Porter Bicycles- Made in New Mexico, USA

Just in case you readers have been asleep at the wheel, I’ve been adding some sort of Native American silver and turquoise adornments to my frames.

The economy is still very sluggish and not a lot of folks beating down my door for car or bicycle work so, I have been slowly teaching myself to make some selected bits of jewelry like items. Here are a couple belt buckles I recently finished. Both are of overlay design and both use the paste silver to both join the layers and to add a pleasing texture to the exposed surfaces

Bear Claw and turquoise

Oso-Bear fetish

Turtles emerging from the underworld Stabilized Kingman turquoise and white Buffalo stone on Sterling silver.

The turtle motif is the latest. These are selling off the shelf as fast as I can make them. Who knew..??

More to come, I reckon.

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Here’s another application for the paste silver.

This is a new frame using the spigot style drop outs from Nova Cycle Supply (www.novacycles.com).  I  dabbed  about a 3/4″ line of material inside the dropout then spread it  around evenly, stuck the chain stay in, added some extra flux on the outside in case I didn’t start with enough paste and had to add regular rod style filler.

Click & double click photos for close up…

Paste flux and filler post heating

One can see that a small amount of the paste has migrated to the outer surface of the drop. There were only 2 spots a couple square millimeters that had to be filed. All subsequent clean up was done with polishing compound.

polished drops

Worth noting here. As you can see, plain steel (not SS) can look as good as SS for less money and will retain it’s luster for a surprisingly long time between buffing up (like a year in the SW climate).

The next two photos are the chain stays to BB welds. This time I put paste inside the tubes (stays and seat) to form a small internal fillet and used rod on the external fillets. I’ll put up a picture of the entire finished joint after the down tube is mated.

Welds #1, 4 and 5

I  mitered the down tube and brazed it in today. Again I lined the inside of the tube with paste and used rod filler for the external fillet.

Mitered down tube

Post brazing

Post shaping clean up

Now, the neat thing about the butter is that I can even further reduce the size the external fillet because there is now an internal fillet to support the joint.  Here is a shot of the head tube joints. The fillet radius is tiny now. If these were regular round tubes it would show better than with the Spirit 8 sided tubes, but you get the idea.

Internal and external silver fillets

Remember to double click to get super close up. Use return arrow to return to text.

…and we’ll jump way ahead and here’s the frame in it’s ready to be built up state.

Zia frame

Comments (1)

Fortunately I have been very busy since August with  car restoration work. I received some of Fred Parr’s much touted paste based silver about that time and I was anxious to try it for myself after seeing the pictures that Dave Bohm posted about his first run with the product.

Nearly all the frames in the past 6-7 years have been fillet brazed, the jig I use allows me to add one tube at a time if I choose to do it that way versus mitering everything and doing it all at once, the brazing that is.  For this trial I thought that I would use the paste to solidly tack the seat tube to the BB.

raw BB shell and seat tube

In the picture above, I have smeared a small bead of paste all around the inside of the seat tube and on the edges of the miter.

Paste silver tack

The above photo is the post heating result. I used no additional flux beyond the paste.  All surfaces were pre-cleaned with Parr’s Metal Prep product.

My thinking at this point was to also attach the chain stays in a similar fashion then remove that assembly from the jig and finish the fillets on a bike stand so I could get a clean shot at the underside.

So after asking Mr. Parr if it was ok to swab the entire area with flux, to make clean up easier, he said it was fine and could add rod at the same time too. I wanted to avoid additional filler at this stage and since the seat tube went well I didn’t anticipate any problems.

Internally pasted, externally fluxed; pre heat

At this stage, after heating everything looked good, though I could have probably used a bit more paste, but I was going from Dave B’s tutorial where he thought he may have used too much and I was, afterall only meaning to tack the stays and seat tube for a later final fillet.

Final joining complete

Well, the verdict is, well mixed.  When I took the assembly out of the jig, I managed to knock one of the stays off the BB. The other was fine. I’m going to chalk it up to gross inexperience with the product, though I’ve seen enough silver flow over the years to think that my heat was sufficient to accomplish the task at hand. The fact is that the interior wetting was great and I was impressed by the natural fillet that formed and can only blame myself for the lack of adequate heat to the shell to obtain a good bond.

