PVD 5.5" Fork Hardtail Aluminum

This is going to be my first aluminum bike, so I have a few details to work out.

Geometry

Tubeset

Easton Ultra-Lite 7005 Taperwall MTB tubeset

• Down Tube - 429351
• Top Tube - 329375
• Seat Tube - 129338
• Chain Stay - S-Bend, 045715
• Seat Stay - 12° bend??, 529548

7005 Aluminum Stock

This tubing is widely available as special bicycle tubing, but is rare to find as bulk straight gauge tube. ASTM B221 Pertains to 7005(T53)(UNS A97005, #27)Aluminum in Bar Tube and Wire

ISO	France NF	USA ASTM	German DIN	UK BS	Italy UNI	Switzerland VSM	Sweden IS	Japan JIS
ALZn4,5Mg1	7020	(7005)	AlZn4,5Mg1 3.4335	H17 7020	7791	AlZn4,5Mg1	4425

One source is Fairing, Full 2008 Catalog

• Reynolds 7005, Fairing
• Reynolds
• Columbus Aluminum
• Dedacciai
• Dedacciai - Bringheli
• Asia Metal Solutions

• Alcoa 7020
• EMJ 2" 7005

Odd Parts

Ahrens is selling some quality parts, the dropouts look very nice.

Head Tube and Headset

Custom Head tube

Cane Creek ZS-2

• Upper Stack - 8mm
• Lower Stack - 5.6mm

Fabrication Instructions

Easton Fabrication Instructions 7005 & 6061

Welding Practice

• Miller - JOINING ALUMINUM WITH GTAW
• Miller's Guideline to Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) Handbook

Welding Rod

"Use 5356, 5180 or 5183 fillers for welding 7005 frames.", Easton. "5356/5180/5183" Columbus

"Al Mg Si 05 (USA 6063) - CASTO MAG 45802" CeeWay.

Ageing - Heat Treating

So...

I was planning and preping to do a 7005 hardtail as practice before doing some honest FS bikes. I've basically given up finding that the only choices available to a tiny builder are just lame. Basically nobody in the US makes 7005 and it all has to be imported from taiwan. Easton offshored everything a few years ago.

Now I'm changing material to 6061, which gives me zillions of choices of stock, but puts the whole quenching and aging front row center.

I spoke to my local heat treater (http://www.garnerheattreatinc.com/) and picked his brain and shopped pricing. This was the only place I could find with ovens and baths large enough for bicycles. It's going to cost around $400 per run. A run will be anything from 1 to 10 frames. 3 at a time will be a strech for me and will really limit testing and prototyping possibilities. Also, a holding fixture will need to be fabricated for each frame going through the process.

After quencing in the fixture I need to pick up the frames, the frames need to get alligned then returned in the fixture for heat treating/aging. Time consuming to say the least.

Columbus

Frames in 7000 alloy.
The ageing of the frame realized in 7000 alloy has to be carried out 4/5 days after the welding, in two phases: 6 hours at 90°C ±5° - 4 hours at 150°C ±5°.

Easton

Artificial age for 7005 frames:
Age 6 hours at 200 degrees F (± 10 degrees F) plus 4 hours at 320 degrees F (±10 degrees F). This process must be performed by the builder on all Easton 7005 tube sets.