Test tubes

Some 12 meters of 1.25" tube later, and it's time to fit and bend some proper tubes into shape.
The ERW tube costs about £30 for 12 meters, whereas T45 (hardened and tempered carbon-manganese steel) is about 10 times that! So it was well worth sacrificing that first as no end of problems cropped up. The strength of the T45 tube was obvious when i came to bend it. It's thinner wall than the ERW i've been practicing on yet it requires both hands on the tube bender and some real effort to get it to bend. The ERW by comparison i can bend without even fitting the handle to the bender, plus it springs back several degrees when you release it so you have to take that into consideration when trying to get the angle spot on.
The lower frame rails are now done and fitted into the jig, the top tubes have been bent too, but still need notching for the headstock tube. The rear tubes should be straightforward as they only use 2D bends, then there's some smaller diameter T45 for all the cross bracing, and that's all straights.
Once the main tubes are in I'll do all the fittings/inserts for engine mounts and other main components and tack it all together.

It all takes so much time .....  just bending and fitting those lower tubes was the best part of a days work. I'm sure i once said i'd never build another frame again.... i seemed to have forgotten that!