Quiring Cycles

Last evening the "After-hours" guy welded and manipulated some of the raw Reynolds 953 stainless tubing into a complex 3D shape that will soon be used in the snow bike frame layout.  The labor consisted of cold working the stays into a shape that will fit around a fat bike tire. Then the rear triangle was stuck together in a tack-welded state.  

 

Before further welding was done, the rear wheel, using an 80mm Rolling Darryl rim with an inflated 3.8" Larry tire and a crankset, was installed on this rear-end to make sure all critical clearance between these parts and the frame were achieved.  The pictures included in this post show the frame layout and tire clearance at the minimum distance with the sliders pushed all the way forward in the hooded Paragon dropouts.  However, most riding will be done with the sliders pulled back a little from this forward position. As hinted to by the presence of two button screw heads, please note there is a "splitter" installed on the right seatstay so that a Gates Belt drive can be used. 

 

Soon we will start on the front triangle, but we are waiting for a re-supply of TIG rod needed to complete the 953 stainless welds.  This special welding rod should get here next week.  We also look forward to getting the Gates parts so we can check out how that will work on this stainless frame.  During this project, one notable discovery in working with the 953 is that the seatstays are really tough to bend!

 

More to come….over and out--Q  

 

Snow bikes with their fat tires are sure getting popular these days!   So, here at Quiring Cycles, LLC we decided to add to this growing snowball of momentum and build these bikes too.   

As you can imagine, building a snow bike is not a simple task, but with the help of the after-hours guy I think we can get the job done (wait, the after-hours guy is me?!)

The first snow bike is going to be made of a custom blend of Dedacciai Zero/Zero Uno, an Italian super-steel tubing, which is going to a 6'5" rider in Northern Michigan.   

Since I couldn't think of a better material for the second snow bike frame, I will build this one using super tough and lightweight Reynolds 953 Mar-aging stainless steel.   The great aspect of this material is that it won't rust or need a paint job.   Considering that snow bikes are used in extreme environments which consists of road salt, snow, mud, and just some plain yucky conditions, a stainless steel snow bike sounds perfect!

For the 953 stainless snow bike,  I am going to build it around an 100 mm BB shell, an  1 1/8" headtube, an 170mm rear spacing, Paragon Slider Dropouts, and a splitter in the seatstay so I can install a Gates Belt Drive, if I want too.   It will also have extra cable guides which will allow the 953 snow bike to run a conventional drivetrain.  Finally, a slacker headtube angle set  at 70 degrees, a more upright rider position, and longer chainstays will help this bike plow through the snow.

To help facilitate the proper tire clearance of a 3.8" tire and the chainline clearance, a box-style chainstay yoke design is going to make a solid junction connecting the BB shell and head towards the rear dropouts.  This layout idea came from a snow bike owned by Mike Curiak (http://lacemine29.com/), a famed  rider of the Iditarod Trail.

From the pictures above you can see how this stainless yoke design is coming together.  First, I started out with some CAD/CAM computer programing, followed by the making of the parts on the CNC mill.  Then this yoke was tack-welded together, and finally all the welds were put in place.

The plan is to get these two custom Quiring snow bikes ready for a couple of local Michigan fat bike events.  The first is to be held in January at the Versluis Orchards in Walker, Michigan.  Riders will compete over a three-hour period, and count how many laps were completed on a defined course.

For more info see here: http://www.farmteamracing.com/2011/11/farmers-fat-bike-race.html

The second snow bike race is held in the Upper Peninsula and is a point-to-point race held in conjunction with the Noquemanon Ski race.  Info on the Noquemanon event can be found at this link:

http://www.noquemanon.com/snow-bike/

Please check back to this site to find out how these snow bikes are coming together.

Holiday Cheers!- Q

One of the great features of the recent move of Quiring Cycles, LLC into a larger building is that there is more room for production equipment and that these machines can all be housed under one roof.  Such was not the case in the past. 

The power operated Di-Acro Model 6 tubing bender (http://www.diacro.com/) was a machine owned by the business for many years, but it did not see much action until it was brought to the new shop from out of storage.  The result is that I can now play around with custom bending tubing to improve the functionality of a frame.

On 29'ers it is especially useful for riders with shorter inseams to have a frame custom built with more standover clearance with the top tube.   A way to do this is to bend the top tube in a downward arc.   