I intend to try it again some where else during this build up and I really want to use it for some silver smithing projects. Especially were extremely thin gauge silver is being joined as this stuff doesn’t require much heat to flow as compared to getting a 1/16th rod to go liquid.

I have since talked with Freddy and he advises that if one wants to use the paste as a pre-placement vehicle, then it is best to NOT completely flow the joint as the eutectic ratio properties will be exhausted and further capillary travel is unlikely.  So, hope this was as good for you. I learned something new today.

Drop a line if you have any questions.  Double click on the photos for a close up view.

Dave

Comments (1)

Nearly 20 years ago I built this tandem as an experiment. It was made from Columbus MAX road bike sets and a generic oval boom tube. Here’s a picture of it’s current dirty-dusty state, in the equally dirty-dusty crowded frame building corner of the shop.   (Click/double click on photos to enlarge)

As you can see, it has old components, Mavic drive train, down tube shifters (7spd freewheel), Campy brakes, no name levers, in other words it’s just equipped for general around town riding. It does have track dropouts with a derailleur hanger.  But, it’s main intended purpose was for track use. Perhaps, you’ve heard my story about Track Nationals, the USCF, and this frame set. I’ll add a condensed version of the story later.

(The story)

When Columbus MAX was first introduced I just fell in love with it. Light and strong and steel.
So, I decided to build a tandem with it, even though it was not recommended. Well, it was amazing. A little over 30lbs and wicked acceleration with a couple strong riders.
So, I thought I’d ask the USCF Nat. coach if he had any interest in using the tandem at Nats which were being held at Trexlertown that year. He said “yeah Dave get it to so and so in San Diego”, as they were the two hot tandem riders. I duly delivered the bare frame to these guys and drove back to NM.
In those days the only source of racing news was Velonews. When I read that the tandem these guys were riding at Nationals had broken and they had to borrow one it was a huge slap to my reputation/ego. Or so I thought. Well,…as it turned out, these guys had never even assembled or ridden my tandem…. Slap number two.
I tried for over a year to get the frame back. I finally sent the USCF an invoice for $6000.00 and it miraculously appeared back at the shop.
Needless to say I was miffed that after all my expense and effort it remained untested. So, at the next Nat. road TT in Moriarity, NM, I added a derailleur hanger, shifter bosses and brakes and gave it to a couple of the shop team riders for the event.
Result..gold medal. Every event its entered since then it has won gold, except the last when the age graded riders missed the gold by 9 seconds. (90+) It still holds the National record for men.

National Tandem TT champs

Very cool I think and great redemption too. It’s been used by juniors, seniors and mixed gender too.
Well, that’s the story.

I was just rooting through my desk drawers and found this letter. Funny, I don’t remember the check, only the frame coming back. I don’t remember, it gets worse with age..

Click here tandem-fiasco

click back button to return to blog..

It’s a very compact design, due to the fact that the MAX tubes were made in only road bike lengths. It’s a 75 degree HT, 74 degree Captain’s ST and 72 degree Stoker ST. Wheelbase is 1645mm and the boom is 615mm. BB height is  10 1/2″ rear, 11 1/2″ front BB.  Captain’s seat tube is 56cm, Stoker is 57cm  and top tubes are 58cm and 61cm respectively.

The stem is a custom adjustable length and employs a “stayer” brace of Titanium. The fork is one of my signature “aero” designs and has special skirts at the drop outs for wind drag issue.

Since building this one, there have been more huge leaps in the steel technology available for bicycles. So, since the economy is slow, meaning my automotive restoration business, I decided it was time to test some new materials and to try out the new tandem jig, which in a previous blog story I explained building a single frame on.

I’ll do the same for this new tandem in the following entries. “Squirt II”  (authors note: It seems to make the project more tangible when it has a name)

Yikes! Here’s over $800 bucks of raw materials..

and here is the jig configured for a tandem build.

