yeah, the frame and the exhaust is all tig'd. I only shaped the steel gussets and cut out the exhaust pipe. I had a mate to do all the welding.
the frame gussets is 4mm steel, where the frame is 1.8mm.
the exhaust pipe is the handlebars from a donor bike. same with the carrier eyes, that have been welded on the back stays. as the GT1 frame does not have these as standard.
one other thing with MBs. Is the extra cables dont have any cable stays to go through.
so I had some more welded on.
the gussets are to keep the resonance frequency under control more than anything else. I did do it for the strength but it is more of a bonus than the primary reason for doing this.
the sleeves on the exhaust pipe is the donor bikes seat post. these fit nicely over the handle bars, to make construction of the exhaust easier.
some exhaust tabs have been added to hang the exhaust on. this will make it easier to maintain.
it has taken about 12 months to get to this stage. I have other daddy projects such as rocking horses and balance bikes to build for my children. so the bike is long build.