Progress on Keith's frame

Here's a test-fit of Keith's front triangle in the jig. The astute will notice that I'm not supporting the top of the seat tube - this is because the design of the stainless Llewellyn seat lug has a shelf in it, that necessitates cutting the seat tube much shorter than I usually would. While it makes it harder to hold in a jig, it's a good thing, as otherwise there would be a thin nivacrom steel ring around the seat post, which would rust on a bike with bare polished lugs.

I'm doing things in a slightly different order this time. Normally I prep tubes (add bidon bosses and cable tunnels etc), and then do the fit-up. This time I'm doing the fit-up first, as it allows me unimpeded access to measure tube angles.

Here's what the head lugs look like at the moment. I've done the cutouts and shaping, and have filed out the casting roughness and given them a quick wipe with 180 grit emery. I'll do the rest of the smoothing and polishing steps after brazing. I still need to do a little setting to get the angles just so.



You'll note I've done the same treatment to the seatlug. I'm still vacillating as to whether or not I want to polish this piece. If anyone has suggestions as to how to make fast-back seat stays work with a polished seat lug, I'm all ears...



Finally detail of the little shelf in the seat lug. I plan to support the frame while tacking with a bit of 27.2mm seatpost pushed down the seat tube.



Next step is to mark and drill for the top-tube cable tunnel, then braze the cable tunnel, bidon bosses, and front derailleur tab in place. It's important to do this before the main tubes are brazed together, because otherwise the brazing heat will pull the frame out of plane, especially with the front derailleur tab, which is asymmetrical.

Coping

This is how I fit tubes together - called variously coping, notching, or mitering, depending on what dialect of English you grew up with.

Our demo tube today is Keith's top tube. I'm mitering the top tube where it fits against the seat tube.

Step one is to rule a line down the tube - this is used to keep the miters "in phase", so that things line up when you assemble the bike. I like to put the lines along the top of the top tube, top of the down tube, and front of the seat tube. That allows me to line up lug points nicely, and also gives me a reference line for bidon cage mounts.

Next, I download a copy of tubemiter, and type in the specs for the miter I'm doing. I print the result on sticky address label paper. I cut that out and wrap it around the tube.



Now that I know the shape to miter to, I start by making a pair of cuts in the tube with a hacksaw. I get a little closer each time I do one of these.



Flip it over and do the other side, and you end up with a nice little cutoff piece that you can show to all your friends.



Finally I take to the tube with a file. For this miter I used a 200mm long half-round 2nd cut file. One of these days I'll buy some bastard files to speed up the process, but the 2nd cut files work quite nicely. For head tube miters I use a 250mm file.



And that's it. All in less time than it would take to set up a mill to do the work.

No Girls Allowed!

A bit of a tangential post from what I normally write about here, but please bear with me.

This is what the adult "No Girls Allowed!" sign looks like:


My day job is in electronics. I design itty-bitty little chips that go in radiotelescopes. It's an awesomely cool job that lets me express my creativity in ways I never would have dreamed possible. My workmates are wonderful people, and we have a truly fantastic workplace. To put it bluntly, my job rocks.

But there's one small catch. I am the only female electronics engineer in the place. We have heaps of female astronomers, a few female managers, rather too many female admin staff, and a few female techs. But just the one female engineer. And even then, I'm hardly a typical woman. I ride motorbikes and build bicycles. I used to play footy. Generally things guys do.

So a month or so ago we had a workshop at work for women in science. It was run mainly by the astronomy group, who had a pile of really useful things to say to help women in science careers - stuff around ensuring the workplace is family friendly, making allowances for career breaks for when women take time off to have babies - that sort of thing.

At one point, people noticed that I was the only woman there from the engineering groups, so I was asked what I thought should be done to increase women's participation in engineering. I really didn't know (and said as such), but it did get me thinking about the subject.

