Jiggernaut
Discuss...

i think its fucking awesome for somebody like me with no knowledge but wants to get more into the mechanics of bikes.

eh. it's not for me, but I also have no desire in actually building a bike, at least not at this point in my life

Pass the JB Weld already.

No kidding. That really angrys up my creative glands. I'm going to need to play solitaire for a couple of hours to calm them down or I might do something impulsive.

I think it's really cool and a wonderful alternative to a $2000 frame jig for someone who does not wish to do it professionally (as in "high volume"). I wish it were made of something besides MDF, but I can see why they made the decision.

Myself, I plan on on building my own out of discount aluminum and parts turned from scrap once I learn to turn threads on the lathe and actually have money for torches, gas, and tubing/lugs.

edit: it'd be a neat project for me, but the labor cost probably outstrips the materials cost so the Jiggernaut is still probably at least as economical as building one myself

I looked at it and sighed. It takes a lot more than a fixture to be able to build a frame.

Oh, I thought you just had to buy the jig and put some tubes in it and wish real hard. Imagine my surprise!

It takes more than a fixture, but it does still take a fixture.

You can get all you need at Menard's.

No no, please don't take that as a challenge.

Im gonna build me a plumbing fixture bike!
no no a PVC plumbing fixture bike!!

No, no it does not. You can build without a fixture. Ask Doug Fattic (or Josh Kruck, the local who learned from him). It can certainly be done, and done well. My point was that there's a lot more to framebuilding than sticking tubes together.

Granted, but for someone who's been looking to get into the craft but has been daunted by the expense, $500 for a jig and some tubes is a pretty good starting point. Building frames requires expertise and practice, but it's not a magickal dark art that requires decades in seclusion on forbidden mountaintops meditating on Cycling Koans until the Gods bless you with divine permission in exchange for your proven dedication and a vow of celibacy. I don't see why an individual with a solid understanding of geometry (both frame and mathematical) and metalworking couldn't do it and do it satisfactorily with the Jiggernaut kit as a base.

Totally agree with you re: the dark arts thing. That's been one of my biggest points of complaint about the framebuilding community -- is the exclusionary nature of some of the individuals (those with well-known names). Specifically, I had completed my education with Paul Wyganowski and had built a few frames before starting in on building for friends -- I made an inquiry on a mailing list about pricing for custom racks and was torn to shreds by an individual (who shall remain nameless) who was going on about how he had built 1500 frames before he ever started selling anything, etc., etc., and how I shouldn't even THINK about getting into the market until I had done the same.

I'm all for more framebuilders cropping up -- and I don't care how they come to it, if they're self-taught, apprenticed, or took a class with an established builder. The more people we have doing this, the better -- it generates new ideas, new methods, and helps us all. The whole "a rising tide raises all ships" argument.