Above are two titanium frames I made in late 2011 for people who wanted (or needed) more standover clearance. The first was a 29'er with pearl true-blue panels.   The second bike was also a 29'er with the addition of a Lefty fork using an integrated Lefty headtube and a Ventana FS rear swing-arm set at 80 mm of travel.  This Ti FS 29'er frame was built for a rider who was 5 foot , 4.4 inches tall.

In theory, I could also bend seattubes for shorter chainstay lengths on 29'er single speeds and 1 x 10 setups.   Shorter chainstays usually means better climbing traction and a quicker bike for singletrack.  I will experiment with this idea as time progresses.

For more pictures of the hardtail Ti 29'er, please see here:   http://www.quiringcycles.net/igallery/igallery.asp?D=\multi+gear'd+mountain+bikes\ti+29'er+bent+top+tube\

For more pictures of the Ti FS 29'er frame, please see here:

http://www.quiringcycles.net/igallery/igallery.asp?d=\full+suspension+using+ventana+rear+swingarms\ti+29'er+lefty+fork,+80+mm+travel+ventana+bent+top+tube\

Photos of this post are courtesy of Daniel Sterling.

-Posted by Scott Quiring

In the late 1880s, the best bicycle frames were  fabricated out of steel  as skilled artisans joined the tubes together by brazing them over an open hearth.   Constructing frames predominately out of steel still continued for over 100 years, but along the way the quality of the steel alloy tubing improved and so did the method of joining this steel.   During that time, frames got lighter and stronger and, respectfully, the ride quality of steel frames improved too.  

While it seems that most bike frames are made of other types of materials these days, steel frames have still seen advancements.    One such example is the recently released stainless steel tubing called XCr, made by the famed Columbus tubing manufacturer of Milan, Italy.

At Quiring Cycles, LLC, Scott has taken to the challenge of making several of these frames over the last few years.    He speaks very highly of the quality of the XCr stainless tubing and also notes the extraordinary skill needed to make a frame from it.  His personal road bike that he loves to ride is made from XCr.

While attending the NAHBS in both Richmond, VA and Austin, TX, Quiring has had a chance to speak with Mauro Mondonico, the Sales Manager for Columbus, about the unique characteristics of the XCr stainless.  It turns out that XCr is made from a solid billet bar of stainless steel, and it is drawn out into a tube continuously until it reaches its final impressively thin walls. For example, the top tube in mm has a butted .6/.4/.6  profile wall thickness, which is comparable to the upper ranges of other super-steel tubesets by Columbus and Dedacciai (another Italian tubing maker).    The downtube has a remarkably thin wall of .65/.4/.65 mm, and other areas reach a wall in the weld zone as thin as .5 mm. 

One might ask the question, if it is so thin, how does it stay together?  The secret is in the incredible tensile strength of the XCr material, which is around 200,000 psi.  Or, in other words, it is 500% more than the tensile strength of typical aluminum alloys, and a little more than 60% stronger in tensile strength when compared with 3/2.5 titanium in a cold-worked-stress-relieved state.   

Despite thin walls to save weight, XCr's larger than normal sized seattube, top tube and downtube contribute to the frame's balanced stiffness and liveliness.  What we mean by oversized is a 31.5 mm diameter top tube and seattube, and a 38 mm diameter downtube.     

What does all this above info mean? Since XCr does not rust, it does not need paint (paint adds weight). And, since XCr has super thin butted walls, it rivals aluminum and titanium frames  in weight.   Yet, the XCr has the classic "feel of steel" for all-day comfort, a desired trait by many cyclists.

Due to the thin tubing, careful construction of an XCr frame must be taken into consideration since stainless is very hard to miter and to weld.   Fortunately for Quiring, part of his TIG welding instruction many years ago at Grand Rapids Community College included the joining of stainless.   Generally speaking, Quiring says, during the welding phase, stainless has a relatively high coefficient of thermal expansion and a low rate of thermal conductivity when compared to welding conventional carbon steel tubing.  What this means is that the heat needed to TIG weld the material must be precisely directed and the miters must be very tight so there is minimal gaps to fill.  Furthermore, an inert welding environment is key to join stainless because it will help prevent the metal's carbide precipitation effect that happens during the molten stage.   Lastly, careful consideration in weld sequence should be carried out so the frame comes out straight.

In terms of visual appearance of a weld, XCr is thin so the weld bead width will be very small.  Also, a light copper color in the weld bead is desired when the raw weld is viewed.   A darker burnt color in the weld bead is a sign that this joint may have gotten a little too hot and, as a result, the latter may not be as strong.  As with other steel tubing, XCr only receives one pass around with the TIG torch at each joint, so it must be done right the first time!