This morning I dropped into uni to talk with my supervisor. As I was leaving I passed one of the undergrad electronics labs. You know the sort of place - rows of benches each with an oscilloscope and function generator bolted to them, with a rack of test leads on the wall. All good stuff. I remember many a lab session spent building little amplifiers and oscillators and other cool stuff.

So that's where I saw the sign. A really big one - you couldn't possibly miss it. Right on the door.

No Open Toed Shoes in Lab

Now seriously, this is a uni undergrad electronics lab. All the heavy stuff is bolted to the bench, to stop people from stealing it. The worst thing you could drop on your feet is a multimeter.

But still the sign. It brought back memories of being kicked out of labs as an undergrad myself, for, you guessed it, wearing sandals. That unforgivable sin committed by, what, ninety percent of the female population of any university, at least in summer.

I can see how the reasoning goes - similar reasoning applies in my workplace. "Labs are dangerous places, full of heavy things." "We should ensure people wear the appropriate PPE."

So then some middle-aged male lab manager puts up the sign. To him it appears perfectly reasonable - after all, he wouldn't be caught dead in sandals. Never mind that the computing lab down the hall has just as much heavy stuff that could fall on your feet. Or the library...

Of course, if the PPE needed is safety glasses, or hearing protection, there's some provided, right there, hanging from a hook. Not so with closed toed shoes though, because it's only women that don't wear those.

And so another small barrier is put up between women and a career in engineering.

So in answer to the question that I was asked in the women in science workshop: It's not one thing, it's a multitude of tiny little annoyances. It's the no open shoes allowed sign. It's the dumb little trick question in the HSC physics exam that means that you have to be particularly good at vector maths in order to answer a question that is really straightforward and simple in itself. The list goes on. Each one in isolation isn't going to do any measurable harm, but when they're combined, they're a formidable hurdle.

So if you're in a position where you're making such decisions, please stop and think for a moment if what you're about to impose on people will have a negative effect on women and girls. If it does, then do you really need to do it? The open toed shoes bit is an obvious example - when your work area isn't really any more dangerous than a typical office, don't impose PPE standards that are discriminatory. And when the PPE is truly warranted, have a cupboard full of the things that people can use. You don't expect people to wander around wearing safety glasses all day, do you?

The Sydney framebuilding underground.

I dropped Ben's frame off last weekend at Cheeky Transport in Newtown, because I know they're one of the few bike shops that has real tools for tapping bottom brackets and reaming head tubes. I do have a reamer for traditional 31.7mm head tubes, but not the 36mm behemoth on Ben's bike.

Today I picked it up, and ran into another local framebuilder, David Bowen of BoBo cycles, who had done the BB tapping, facing, and headtube reaming on Ben's bike for me.

It was neat running into another small-scale framebuilder in Sydney. He showed me a couple of his cool frames. His passion is commuter bikes and fixed wheel bikes, and he does lugs, fillet and even TIG.

Once home, Ben and I threw his Dura-ace group on the frame, and we both got to do a quick ride on the street to see how it feels. It's too big for me, but despite this it still feels lovely and neutral - within a few metres I was able to ride no hands, which is really cool.

The new Dura-ace kit is quite nice to work with. The polished titanium bits and grey anodised aluminium hubs set off the polished dropouts and derailleur tab quite nicely.



Here's Ben riding his new bike. His plan is to race it in master's races.

Teasing Ben

So we're assembling Ben's new bike on the weekend. I told him when he dropped by last Sunday that he could look but not touch, and that he wouldn't be allowed to touch for a week, while the clear set up nice and hard.

Here are some nice pics of his bike in the dawn light to tease him. I don't think detailed descriptions are necessary. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Firstly the seat lug:



Bottom bracket, plus polished derailleur tab:



Rear dropouts:



Upper head lug:



Lower head lug, plus ergo adjuster:

Lugwork and fork crown

So here's the fork crown that I'll use on Keith's bike. It's an LC18, with in-built 6.5 degree rake, to suit straight blades. I've filed, sanded, and polished it, then silver-brazed it to the steerer, then more sanding and polishing. The above photo was taken before turning the crown race seat. The below photos show it after turning the crown race seat.



