Sometime good to go for a simple ride

Sometimes it's nice just to go for a ride from the house, exploring the bridleways, linking up short and medium sections of track with even shorter sections of road.
Nothing gnarr, extreme or technical, just bashing through nettle and bramble infested tracks, trying to spot evidence of recent use form horses and bikes  (very little truth be told).
I always feel these tracks ned to be ridden at least annually to provide to somebody that they're still in use (just in case).
Anyway lots of pheasants, quiet single track, scarred legs, a clearing sky, few dog walkers, and me. Blissful really. Still managed to do 20 miles without trying, probably 15 of those off road. On;y relay pleasant for a few months in the year, as other times can just be a boggy boggy boggy!
Rode the Jones One 69er and it was so agile! Having come off a Surly Knard and Rabbit Hole rim combo on the green Jones, it was a revelation!

And then out for a bimble in Jethro the campervan to Ashdown Forest for a visit to Nutley windmill and then veggie hot dogs and onion looking at the view whilst the sun sets. Great end to a lovely day.

Framebuilding last day

So much to do today and was getting quite anxious with the time.
So, straight into brazing seat stay bridge,  13 brake house guides, 1 cable stop.

Simple additions but with the frame nearly finished and thin walled tubes the worry of rushing and overheating and burning holes has to be tackled. Tea break time.

Then on to make the head tube circular and flat with a monster reaming tool.

Then seat tube slot cutting and reaming to get the seat post in (and out again)

And that.... is it. The finished article. Well, needs a few hundred hours filing and cleaning up ready for paint. But not bad for a week's work.

Leather apron courtesy of Hostel costume dept.

Here's Martyn the framebuilder and me, and then Jon, the other guy on the course with his road bike frame. Ubiquitous hammer not hidden quickly enough!

All done. Time to go home - snow and Southern rail willing.

I can heartily recommend the course. Martyn and Brian are very skilled and patient and can take complete novices from zero to hero in five days.
Downland Cycles in Canterbury.

Framebuilding day 4

Pressure's really on today."Just" the chain and seat stays to do but they need serious fettling to fit properly.

Gert gobs of brass and flux to clean up later :(

More brass more pink icing more filing more coffee to get those hands shaking! And then it nearly looks like a bike...

Bottle bosses plumbed in. Very thin tubes here so careful with the torch Eugene.

Seat stays - mucho filing and swearing. Note high tech strap to hold them in place.

Last job of the day - chain stay bridge. Almost an adequate braze there. I may quit while I'm ahead.

Bit of cleaning up, using traditional Black & Decker power tools

Listening to 2009 remastering of Loop album The World in Your Eyes.  Wah Wah tastic!

Framebuilding day 3

This is when it gets serious. Lots of brazing today. Lots of opportunities to burn holes in things...

Pink icing on joints then brazing with lots of excess brass which all has to be filed off later.

Holes drilled for bottle cage bosses

It's hammer time! Too much heat in the bottom bracket means the jog has stuck and needs removing with delicate precision.... Vice. Check. Hammer. Check. Give it some. Check.

Chain stays cut and mitred ready for brazing first thing tomorrow.

Marked left and right in case of confusion.

Now to see if I can find a THIRD Mexican restaurant on Canterbury...

Framebuilding day 2

Enough with the theory and on with the bodging!
Today was about getting the front triangle to look like a triangle and not alphabetti spaghetti.
Fluxed (pink icing) and brazed the seat tube to the bottom bracket shell

Cut the head tube to the right length (second attempt) and slotted the lugs on. Purty ain't it?

Martyn the expert framebuilder checking the alignment (big hammer just out of shot)

Cut the down and top tubes to the right length and mitred the joints so they all fit real nice. Then put them together ready for brazing tomorrow. More pink icing to mix.

Today's new engineering terms - "just a smidge", "that'll do". "i think it'll be OK", "you might want to try that again..."

Framebuilding course day 1

First day here at Downland Cycles in Canterbury. Martyn the builder and Brian the owner run this course for aspiring framebuilders or those who wish to get it out of their system.
Down to business straightaway after some safety briefings -
This is my frame jig where all the tubes and lugs will be fitted together.

And this is my bit of the mighty workbench. I'm jealous which is sad really.

These are the tubes for my bike - some preshaped like the chain stays and seat stays, others ready to be delicately and ever so carefully filed, mitred and cut with dirty great fine files and hacksaws.

This is my test piece for joining a piece of gash tube to a lug. Using an oxy-axetylene torch, heating the metal up and adding brass filler to glue the pieces together. Next I have to saw the join in half to see if it worked! It did. Sort of.

This is the first bit of metal hacking... Filing (mitreing) the seat tube so it fits neatly against the bottom bracket. Ready for brazing tomorrow morning!

Photo is blurry so you can't see how uneven it is.

End of day 1. Time to sample the fleshpots of Canterbury.

Test 2

See if it works


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