Ti Fighter

Named after, of course, the TIE Fighter from Star Wars, the Ti Fighter is my maintenance-free trusty steed. As a personal capstone project for my time spent in the college machine shops, I wanted to challenge myself by creating something that had never been made in the Cal Poly Bike Builders--a bike frame out of Titanium. Given that I was about to move to Seattle, I wanted to make a bike perfect for commuting in the PNW. With that in mind, I designed the belt driven bike with a Pinion gearbox and eliminated the need for maintaining a chain and drivetrain in a wet environment with the added benefit of a corrosion-proof frame.

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 Titanium, while known for being extremely light and a premier material for bicycle frames, is notoriously challenging to work with. I gathered all of the knowledge I had acquired through college about welding and machining to take on this challenge. In addition to welding the entire frame myself, I also machined several frame components, such as the two-part yoke on the seat stay.

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I take immense pride in how this bike turned out because it is a tangible result from the thousands of hours I spent learning about welding, machining, and fabricating throughout my time in school. Riding this around, I can't help but smile when people say to me "Oh I've never heard of the company Ti Fighter before."