A fillet-brazed porteur

I finished up this really nice fillet-brazed porteur a few weeks ago, which is now at Spectrum Powder Works waiting on paint. I can't wait to get it back and see the final product. Spectrum is renowned for what they can do with powder, unlike a lot of others who use powder and shun intricate lug masking, polished stainless, pin striping, etc., Spectrum is very capable in these areas and the best part is that their paint jobs are durable. Since the bikes I make get ridden, a durable paint job is at the top of my priority list, along with a paint job that does not conceal all the details and hard work that went into the building of the frame.

These photos don't show the bike totally done. Finished, it is set up for cantilever brakes and has the various cable stops and brake bosses needed, as well as a set of water bottle bosses. The rear cable stop is one of my favorite details. If you look at most production frames these days and even a lot of custom frames, you'll notice the lack of a brazed-on rear cable stop. I hate this when I see it, but it is obvious to me why most manufactures leave them off. If you are going to run v-brakes then a cable stop is not needed since the cable housing terminates at the brake noodle, and if you are going to use cantilever brakes then there are cable stops that you can add that hang from the seat tube binder bolt. So, really the absence of a hanger adds flexibility in the end, which for a production frame I guess is a good thing. Just one more way a custom builder can distinguish their product from the mass-produced product.

The cable stop I made for this frame is basically modeled after this one:
http://www.jitensha.com/eng/images/04ebisupics/ebisu_seatcls.jpg
I like it a lot.

Some other nice details:

Fastback seatstays
Nice even fillets

Porteur rack
The bike is going to be built up with a great mix of old and new componentry. Brooks Swift saddle, Phil hubs and BB, Mafac repro cantilevers, King headset, and this old TA crank:


Pictures of the build should be coming in a few weeks.

A mixte from the not too distant past.

I thought I would jump start this whole thing by posting a few pictures of a frame I built earlier this year, even though I don't have any pictures of the build process. Still, I think the pictures of the unpainted frame are interesting and I really like the post-paint build. More pictures of the bike can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mapcycles/sets/72157594411384711/

Here's the frame built up after paint:

So, here you are:

Well, I guess I'm starting this blog with as much myself in mind as anyone who might visit it, so if you're here reading this now please bear with me, there is more substance to come.

I've been trying to keep a photographic record of my work building bicycles over the last few years, and it's been spotty and mostly I just have pictures of the finished product. That's nice and all but framebuilding is quite an elaborate and involved process, and it's not always easy to stop and take notes. I'm hoping that this blog will give me a reason to pause and take note of what I'm doing. After all, I've given a large chunk of myself over to the pursuit of framebuilding and as I become more and more entangled in it I find the need to raise the bar in the quality of my work more pressing. So, it is the refinement of the framebuilding process that will be my focus.