As a final project for my graduate school career, I designed and built a bicycle in Spring 2013. While I originally envisioned a casual, single-speed-about-town bike, the project rapidly took on a life of its own. After the dust had settled, the Jabberwompus emerged proud, shaking his mane and chomping at the bit. Part cyclocross, part urban commuter, this steed is ready for whatever adventure comes his way.
I designed the frame in SolidWorks, taking cues from existing 'cross builds and mixing them with the geometry of my Ciocc Москва 80 that I've grown to love over the past few years with it as my daily ride. The frame is all Columbus steel tubing, with the front joints all TIG welded and the rear joints fillet brazed. While most of the components (SRAM X0) are usually seen on mountain bikes, my desire for road speeds led me to use a Rival front crankset. This in turn necessitated a Rival front derailleur and a custom-machined adapter (inspired by the Umlenker) to change the direction of actuation from bottom-pull to the top-pull my cable routing needed. Since I needed an excuse to spend more hours in the machine shop, I designed some fresh dropouts in SolidWorks and machined them from 1018 mild steel on a Haas MiniMill.
The Jabberwompus was definitely a labor of love, sweat, and a few sleepless nights. While it'll always be the first bike I ever made, I don't think it'll be the last.
[2013]
