Takhion for Sale

Not mine, but this lovely 56cm frame is up for grabs:

One of many photos.  The seller also has the parts.

This frame was found in the same condition as this one, so it has been repainted.  There are lots of photos detailing the frame, and the album can be found here. 

If you're interested, please contact me at aeyoqen@gmail.com and I will get you in touch with the seller.  

Takhion Bars in the house!

Courtesy of Old Vintage Steel!  He's got a couple of Takhion track frames right now, so go check them out.  

42cm and 44cm.

Since one of my Takhions was missing true Takhion bars, I can now swap out the 3TTT for one of these.  And I'll have an extra for projects like this one which is still very much in progress.   

It's amazing to me how these bars seem to be quite difficult to fabricate, unless I want to place an order of 10,000 or so.  Finding the proper alloy and being able to do these bends is apparently outside of the scope of many of smaller fabricators, so getting a batch made has led to mostly nowhere.  I'm still trying!

Old Vintage Steel

I can't stress enough just how awesome the online cycling community is, and how many cool people I meet.

Recently I was contacted regarding Takhion parts by a man named Alex, who very obviously shares a passion for bikes from the Soviet Union.  He's found some amazing buried treasures all over his home country of Belarus and many surrounding areas - I almost couldn't believe my eyes at photographs of bikes that had remained hidden, possibly forgotten, for so long.  

Wanting to share these bikes with people who would respect them and understood the significance of their history, he started Old Vintage Steel, and can also be found on Instagram under the same name.

Of course, he currently has a Takhion he wants to get to a good home.

It's a 58cm road frame, and it comes with three (yes three) forks, handlebars, and a BB.  

Check out this beauty!  Lots more photos on the Facebook page.

The third fork is also a Takhion fork with the TT clamps.  

Columbus SLX tubing.

And of course, there are other gems for sale, like these XB3s.  

Such a pretty color.

And this lovely set of Fluidisks!

Amazing.

Go check it out on Facebook or IG, and check back often for new cool treasures. 

Red Aero

I spent the day watching Game of Thrones and deep cleaning this glorious machine.

After lots of elbow grease (and Phil Wood grease), it's looking worlds better!

This red and white beauty was apparently built for Latvia with Columbus SL tubing, and is serial number 263 87.  Aside from wheels, it came with all original components, though the derailleurs are ХВЗ and not Takhion.  Everything else though, down to the seatpost, is.  

Tiny little Takhion stamp!

This guy was lost in the mail for quite some time, but thankfully showed up safe and sound after a few months.  I'll need to check alignment, but aside from the usual wear and tear that comes from a frame older than I am, this Takhion is in pretty good shape.  

It's all in the details.  

I put the front Antonov front wheel and the mystery rear road kevlar wheel on to take some proper photos.  Eventually I'd like this one to have a Campy C-Record wheelset (as I have been expertly advised) and matching derailleurs, since the XB3 drivetrain can be a bit...questionable.  

There's a full album here, if you want to see more!

Takhion on eBay

Mostly, anyway!

Image via the eBay Auction

Here's the listing, though there is no size listed and unfortunately the original fork seems to have had its clamps cut off (which hurts my soul).  Though that possibly could be repaired...

There's another listing for it here, not through eBay.  

Serial number is 151 83, which might actually mean the frame was repurposed at some point.  It's a very early frame for sure, though it does have the BB cutout and the Takhion shifters. 

There's also a track frame in need of some serious love:

Image via eBay auction.

 If anyone ends up with either of these, I'd gladly help with restoration :D

An Incredible Collection For Sale

A Takhion, Italian steel, Lasers, and just, well, amazing bikes.

Yeah.

They've all been extremely well cared for, and my friend who is selling them is a fantastic person.  

Takhion + Tsubasa MASS

A while back I had heard plans for a collaborative project, and was really, really excited for where it was going.  Recently I not only got an update, but was given permission to show some of the photos here and do a little feature on this awesome project.  I'm psyched to bring you a preview of this collaboration between Edinvas Vavilovas of Tsubasa Bicycles and Mr. Reginald Vorontsov of Takhion!

Used with permission from http://www.tsubasabicycles.com/

I highly encourage you to visit Edinvas' site to read the whole story of this project, because this is far more than just about building a bicycle.  

"Takhion and I, founder of Tsubasa, are auctioning the Takhion+Tsubasa Mass to raise money for the war victims of Ukraine. 

Takhion lives in the Ukraine; I am Lithuanian now living in London. Having both felt the cruel hand of war we wanted to help. Takhion+Tsubasa Mass takes its name from the belief that together we are strong, even in times of hardship.