Ready for the first two welds.

The “keel” is laid. This stage forms the backbone of the tandem frame. This stage was done using brass. This was done so that when the seat tubes and down tube is added I can use silver and not disturb the older welds. All of these five pieces shown are the thickest wall and not much bothered by the additional heat.

Oh My God! There I go again. Cutting big holes in a perfectly good boom tube. What was I thinking??

Here’s what I was thinking. I made two slightly off set (front to rear) holes through the boom tube and inserted two wing shaped inserts. The general idea is to help resist twisting of the boom. I probably should just finish them flush with the boom, but I think I’ll let them protrude like this just to add some interest. Not much to look at on a track tandem..

In this next picture I am what one would call “committed to the steering geometry”. I will interject at this point that I am having one of the guys from the bike builders e-mail list collaborate with some of the design work. He is an engineer, I’m a self taught guy with a lot of years experience. I thought it would be interesting, at least for me, to compare notes in a manner of speaking. I’ll leave him nameless for now, to protect the innocent.

The down tube and head tube are now joined thus completing the “keel”. Everything goes up from here. These are the first two silver fillets. The next picture is for Mr. Garro. I’ve washed the flux off and just rubbed it a bit with steel wool. The head tube won’t get much, if any clean up, until the internal lateral and captain’s top tube are fitted. Those fillets will be blended together to minimize the head tube height as the tubes have a vertical dimension of 43.5mm each and I’m trying to keep the head tube at a minimum.

Between multiple distractions today I was able to get both seat posts welded down as well as the stokers top tube.

The tricky part is the top tubes. This old jig was designed for 1″ round top tubes. This Columbus tubing is 43.5 x 29mm and is 8 sided, plus the oval rotates 90 degrees from end to end. Needless to say, it would take a handful of various sized blocks to hold the tube, so I just turn the entire top tube holder assembly upside down and set the tube on it’s machined surface. A couple measurements and some old toe straps and it’s good to go.

Oh, oh! The stoker’s  top tube is too short!

Yeah, well it was part of the plan. Really.

Like the MAX these tubes weren’t designed for tandem use.  I wanted to increase the stoker cockpit over the old tandem.  The captain’s top tube will appear to be pierced by the seat tube and the two top tubes will be butt welded. That will take some time and will be repeated on the internal laterals. Both the riders will have an additional 3cm of leg room, this is good.

Here’s how it works. Here is the cold fit stage.

I thought I’d try these new fangled track drop outs.  Already I’m thinking it was a bad decision as I want to attach 2 pairs of seat stays and there is limited room to do so. I’ll ponder it a while. There may be a clever solution, may be not.

The first set of seat stays and the bridge are on and now I’m not sure that I want to add a second set as planned. The triangular chain stays are naturally rigid and the three point attachment on the seat tube is a bit stronger (?) than normal and the lower attachment on the seat tube makes a smaller triangle too. I’ll have to think about it some more. I don’t know about the rest of you but sometimes I’ll just sit there and stare at the project at hand until an idea strikes. This may be one of those instances.

It’s one of those days that looks like it will snow any minute, but still a couple of degrees too warm. So, I’ve decided to use my Sunday working on fitting the internal laterals. I have it fit up pretty close here, but it needs just a couple touch’s more to get alignment and gaps the way I need them. Since the seat tube is only 0.38mm wall thickness where they intersect, I brazed a couple of split scrap pieces on the seat tube, which I’ll bury under the fillet. I also left a larger than normal perimeter gap that I’ll fill with silver. These tubes are pretty brittle and I think if they don’t actually butt up that movement in the filler is superior to contact of the tube ends. I’m hoping that it will keep the paint from cracking too.

That little coil of silver hanging from the jig is all I have left. It looks like I might not be able to finish the brazing until I get restocked next month. Maybe Santa will be good to me this year.

It’s Christmas day.  Presents are opened and the belly is full. Life is good.

