By Megan Lambert (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 2, 2014
“I feel like a winner,” said Rob Benson, winner of the bike toss competition at the UFV Bicycle Show ‘n’ Shine on June 24.
Students of UFV’s bicycle frame building program presented their finished products at their campus at the UFV Aerospace Centre. The competition for the best bike and bike toss was held to celebrate the students’ completion of the program.
Traditionally, after a mountain bike race, cyclists hold a bike toss — picking up a mountain bike and throwing it as far as they can. In this case, the students contributed $2 for a throw, and whoever threw the farthest won the pot.
In the best bike competition, the bikes were judged on rarity, aesthetics, and the cool-factor. Mike Freda won with a bright blue frame he designed to allow for suspensions three times the standard size.
Instructor Paul Brodie, owner of Brodie Research Technology Inc., teaches steel-frame bicycle building — from designing your model to tweaking the finished product.
“His stuff is very cutting edge,” said Dave Farmer from the Abbotsford Arts Council, noting that Brodie is a “legend in the biking world.”
Students begin by learning a short history of mountain bikes, then they design the frames.
There are two ways of welding the frames: brass welding and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. Brass welding is done by holding a small brass cylinder over the intersection of the two metal pieces and melting it on top of them, acting as a kind of glue. TIG welding fuses together two pieces of metal, then filing down the residual bumps. Most of the recent class brass welded, giving the jointed pieces a smoother finish.
The class practised welding miniature frames before moving onto their larger projects.
Some had the frames painted by “Toxik Harald” Strasser, a specialist in bicycle painting. He uses aircraft paint to give the bikes a durable finish with high pigmentation.
Freda said the course gave him the opportunity to build his dream bike.
“I had a bike in my head for years that I wanted to build but I couldn’t find it in stores, it was very unique … I ended up making it, and it turned out way better than I thought it would.”