We’re working with The International Committee of The Red Cross to ensure that all money raised provides food and shelter for the orphans and victims of war."

If you are interested in donating, or bidding on this frame, please visit the donation page here, or visit their Thunderclap page here.

Used with permission from http://www.tsubasabicycles.com/

More information on the cause can also be found on Tsubasa Bicycle's facebook page.

Used with permission from http://www.tsubasabicycles.com/

As for the construction of this bike, Edinvas told me more about his single piece technology: "they [the frames] don't have joints, pieces aren't glued together as today's carbon frames are. It's made in a way, that if you'll follow one fiber, you will notice that fiber runs through entire frame i.e. BB to chain stays, chain stays to seat stays, seat stays to top tube and son on. This way of making a frame eliminates weak point and maximises durability and performance of the frame as the web of fibers of entire frame responding to the stress instead of glue at the joint." 

"Bottom part of the frame is internally bridged, including chain stays, which increase torsional and bending stiffness of up to 300% when comparing with regular economy class bicycle frame.  Frames are made using High Modulus and Ultra High Modulus unidirectional carbon fiber."

His frames also come with a lifetime warranty.  

Here are some in progress shots: 

Stainless steel headtube insert.  Used with permission from http://www.tsubasabicycles.com/

Dropouts!  Used with permission from http://www.tsubasabicycles.com/

Check out some of Tsubasa Bicycles' previous work as well.

Takhion Crank, Take 2!

Not only was I crazy lucky enough to find a right Takhion crank arm, recently I also found this beauty pictured below.  

Chainring is NOT Takhion though...oh well!

This 172.5mm crankset is from 1991, and is in great shape aside from the fact that the Takhion logo on the right arm has been polished off, which I might be able to get fixed in the future.  How do I know it's still Takhion though?

This is how.

The year of production and length are stamped on the back of both arms.  Sadly 172.5 is a bit long for me when it comes to track riding, though it would be perfect for road.  If anyone has 165mm versions that they'd be willing to trade, send me an e-mail!

Takhion Crank!

It took me years to find one, and despite the fact that this one can only be used for display and is only the right arm, I'm really, really happy to have found it.  

After I polish this up a bit, it's going on the Aero.

More Fork Progress

Last weekend I did some reinforcing of this fork with brass fillets to make a smoother transition between the crown and the blades and to strengthen the fork overall.

Sturdy.

There's one small area that I want to add a bit more material to, but so far it's looking like this test fork is pretty much in the bag.  

I also put the finishing touches on the touring frame last week, which included three sets of water bottle bosses.  

I'm getting better with temperature control during silver brazing.  It's not covered in char this time!

It's really weird to think this frame is almost done.  I might be able to take it for paint fairly soon.  Amazing what having working welding equipment does for productivity!  

Fork Crown Chronicles: Lets see if this works!

My goal for today was to test the crowns to see if they fit properly in the jig, fit properly with fork blades and a steer tube, and didn't explode when I tried to braze them.  

Surprisingly, it was fine!  

The jig test went perfectly, but let me back up a minute.  One of the other things I was looking forward to testing was the strength of the steel.  I'm used to how the tubing and brass feels when I'm working with it, but I wasn't sure what to expect from the castings.

Holy crap, these things are bombproof.  

This is definitely the hardest material I've ever worked with.  Not only does it take an insanely long time to file or sand down (it took three hours to bore out the center for the steer tube...by two millimeters) it also wore out multiple dremel sandpaper things and is pretty much immune to my shop roll.  This metal is not messing around - I'm not at all worried about the strength.  

Next was tacking and brazing.  Not meant to be pretty, just meant to check capabilities and all that fun stuff.

Silver flux is my enemy.

 The metal brazed well, and despite it's hardness didn't take overly too long to heat up.  I was able to do the dropouts and the blades, but the steer tube is just hanging out, though it's in there tight enough that it's not going anywhere.  

It's like a monolith

Brazing was like brazing any lug or dropout - nothing weird or out of the ordinary.  I whorked together a pretty basic fork without any problems, which is definitely a good sign.  The longest part of the process was honestly all of the machining.  

Full fork!

So far, everything is working nicely.  Next week I'll try adding a crown race and seeing what everything looks like then.  The dummy axle will hang out a bit until this test is finished.

Add caption

I sort of made a pseudo Takhion fork today.  Today was a good day.  

It's Happening

The awesome casting company I am working with just sent me this.

It's REEEAAAAAAL!!

Two have been shipped to me to test, and I'll post updates as soon as I have them in hand!!  

Clamps are currently also being produced - there's the 3D printed option, but there's also something else in the works...

Takhion Alert!!