So, yesterday I finished brazing the remaining main tubes in. I had to mix some  Brazage Pro and All-State 45%, which I was told was OK to do. (we’ll see) I’m confident that the joints are structurally fine, but I was being so miserly with the silver that there are a couple “rough” spots in the fillets.  I’m torn between leaving well enough alone and going back over the spots to fill with additional material. To get it hot enough to accomplish this is probably not worth the risk of heat damage to the overall structure. Some “filler” primer will make it look fine. Above is the rear BB and chain stays. That’s a 22mm tire shown, we’ll use a 19mm Continental Olympic when it debuts on the track. (220psi for a mere $300 a piece).

Here’s the front BB and eccentric. The only thing left is to install seat tube binders (2 on each tube) and to split the eccentric shell and add binders to it. Oh, the head tube needs to be trimmed to length and reamed.

The frame is weighing in at an amazing nine pounds, so I guess I’ll splurge and add a tiny bit of silver smith decoration on the connecting tube between the seat stays. Perhaps a couple nice bits of New Mexico turquoise as I’ve done before. It’s only a few grams, and it makes it oh so regional.

I only have the fork to finish now. I’m definitely out of silver filler, so now I’ll get on the phone and start shopping for some components in the mean time.

The specs so far are: Wheelbase 171 cm; captains seat 57 cm @ 74 degrees and a 63cm top tube; the stokers is a 57.5 seat @ 73 degrees and a 64cm top tube. BB drop is 5.2cm The head tube is 76 degrees with a 40mm fork rake planned.

This is the finished but unpainted frame. Tomorrow I’ll make the silver adornments to doll it up a little. Hope to have the supplies to make the fork soon. I put wheels on it today and stood on the boom tube and it seems to be plenty strong despite the light weight. I would not recommend trying to stand on one of the top tubes though. They are deformable with the thumb and fore finger. Maybe some ” No Step” decals like an airplane are in order.

Squirt II

I’m thinking about painting the frame all in a bright silver metallic. But, I’m always open to suggestions…

Here are the two silver cups to hold the turquoise stones which will be brazed on as stay caps. Very New Mexico.

Stay caps

Yesterday, I followed through with the silver decorations.  I went a little over board with the head tube badge.  It’s my standard “P” with a nice piece of Arizona turquoise in the “hole” of the P and at the base I made little doodads to represent Chamisa plants with some stylized fronds. It’s on there now so love it or hate it.

head tube badge

and here are the turquoise caps on the seat stay connector tube ends.

Santa Fe style

left overs

Oh, oh. I’ve got left overs. To tell the truth, this one was so much fun maybe I’ll do a road version next and save this set of seat stays for it.

Discarded tips

The forks were a bit of a challenge. The blades are aero shaped and to get the desired length I would have to have cut virtually all the wing shaped ends off. And that shape was the whole point. So to get 40mm of rake I started curving at the distal ends and slowly and carefully moved up the blade. A bit tricky with a non round shape. Anyway, here’s the cut off ends. Needless to say the dropouts fit entirely into the ID of the remaining blades and requires a lot of brass to fill. But, they are nice and beefy there and should handle the tandem weight demands without problem.

Aero fork

The finished forks.

On the ground

A few details left, a little more clean up, headset machining and paint. It’s too long for my new paint booth so I’ll take it to a friends car booth after the New Year holiday. Anyone happen to know if the UCI has a minimum tandem weight? I’m really excited to try this out. Unfortunately I’ll have to wait until the Spring to go up to Colorado Springs.

To be honest, the more I stare at the frame and every  time I pick  it up I get the feeling in the pit of my stomach that it simply is too light. Now I know that Calfee has a bamboo tandem and there are some damn light Carbon Fiber tandems out there but I still don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling that this will withstand the rigors of the velodrome with two world class athletes aboard.  I’m thinking about adding an additional internal lateral to the stoker’s main trapezoid, which will also give an ideal location for an additional set of seat stays. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun as it hasn’t even been ridden around the block yet.  Any suggestions??

Well, I chickened out and added another lateral to the frame yesterday. Also added some little 3/16″ SS tubes to the rear triangle. I saw them on one of Pino’s bikes click here:  and not knowing of this technique previously I thought I’d give it a try since I was on the fence about this too.