The above photos show our tight tube miters and the weld zone in a raw state as an indication of what we believe are desired traits and techniques used in constructing an XCr frame. 

This frame is for a long-time customer in Maryland, and will be used as a performance-oriented machine with fatter road tires, a CX fork, and canti brakes.  So when he wants to hit a few dirt roads, he can do that too! 

As centuries have passed, cyclists have taken to their steel frames, but today's steel frames are much lighter and more fine- tuned when compared to the bicycles of yesteryears.  Imagine that feeling as your ride begins and you pedal effortlessly down an endless winding road, and you can imagine the feel of a high-quality Quiring built XCr stainless frame. 

--Posted by Peekster

 

I can remember a time when mountain bike suspension meant letting a little extra air out of the tires.  That was almost 25 years ago, and we were on heavy bikes that were primarily available in very stout-riding double diamond frames and rigid forks.  After a bumpy race, this sometimes also meant bent seatposts, bent handlebars, sore body parts, hurting hands, and dizzied vision!  Wow, how times have changed.  Today's suspension design has undergone over two decades of refinements and lead to reliable designs and improved performance. 

In creating a full-suspension frame design, it is important to make a strong and stiff swing-arm.  Second, it is important to locate the pivots and linkages so the suspension design works well over the rough terrain.  Last but not least, a solid performing air-sprung shock such as one with platform dampening or pro-pedal technology helps the rider not waste as much energy that he puts into the cranks. 

Fitting the bill for some of these above traits in design has been swing-arms made by Ventana Mountain Bikes, which are made in USA.  I was flattered to find out that Sherwood Gibson, the president of the company, and Treasa Franco, the business guru of Ventana,  were willing to sell small builders such as myself their super high quality Ventana rear swing-arm assemblies in 26 inch, 650b, and 29 inch wheel sizes. 

The Ventana designed swing-arms are very stiff from side to side.  They have replaceable and serviceable cartridge bearings at each pivot point for a longer life.  Lastly, the design is very progressive, which means that it has active travel, but at the same time it is very hard to bottom out the suspension.  Using the Ventana swing-arms in my frames means that I can focus on the fabrication and custom fit of the front triangle and not waste time re-inventing the wheel in terms of the rear end of the bike. The best option for the ultimate performance is a front triangle made of titanium. 

Starting in the fall of 2010 I was sent some of the first swing-arm parts from Ventana, and fabricating front triangles began.  In keeping with our goal of showcasing some of the top builds in 2011, above is one such tasty mountain bike: a full suspension Quiring titanium frame using 26-inch wheels and 100 mm of travel front and rear.  The headtube badge was custom made to the customer's tastes by Jen Green (http://www.headbadges.com/).   Additionally, I etched the snowflake pattern into the frame to match this headtube badge design.  Another interesting design feature of this frame is the use of the 44 mm Chris King headset, which allows for the use of 1.5" x 1.125" tapered steerers or straight 1.125" steerers.

Mountain bikes sure have come a long way in 25 years!   

Photos courtesy of Rob G.

--Posted by Scott Quiring

As many of you know, 2011 has been a transitional year for Quiring Cycles, LLC, as we have moved into a new shop with the goal of not only expanding our manufacturing capability, but our talents as well.  We want to thank all of you for your patience during this period, and as well thank the many people who have helped along the way.  It is our pleasure to report that we are 100% set-up and ready for business.  Unlike many other small companies, we do not broker our frame fabrication to other builders, nor do we outsource our production to overseas vendors.   We believe that by building in house, we can control quality to the highest standard and fine-tune bikes to the taste of the consumer. 

 

Over the last two decades, Quiring has heavily invested in the tools and equipment needed to make some of the world's best custom frames. Priding himself as a precision machinist and craftsman who can artfully use a TIG welder to tastefully join together the highest-tech aluminum alloys, super steels, proprietary stainless steels and aero-space grade titanium, Scott Quiring still builds each frame one-at-a-time, to meet your needs, all by himself!  As a capstone to any framebuilding process, Scott is also a talented frame painter and adds to the finishing touch, where needed, by truly completing each frame from start to finish.  Whether you are a road rider, daily commuter, touring adventurer, or avid mountain biker, we encourage you to consider a Made-in-Michigan bike frame as we move into the new season!  Cheers!  --Posted by Peekster