.

[datas_brother]

That's a good question and I needed to think about it for awhile. There are no particular brands that are easier or harder to repair. All of the big names make good bikes but some have little problems, which vary by year-model. BMC had a problem with the BB-shell coming loose. Cervelo had a bad 2010-2011 for their top coat because you hardly had to touch it for it to throw bubbles by de-laminating. Merida MTBs have delicate seatstays, that break when the bike falls over (I own one of those).

Where you do start seeing big differences is when you move to the direct imports. Those frames are sold at a price point and it shows. They aren't bad but you can see the lack of engineering that went into the, which is compensated for by adding more material and filler. You see it immediately when you put the frame on the scales.

There are brands, which I prefer to work with because they cooperate with me. Felt sends frames directly to me. Simplon refer customers to me and Scott will supply parts (DOs).

Other brands are silly paranoid. Specialized will not even supply a jpg or eps from which to cut a paint mask. The reason they gave me is they fear illegal copies. Colnago actively discourages repairs. I guess they think they can sell more frames that way.

With the exception of the three above, I've learned to ignore the brand and do what needs to be done to get the frame back on the road. Working with the maker would make things easier but the customer wants to get back rolling and the resonance I get is that they will choose a different brand if the maker forces them to replace instead of repair.

[datas_brother]

Well, I got my Christmas present early. Yesterday I picked up the current issue of RennRad (literally: Racing Bike). Starting on page 84 there is a four page article about how carbon fiber frames are repaired. It features my company exclusively. Unfortunately, I can't reprint any of it here but a copy will be available for download in March through my website. If you're in Germany, have a look. If not have patience.

Merry Christmas everyone!

[evo111]

Thanks for posting and your insights. Can you share any thoughts on the types of carbon frame, fork and parts failures you see. Are they crash related, fatigue related, negligence (I dropped the bike or i over torqued the fastener), construction/material/method related, etc? Just interested in the life cycle of the material and frames. Do see many carbon forks that have failed? Thanks again!

[datas_brother]

Thanks for posting and your insights. Can you share any thoughts on the types of carbon frame, fork and parts failures you see. Are they crash related, fatigue related, negligence (I dropped the bike or i over torqued the fastener), construction/material/method related, etc? Just interested in the life cycle of the material and frames. Do see many carbon forks that have failed? Thanks again!

I don't get any request to repair fatigue failures but if I did I wouldn't take it. Fatigue effects the whole system so as soon as you fix one problem the next is just a ride away.

Most of my repairs are crash related. Either toptube crack from the handlebars or seatstay from the guy behind. There are also a number of downtubes cracked as well. I've had a couple that forgot the bike was on the roof rack and couple that overtightened something. Another common problem is aluminum coming loose (BB shell, cable stops, etc.).

I don't repair forks for the simple reason that it is too expensive but here is one I got for the Pavo Puzzle project, above:


Something I'm working on is to repair carbon rims. The big challenge is the high temp braking friction causes. Inexperienced riders coming down mountain passes hang on the brakes the whole way down. Temperatures can reach 240°C easily. That requires special epoxies that also need to be post cured but post curing can damage other parts of system wheels. This means heating only the repair area without effecting the surrounding area.

BTW if anyone has any broken carbon parts they would be willing to donate let me know. I need a set of cranks, front and rear DR and brake/shift levers, which are Shimano compatible for the Pavo Project. My goal is to build the entire bike from broken parts.