4 more tubes

Additional stays are hardly noticeable

paint and parts next

I was still feeling nervous, so decided to try something new, I think, and radical, I think. So, what do you think?

All trussed up and no where to go...yet

I was told that the stokers BB gets four times the stresses of a single frame’s BB. So since this is already bolstered on the top, I thought I’d beef up the under side with this truss like contraption.

I’ve received a fair number of comments on the “mid-stay” tubes  usefulness. The jury is still out on that one. Another builder on the “frame-builders” list also pointed out that the curved truss under the BB is a poor design. I knew that, but did not want to spend an inordinate amount of time making miniature lugged spigots to use straight chords. It is a bicycle, after all, not a 7000 HP dragster.

More to come in the coming weeks. The riders need to do some shake down and training rides now that the weather is starting to cooperate.

I haven’t been able to find any real sponsorship from any of my old sources. Used to be they were happy to provide parts in exchange for advertising. Only Shimano was willing, but unfortunately they don’t have the necessary tandem parts.  This may have to come all from my own threadbare pockets. Oh well, been there before.

As of right now, we are looking at a date to coincide with the NM Track Championships, June, I think.

As soon as the riders are happy with it I’ll get some paint on it and post those pictures. Should be a handsome tandem, IMO of course.

March 20th, the two prospective riders and I all had our schedules in perfect alignment today and we got to give Squirt II and 20 mile test run.

Well, the bad news is that I can’t go that fast anymore! They could drop me like a rock. The good news is that even with skinny width road bars the captain was very happy with the handling. The Stoker was equally happy that his position was identical to his road bike, except for the bend of his bars.  The frame was absolutely rigid and dead quiet. Very cool. Next week we’ll change it to a 49 x 17 gear for better flexibility around town and then work on some position nuances for the guys.

Here’s how it looks for the 1st official test ride.

I was hoping the “truss” was visible on this side but, not really. At any rate, while on the wheel going down the street I asked the guys to stand and sprint for a few revolutions to see if there was any discernible deflection of the rear triangle. I couldn’t accelerate with them for very far and I saw no movement at all. We did the same thing at low speed on steep grades. No flex! I was a happy camper.

Finally decided on a color scheme.  Here’s some pictures post paint and decals.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Squirt 2 in paint

The brake is for around town test rides. The Campy headset and TA cranks make it On Topic for the CR folks, yes?

It’s a Lt. Violet metallic with Silver met. over spray and clear coat. Imron by DuPont.

More to come, check back from time to time and thanks to all the well wishers who have contacted me.

Comments (7)

The stimulus money still has not arrived in my corner of the world and thought I’d scan some photos into the computer just for grins.

For a long time I carefully documented each frame-bike and the customer’s info, then for a long time I quit documenting as the retail end of the business consumed huge amounts of time, which relegated some tasks to the circular file. Here’s a sampling of some of my early work.

Click to enlarge photos. Click again for super size and fries..

These first three are: A Columubus SLX with full Campy group and arguably one of the first paint over weird design stuff paint jobs. Next is a 3 color fade MAX frame with internal routing of brake cable. And last in this group is a Columbus SL with brass details.

In this group are: a two tone track frame of Columbus PL ( an early Fixie, as it has H2O bosses for around town use),  a Columbus Air set with chromed fork and black anodized Campy group, then a 26″ wheeled tri-bike of clear coated MAX and lastly a MAX OR mountain bike (mine) which I still have and still don’t ride much.

The red TT bike is a bunch of assorted tubes I wanted to use up. Close inspection of the fork will reveal my earliest prototype of wind control of spinning wheels. It was/is essentially the same concept that Lance Armstrong’s aerodynamist  John Cobb subsequently did.  I recall sending a letter to Cobb offering some help on this and they responded with ugly letters from some Swiss law firm. Needless to say, I withdrew my offer.

The gray Pursuit frame has 45 assorted holes, actually perpendicular tubes, through it. Not something to ride on cobbles. It’s soooo stiff.

The last two are a tiny 48cm MAX with no toe clip clearance and another early frame with Letraset  decals and more early on brass inlay (fork crown).

Here’s a Black and White of the 1st hand made mountain bike in New Mexico. It was called the X1 …

Here’s a shot of a gaggle of Porter’s on the back porch of the 1st bike store..

This was my bike, for a while. It has the campy 50th Anniversary group.

This one is a hoot. That’s me on the door stoop of the 1st location of the Harvard (street) Bike House. The building (house) was shared with a used book store. About a block away from the University of NM. Across the street from the Purple Hippo, where Susan from the Seinfeld show used to work.

I’ll add more as time and desire permits. Enjoy.

Here’s a 80’s TT frame (Columbus AIR) that showed up on my doorstep today for a repair on the seat clamp. A common problem on the aero seatposts which had poor clamping.

I’d forgotten about this whimsical paint scheme.

Aero TT frame

from the back..

Dave

Comments (3)

I was inspired by the Classic Rendezvous mail list to reassemble an old 70’s  531 frame that I rode for many years and always kept it around because of all the good and bad times we’d spent together.

So here is today’s starting point. (click to enlarge fotos)

The Sacred Show Case

This old show case from the bike store days still contains a bunch of new and used stuff.  I hit the Campy Record bits pretty hard today.  It was supposed to be an easy clean and build sort of project, well you know the saying “nothing is easy” .  I had planned on using the 50th Anniversary Group for maximum bling, except that the rear brake pivot is welded to the frame and I decided that I didn’t want that group scattered about. Next I realized that nearly all the Campy hubbed wheels I have around are sewups, which got the no vote. So after finding a suitable 6 speed freewheel, which lead to a shorter axle, which lead to re-dishing the wheel, which lead to rolling some new threads on the too long spokes I had on hand to replace the broken ones, which lead to patching tubes and swapping dried out clinchers for some newer and safer tires I finally had a plan on how to use the best stuff on hand or my cleanest dirty shirt so to speak.

So here is the pile of stuff I pulled out

Bits and Pieces

and the frame as it looks after hanging on a hook for many years..

So I removed the old rear rack, carefully saving the old Blackburn dropout adapters.. I washed the mud and dust off the frame and gave it quick coat of wax.  This frame has been repainted at least 4 times that I remember and it could use a respray again. Not this week though.

I’m still searching for the box with all the discarded Campy brake blocks and wheel guides, they’ll turn up eventually.  I always liked the Haden crown. I understand they are quite scarce now days. I inlaid silver strips on the lateral edges. It may have been the 1st for my “jewelry” treatment. The lugs are Prugnat, the BB shell is Cinelli, and the dropouts are Campy.

Here’s the brazed on brake stud and see through bridge.

Below are the unscathed brake levers (out of focus-trust me) Even the hoods are reasonably serviceable.

And the complete package (I added the Binda toe straps this morning)

there are a few mismatched odds and ends that I’ll deal with as I come across them in the shed.

Now comes the painful part, probably for my readers, not for me as there was a reason it’s been on a hook for 20 years.  I love steel, I love old bikes, I love the old parts, all the stuff that we grew up with and molded our impressions of what a bicycle should look like and how it should perform.

The first two pedal strokes told it all.  I knew immediately that I was on an old friend, an old friend that was, well, OLD. It handled predictably,  the gear changes were as good as Campy made in those days. But it does not begin to compare with the “connectedness” of the new frame steels and components. After 531 and SL came True Tempers and MAX another  huge leap in tubing performance and now Spirit makes the MAX seem antiquated. I haven’t tried the heat treated stainless tube sets and likely won’t unless asked to use them as I think they are a bit gimmicky but no doubt they have another level of performance characteristics too.

I can understand the nostalgia involved with these bikes of eras past, but as a builder who has seen the progression of materials and components I will not dwell very long on the enthusiasm of owning old bikes for much other than the historic value.  The performance of new steels and components is far, far superior to the old stuff. Sorry guys, but that’s my take.

