Jigless Kit: Construct a Bike with 3D Printed Parts, Blue Jeans, & Aluminum

March 26, 2015 by Bridget O'Neal 3D Design 3D Printing

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We’ve written many stories about items like 3D printed bikes before, as it is a rather popular idea, in line with building other modes of transportation from cars and motors to motorcycles.

Artists and athletes have created 3D printed bikes that are made as much for riding as they are for aesthetics and artistic concept, as well as seriou s cycling. These 3D printed bikes tend to be light, streamlined, and ecologically minded.

A new, unforeseen, and definitely inimitable design has popped up on Indiegogo though that we think you’ll find very interesting. The Jigless kit allows you to 3D print your own bicycle frame from…wait for it…: your own jeans, aluminum, and 3D printed parts. With an Indiegogo campaign hoping to raise $14,400 by April 17, early birds and supporters can order the full kit with all parts for $144. You can also choose the frame that corresponds to your height.

“The best bicycle you will ever ride is a bicycle you build yourself, and it should be simple,” The Jigless team professes wisely.

one As we’ve seen with other 3D printed bikes, it is somewhat of a magical creation, not to mention extremely utilitarian as well, meant for personal comfort and recreation. In designing and building a bike, as well as incorporating 3D printing, the ‘artist’ must have a number of wheels spinning in terms of details and parts.

“Building a bicycle from scratch is a multidisciplinary experience, an excited fabrication process involving art and science, combining design and engineering for the sake of creating a unique bond between the machine and you,” states the design team on their site. “With the Jigless kit you are about to expand and redefine the D.I.Y concept like never before…”

The kit is stunningly easy to assemble, using just pushpins and rubber bands to produce the most lightweight bike frame available. What do you get when you order the kit? You receive the following — and because it is so lightweight, shipping is inexpensive on these items:

Full set of pre-cut light aluminum profiles and tubes
3D printed parts produced with PLA
Only one screw

Note the creative use of denim as tubing support.

No special tools are hardware are required. The kit allows you to both expand and customize your bike, and due to this attractiveness of ease, the Jigless team hopes to put 100 Jigless bikes on the road with their Indiegogo campaign.

For the frame — which is all Jigless is responsible for here — it’s as simple as :

Setup with the ‘denim harvest.’ As you can see in the video below, ‘harvesting the denim’ is easy to upcycle by cutting it into strips and then using it as an all-natural route for connecting the tubes.
Measuring and marking tubes
Tacking – connecting tubes and lug cores
Wrapping – reinforcing lugs and tubes the epoxy and denim
Filing, sanding, coating lugs

With the purchase of the kit, the team will be offering a tutorial on their Indiegogo page, soon to be published. Keep in mind that with this 3D printed bike frame, you will be able to use the following for building out the rest of the bike:

1-1/8″ threadless headset
120, 130, 135 O.L.D. rear wheel
27.2 mm/28.6 mm seatpost
68mm English thread bottom bracket
650-700/32mm and 26/1.5″ tires

With funding from the project, the Jigless crew plans to make further fixes to the ‘micro-structure,’ optimize parts and 3D printing, work on more tutorials, and add to graphic design, illustrations, as well as packaging. Further on down the line, if they receive funding in a second phase they also hope to work on a range of sizes and geometries for the bikes, as well as the possibility of establishing a bike-building institute. They also hope to one day offer personalized bike frames based on numerous custom offerings.

Extra items you will need to complete your bike once you have assembled the kit: