Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Paul Brodie and The Whippet #3

Paul Brodie and The Whippet #3

Paul Brodie talks us through the third episode in this series, fabricating an exact reproduction of an 1888 Whippet full-suspension bicycle. You’ll be able to view the amazing result at the 2012 North American handmade Bicycle Show.

“Building the seat collar was a fun job. Pretty simple, and only one days work. First step was to figure out dimensions. I drew on cardboard, and made the correct amount of space for the bolt. Starting with 1″ mild steel, the drawing was transferred by scribing on layout dye”:

Paul Brodie and The Whippet #3

“The rotary table really was invaluable when building the Whippet. The combination of lathe, mill, rotary table, and digital readout is REALLY quite powerful”:

Paul Brodie and The Whippet #3

“OK, there were a few steps in between these two photos. After milling the radius (above), the seat collar went into the lathe, and the centre was bored out, leaving a step. Then back into the rotary table, and a 1/4″ endmill relieved the radius (top and bottom) to be used as a guide for hand filing. Next the slot, followed by the bolt hole. Radius around the bolt hole. File and shape to suit. The hard part is the blending from radius to flat; that’s where you need patience”:

Paul Brodie and The Whippet #3

Paul teaches Framebuilding 101 at the University of the Fraser Valley. For more information on the course, where you can learn how to build a steel framed bicycle using Paul’s original jigs that have built over 4000 frames, visit the UFV website.

Previously:
Paul Brodie and The Whippet #1
Paul Brodie and The Whippet #2