The Chopper Compendium

Hi all.

I'm looking at my first chopper project there's a local company producing frames fairly cheap (as frames go) or I thought of ploughing my money into a decent welder and going it alone.

Only I'm concerned I may be chasing a never achievable dream many experienced people have said you need to make sure your welds are good and safe (obviously) I suppose what I'm asking is, is going from complete newb to being a competent frame builder an achievable goal? And and if so what steps do you need to take to get there. I'd love to build.a frame and a bike from scratch but if its more financially sensible to pay for and experienced person to do it for you then I'd far rather do that.

Than guys

pick up the cd he explanes everything that you will have to do in detail to build a frame . yes you will need some skills or some friends with skills but even then things can be tacked together with relatively no skill and pay someone to weld but you can learn anything you put your mind to I bet . and from my experience nothing beats the feeling you get from your being able to tell people you built it yourself although I have to admit from a time and money point you wont save a dime its strictly a pride thing . I don't think you will get too many on here to say buy one but if you decide to do it yourself im sure we all will help its mostly why were all here good luck and have fun

Thanx for the reply I have wanted to learn to weld for a while now so I guess its an extension of that and I'd like to say I'd be able to I can weld a frame so I'd be doing it for learing and the love of it more than anything else.

I just didn't want to invest my money in a new welder if my ultimate goal wasn't sensibly achievable

Read some of the topics under ARTICLES on the left.

http://www.chopperhandbook.com/

Welding is discussed here.

I think it's a good read.

http://www.choppercompendium.com/ccforu ... f=28&t=451

Sounds like you have a desire, but you aren't sure if you want to spend the time and money to achieve it.
Nothing wrong with that, it just means you don't have enough knowledge about it to be sure what you should do.

You might consider a welding class to get a hands on intro. Thats a good way to find out if you want to
continue, or decide to buy a frame. Either way is fine, and there are a lot of pros and cons for each way.
The more you know, the better decision you can make.

Read some, ask questions, think it over, read, ask more questions...
Lotsa experienced people here willing to share what they know.

Having a good firm plan will save you time and money. That good plan comes from study.

Before i built a frame, i wanted to as well..i am also a buggy enthusiast and read more than once the first frames were scrapped, my first bike frame and first buggy frame were scrapped as well, good learning experience though, never learn unless you try, all the theory will not replace experience, Id say get at it but dont expect your first to be safe or roadworthy, first thing i did was build my bender, then a bunch of other stuff, then a trailer to haul stuff, then started building frames, if you jump right at frame building you might be on a short road to discouragment of fail, I got more from old timers willing to share knowledge than anything ealse.. Mostly retired millwrights or old folks that had no training that I met here or there usually buying old used tools and machines.

And I got a awfull lot of good direction by getting and reading through garys cd's of the handbook

dirtbag wrote:Before i built a frame............ first thing i did was build my bender, then a bunch of other stuff, then a trailer to haul stuff, then started building frames, if you jump right at frame building you might be on a short road to discouragment of fail.

Great Advice.

There is enough information on this forum and the main site to build a frame. I did buy Gary's CD, but I already had My frame built. I had a friend help with bending the tubing, but I mocked up the frame and fitted everything together . I can weld, and probably could have welded My own frame, but I have a friend who I know can weld better than I can, so I let him do the welding.
If you really want to, you can build your own frame.

thanx guys.

i deffinately have the desire for it. i read on some other forums unless your a very experienced welder with an understanding of frame geometry its not worth it.

iv looked for a welding class but they are very exensive here in the uk, so i was going to get myself a good welder then just have a go. i was going try a bicycle frame before a chop frame as theres plenty on the net about them and they seem fairly straight forward.

www.atomiczombie.com can help you with that !

I don't want to bury you in links, but you have some fine workmanship in UK.

http://www.metalshapingzone.com/shop/pa ... hop_param=