Late March Update

Yep, almost two months since my last post. A lot has happened in that time. Since the last post I've ruined the frame pictured in coarse of building, started and completed another, built three and a half racks and just today dropped it all off with the powder coater downstairs.

You might wonder what went wrong with the first frame. Well I was on a roll and everything was going very well. I was working eight to nine hours a day on the frame for about five or six days straight. I'd brazed the dropouts into the Sachs/Columbus chainstays and I was all ready to braze them in place. I'd already brazed together the front triangle, it came out straight and the fillets looked decent so I was feeling confident and was pretty sure I didn't need any tips on how to braze the chain stays in so I went for it. For some reason I had decided to use brass instead of silver and I hadn't done much lug style brazing with brass. Penetration was poor so I tried to heat it all up again to get some brass to flow. That didn't work. So the next day Michael Catano and I tried to up the sockets to remove the stays. That only resulted in ripping the sockets and stays apart. At that point my only option with that frame would have been to cut off the sockets, braze a plate over the holes and fillet braze new stays to that... Not feeling up to the challenge of making a really janky fix I decided to just start over. Glad I did. The new frame went well, I took my time and it came out pretty well for my first frame out of class. So I built it up.








The racks were built in the french style as well. I aimed for them to be simple and functional. That to me usually adds up to beautiful. I made a point of making the front racks two instead of one if for whatever reason I need to remove one. As lone standing forms the seem a little awkward, but once on the bike they look quite good.

Frame: Day Five (maybe six.. already loosing count)

A lot has happened since I last posted. First off I finished up the fork. I think it looks pretty good. I'm glad I took the care in making a mandrel. I'm not sure I trust it yet. Only after some spirited long loaded riding will I feel confident in it. I'm just a little unsure how the brazing went inside the crown. I did manage to get the canti studs brazed on too.







I started the fitting up the chainstays and bottom bracket the next time in the shop. Then I brazed the stays into the dropouts. The dropouts are socketed and stainless steel. I'm thinking of leaving them unpainted and sand blasted to have the sort of look J. Muir from Santa Cruz employs:







The dropouts I'm using are a bit different style and I think they will look really good with this treatment.

Yesterday I started on the main triangle. I mitered the seat tube to fit the bottom bracket and that was about all. Today I mitered the rest of the main tubes and got them all fitted up just right. Then I added some braze ons. Michael Catano, a frame builder and shop mate of mine suggested I do as many braze ons as I logically could before brazing the main triangle to avoid warping. Good idea. Learning new thing every day. One thing I figured out on my own when using the Anvil is when getting that final fit between tubes to just hold the joint in place and pull strips of abrasive paper through, I don't think there is any way you could get more accurate.

Frame number 2: day one

So its started. Building frame number two. Or number one depending how you look at it. I've been planning it out for a couple of months now and it feels good to finally be making something I'm going to use. (I've been practicing my fillet brazing, which is mostly unexciting and fruitless. Well besides the reward of becoming better at brazing) I'm glad I decided to make my own mandrel, it isn't quite perfect but I think the blades look plenty good considering my experience. I've decided to go with the Gran Bois fork crown and matching Kaisei imperial oval fork blades.

I brazed the steerer in the fork crown under the watchful eyes of Owen Lloyd. Its always a relief when I don't totally screw up a braze. Actually, it went well I just need to trust in my brazing abilities... that will come it time.