I've also done a fair bit of work on the Llewellyn custodian lugs. As with Ben's bike, I've cut Bocama-esque triangles in the points and removed the STI adjuster ears. I didn't think there was enough material in the sides to warrant the triangle cutouts I did in Ben's lugs, so instead I scalloped out the sides to make them look a little more skimpy, and cut back the shoulders significantly. On the top head lug, rather than cutting the top skirt down, I removed a whole pile of material from the underside, significantly lightening the lug. This allows me to use a centimetre or so fewer spacers.

What have we here?

A lovely package arrived in the post yesterday. I opened it up and a whole bunch of tubes fell out. What sort of tubes could they be? Columbus Spirit for lugs, of course, in OS. This stuff is about the pinnacle of tubing. All Nivacrom, lovely thin walls, but with friendly butted sections suited for lugged construction.



More of the package revealed some lugs. These are Llewellyn custodian lugs, in OS size, and in stainless.

Aye, that be right, this one's going to have stainless lugs, and Spirit tubing. Alas it's not for me - it's for Keith. I just get the joy of knocking it together. :)

Keith is a really good mate from way back - He's the sort of guy that's just perfect to sit on - a big hefty sprinter. I've watched his arse for many thousands of kilometres, which is as it should be, because the alternative is not being able to get on his wheel when he decides to sprint.



Keith surprisingly has very short legs. He's a reasonably tall boy, but clearly all his height is in his torso. His off-the-peg Pinarello is a 54, which has a 52 seat tube and 54 top tube. In order to fit on it, he needs a 13cm stem and he pushes the saddle all the way back (9cm from saddle tip to BB), which can't be good for his knees.

I went for a 53cm seat tube (about the same standover height as his Pinarello), but put an extra 3cm in the top tube, for 57cm. This allows him to use an 11cm stem and just 7.5cm saddle setback, but get the same saddle-bar distance. The hope is that he'll be more comfortable and more able to get over the pedals when he sprints. I've set the bar drop the same as his Pinarello - 7.7cm, but allowed provision for him to drop the bars significantly once he gets used to the slightly more aggressive geometry.

Dazza was aghast that I ordered stainless lugs without ordering the parts for a fork as well, so I've relented and will do a matching fork. This is using parts I've had kicking around for a while - a 1" Columbus EL steerer, Columbus Nivacrom blades, and a Long Shen stainless crown (which I've already polished up). This should build up a lovely light fork.

Here's the ingredients that I'll use to make Keith's frame:

• Head tube: Columbus Nivacrom 31.7mm.
  
• Down tube: Columbus Spirit for lugs 31.7mm x 650mm
  
• Top tube: Columbus Spirit for lugs 28.6mm x 600mm
  
• Seat tube: Columbus Spirit for lugs 28.6mm x 635mm
  
• Seat stays: Columbus Spirit 16mm, tapering to 12.5mm tips.
  
• Chain stays: Columbus Spirit 30mm x 17mm oval, tapering to 12.5mm tips.
  
• Brake bridge: Silva art 189 with art 362 reinforcement diamonds.
  
• Dropouts: Llewellyn LRD68/SS stainless, 68 degree angle.
  
• Front derailleur tab: Richard Sachs.
  
• BB cable guide: W2081 stainless.
  
• Bottom bracket: Llewellyn OS.
  
• Lugs: Llewellyn Custodian stainless OS.
  
• STI bosses: Llewellyn LL-09-31.7 with Ceeway brass deluxe STI adjuster screws.
  
• Brake cable tunnel: Silva art 150 with art 141 reinforcement diamonds.
  
• Rear derailleur cable boss: Silva art 152.
  
• Bottle bosses: Silva art 471 with art 361 reinforcement diamonds.
  