54cm, looks to be in good condition.

Hello beautiful!

Would make a great Christmas present for someone...or for yourself!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

I couldn't resist taking a few holiday photos with my Takhion Aero once I put lights up.

Festive!

Someday, when I actually make Christmas cards, they'll have a Takhion on them.  

Speaking of Takhions, the fork crowns are still in progress (casting takes a while, apparently) - but they'll hopefully be here before Christmas, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Testing, Testing

I was able to put the crown to an actual test this weekend.

Put on the jig to test blade placement.  

This is a very rough quick test to make sure that the fork blades and steer tube fit in the crown (which they do - hooray!!).  What you see on the jig is a bit deceiving, as the crown was not automatically this perfect.  The material that this is printed in is flexible, and well...

Unless 80mm axles become a thing, this isn't going to fly.

I had forgotten to account for the angling out of the blades.  This is why I test things!

Also the jig shows the blades raked, whereas here you can see they're perfectly straight.  For this crown, the blades will have to be bent by hand, though I also have a version in the works that will allow for straight blade forks. 

Everything been adjusted and fixed in the model, and for the crown base it was mostly angles that I had to work on.  The clamps were a different story, and I had to make a lot of changes based on feedback (thanks Hrrundel!) but now they're a lot better looking and far more functional.  I'm going to do another check of the model and then send out a new iteration to print!

Takhion Fork Crown: Print 1!!

Well this is certainly exciting:

I really need a lightbox.

The first print of this arrived today, and it's pretty cool to be able to see and hold the real print after staring at it on a screen for so long! 

With working clamps!  

This rough print still needs to have its measurements checked and compatibility with fork blades tested, and once it's approved it will be wax printed for casting.  Unfortunately I won't be able to test it with fork blades until this coming weekend, but everything else can be checked and fixed before then.

The model is missing the textured edges that the original Takhion fork had.  I'm still trying to figure out if I'll put them in the final model or if it will be smooth.  

Only one clamp was printed because they're interchangeable, and these things are not the cheapest to print.  This particular crown was modeled to fit standard Takhion bars, but I still wanted to test them with 3TTT bars just to make sure things were lining up.

Success!

The final casts will be tapped for a bolt and have hinges installed in the clamps.  The upper clamps themselves will probably be 3D printed in stainless steel.

Passing the 3TTT test with flying colors.

This particular print is done with Shapeways' strong and flexible plastic for testing purposes.  It's based off of a Takhion crown, but the dimensions were referenced from a spare fork crown I had purchased from Nova Cycles.  The clamps have been slightly modified from the original Takhion clamps, but I want to try to have a version of those available to purchase in steel for those that need them.  

A few Takhion reference photos

Over the weekend I took a few photos of my Takhion Temp for a friend as reference.  Perhaps they might be useful to other people as well, so I'll throw them up here.

If you need Takhion head tube or seat tube reference, here you go!

Takhion Fork Crown Recreation: Rough Model Done!

So one of the reasons that I haven't been posting too much is that I was trying to finish this crazy thing, which every time I thought would go a lot faster reminded me that "hey, you're not a modeler" and then I'd start over.

So after more than a month of pushing around verts and sliding edges to get the perfect measurements, I have this to show for it:

Complete with clamps and everything!

This was modeled after a few Takhion forks and a spare fork crown I had lying around.  It's modeled to scale, and also currently modeled to accept 26mm Takhion handlebars.  

The main reason that I decided to do this is because I was curious about investment casting, and how cool it would be if I could design my own crowns and lugs and such and get them cast for framebuilding.  So, this will be my test.

A rather exciting side view. 

A sample crown model and a sample clamp model have both been sent to Shapeways for a test print.  Once these have proven to work the way I want them to, I plan to cast the crown base and possibly print the clamps in some nifty metal.  

There are a lot of factors that need to be tested with this crown - like, hey, will the fork blades fit?  Could it be drilled for brakes?  And so on.  I imagine this will be the first of many, many iterations to get everything just so.  The nice thing about working in 3D is that it's easy to measure things down to the tenth of a millimeter, and things can automatically stay symmetrical as you're working on them.  

Nope.  No brake holes.

I'm excited to see if this works, and what sort of possibilities it opens up if it does.  There are already builders out there successfully working with 3D printed lugs, and if they can do it, why not me?

Takhion Alert!

Just popped up on the bay!

Just the frame, bars, BB and crank for sale though.

It's a Super Sport, Columbus SL, 58cm.  Looks to be authentic, and has definitely seen some action!

They're getting more expensive every time they pop up, that's for sure.  I am seeing them a lot less often though. 

Hope it goes to a good home!