In an honest attempt to give the bike a fair shake I decided to take it out on my daily ride. The best part of getting prepared to leave was lacing up the old Vittoria leather shoes. No doubt that they’re  more comfortable than the CF soled shoes with goofy latches and Velcro straps.  I almost used the hairnet “helmet” but decided I’d save that for the next parade ride.

I spent the first 75 feet of my gravel driveway trying to flip the loose pedal to get my foot in, so score one for click in pedals for stop and start safety. I managed to nick the bony protuberance Maleala (sp?) once, haven’t done that in forever! I settled into a 52 x 17 and set off on my route.

I noticed the slightly different hand position on the hoods and the less natural reach for the brake levers. Score another safety point for the ergonomic designed new levers and bars. One simply does not have the leverage with the old style.

On stopping and starting at intersections the difference is a little more subtle for me as I began doing track stands so as not to wear out the plastic cleats years ago and have carried the process over to clipless for the same reasoning. I will add, however that with toe straps there is that extra step to release the tension and that down shifting to a start off gear is another. So rather than watching for nitwit drivers, the rider is busy bending down or reaching down. Score another safety issue for the new systems.

I had a Campy alloy freewheel and chain that had been used together previously so the drive train was as smooth as the day they were removed. Shifting was smooth, quiet, and took more lever movement than I remembered at first, but the rhythm soon returned. Here is where the new stuff really shines. Shifting with 9-10 speed indexing is so reflexive whereas the down tube  shifters require a more conscience decision to reach down, break rhythm and change gears. So, an obstacle or grade change  when pedaling “in the zone” is disruptive to the mental and physical flow when a gear change is required versus powering through the obstacle.

Anyway, after I got back into the ride and started to enjoy the day and look to see if anyone else on the bike route noticed that my bike had cables that weren’t taped down (they didn’t) I found that I was enjoying the ride except for the very noticable harsher ride imparted by the thicker walled frame tubes. So, rack one up for the new steel designs.

I’ll ride it again soon. Probably a ride to the local bike store so I can come clicking in on the old cleats and wool jersey treatment…smiles all around.

Dave

Comments (5)

Gentlemen,

Here is the problem..

burned through gasket

click on foto to enlarge

With the laminated gaskets the copper layers are quite thin. Probably .003-.004″ so what happens is that the very hot, I call them kernels of gas, begin to burn through the thin layer of copper and before too long, a year with daily driving, the kernels will burn across the very narrow area between the bores. What does one do? As, mentioned by others, deck the block and head surfaces. Use a solid copper gasket and a thick one at that, say .010-.030″. Use new head studs!. Use Triumph like figure 8 gaskets  (.002-.003″) around the bore holes for extra squish (technical term) in those areas. The Healey head was/is notorious for poor clamping, especially above the spark plug holes.

Comments (4)

Can any of you experts tell me the country of origin of this wonderful kids bike. And why don’t we see more like this as popular collector items?

Kids bike

click to enlarge

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Columbus Spirit Frame for sale. $650.00 plus shipping-US only. I built this frame for myself as a trial for shallow head tube design for a very light <4lb frame for unloaded long distance touring. I don’t like slow steering and there’s no point in having it hang from the ceiling when someone out there might be looking for a unique frame like this. It has no fork. I would recommend a 45-50mm rake. It was ridden for one summer and fall. A couple minor nicks in the paint, but Spirit is much akin to stainless in rust resistance. Click images to enlarge.

This is a 58 cm seat c/top 56.5 cm top c/c;  head tube is 72 degrees; seat tube is 73.5 degrees; Chain stay length is 41.5 with vertical drop outs; rear spacing is a tight 135mm; 2 bottle braze ons, braze on frnt der.; chain hanger; pump peg; rear bake cable bosses (3); paint is Imron Plum; Sterling silver and Turquoise trim. All silver fillet joinery.  email me at frogeye@porterscustom.com  for further info.

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..and you thought the banking at Talledega was steep..

Click here:
to see a few laps around the new Boulder indoor 143 meter track.  It’s short and not nearly enough banking for high speeds.

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