• Steerer: Columbus EL.
  
• Fork Blades: Columbus Nivacrom.
  
• Crown: Ceeway LC18 stainless.
  

The head lugs, crown, dropouts, derailleur tab and STI bosses will all be polished. I'm still vaccilating as to whether or not to polish the seat lug. If I do, I'll really have to change my usual fastback seat stay attachment style... Anyway, I'll see. In the meantime I'll get to carving the lugs.

Sorry Ben!

Aargh!

So this is the activator for my clear coat. Clearly I won't be finishing Ben's frame this weekend.

This puts me in a bit of a bind - I have a couple of litres of Imron clear, and about half a litre each of red, black, and white. They all use this activator. Unfortunately the mob I buy my paint from no longer stocks Imron, and I'd prefer to go with the DeBeer product that they're selling. That means effectively chucking over four litres of paint.

Oh well, I guess I had to make the change at some point.

It's upside down!

Ben's bike has paint on it - the colour scheme was his idea, to match a favourite jersey. I think it looks kinda cool - certainly very bold.

I've just put the decals on, and am leaving it overnight before putting the clear coats on. This is how the auto-air paint looks immediately after spraying - a nice satin sheen. It's terribly delicate at this point- hence hanging up.



The head tube took a fair bit of patience to mask - I found the trick was to use lots of very small bits of tape, and to press each one carefully into the shoreline with a biro before cutting it with a scalpel. I did the yellow panels first, then the red. On the seat tube there are little orange decals at the transition between yellow and red.

Et Voila!

So after a few nights through the week burning the midnight oil (or is that LPG?), I'm at the point where Ben's frame is ready for paint. This is where I think frames are at their most beautiful, before the paint (however thin) hides all that delicate detail. Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures.

Please do click on the pictures to see larger versions. Those that come up in the blog are rather small.

Starting with the head tube. I polished up the nice little Llewellyn ergo bosses. They're fitted with brass adjusters from Ceeway. As mentioned in previous posts, the head lugs are Llewellyn Cadenzia, with added cutouts.



More detail of the lower head lug cutouts, and showing the shorelines.



The top head lug has similar cutouts to the bottom. Also visible here is the rear brake line port. It's on the right side, because here down under, we usually run the rear brake on the left lever. By running the brake line around the right side of the head tube, It will then have a much neater bend. That's the theory, anyway!



Turning now to the seat lug, you can see the difference that taking material off the rear skirt section of the lug makes. I think it looks a lot cleaner and more minimalist that the original lug. The seat stays were brazed on with system 48, which builds lovely fillets at silver temps.



More detail of the seat lug. Here you can see the shaping I do to the back of the binder. I love the shape of the top of the Llewellyn seat lug - very organic.



A shot from the other side shows the rear brake cable port, which is in the conventional position. Also, the triangle cutouts. I really like like how these turned out, and will definitely do them again on subsequent frames.



The brake bridge. What can I say? It's the bit you bolt the rear brake to. These bits can actually be a little annoying to braze, as the goal of keeping the cutouts free of silver while putting a fillet on the bridge just a couple of millimetres away is rather contradictory. This is where teeny tips are used.



The dropouts. My fingers are sore.



Here's the bottom bracket area, showing also the chain stay bridge and front derailleur tab.



More detail of the bottom bracket, showing the neat shorelines that are possible with system 48. This stuff builds bigger fillets than 56%, but cleans up readily. The neat thing is that it fills gaps.



And finally the whole thing, to put everything in context. I think the XL tubes look good on this size frame - they make a frame that otherwise would look spindly look more normal. This is 57cm long and 58 tall. It's probably about the smallest frame I'd want to do with XL tubes.

For reference, the frame weighs 1950g. That's for Columbus Life tubes. Contrast that to the 1680g I got for Kristyn's compact frame, with cheaper Zona OS tubes. Yes, the frame is bigger, but I think the XL tubes do have a bit of a weight penalty.