Help with frame related questions

[Somnolent]

1984 Reynolds 531....
Not sufficiently "vintage" to keep fully in period.
OTH with limited bodgery and skills you can learn on these pages you can likely turn it into a very acceptable audax/winter trainer.

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Wot they said !!!!
Fair to middling mass produced frame by Holdsworth. The name is one of those that still has "cachet" even now some 60 years after the "real" Claude Butlers. Even the current far eastern produced offerings are considered "good bikes" by the uninformed.
I just hope my name lasts as long   

Dave Yates

[clarion]

...I just hope my name lasts as long   

Dave Yates

Who?

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Who?

That Geordie chap that made bikes, what was his name, Gates, Bates, something like that.

[Efrogwr]

Who?

That Geordie chap that made bikes, what was his name, Gates, Bates, something like that.

A Geordie? Is he from Byker?

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Whitley Bay actually, the posh end of Tyneside 

[closetleftie]

Hi Dave,


Idle wondering on my way home this afternoon: what would happen to the properties of a steel bicycle frame if it was galvanized?


Not a plan, you understand. Really just idle curiosity!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Electroplated, hot dipped or Sherardized?

[closetleftie]

Electroplated, hot dipped or Sherardized?

No, galvanized. 

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Galvanising is commonly done by hot dipping ie into molten zinc which melts at approx 420 deg C. This is well below the temp required to anneal the tube and also below that of the lowest melting point silver solder. I dont think it would harm the frame but the finish would be pretty rough. We really need a metallurgist on the job th give a definitive answer.

Best I can do I am afraid

Cheers

Dave Yates

[Martin 14]

Wot they said !!!!
Fair to middling mass produced frame by Holdsworth. The name is one of those that still has "cachet" even now some 60 years after the "real" Claude Butlers. Even the current far eastern produced offerings are considered "good bikes" by the uninformed.
I just hope my name lasts as long   

Dave Yates

I thought it had   

[Big Al]

Bicycle Repair Man!   - but - HOW?!

[closetleftie]

Galvanising is commonly done by hot dipping ie into molten zinc which melts at approx 420 deg C. This is well below the temp required to anneal the tube and also below that of the lowest melting point silver solder. I dont think it would harm the frame but the finish would be pretty rough. We really need a metallurgist on the job th give a definitive answer.

Best I can do I am afraid

Cheers

Dave Yates

It would make the bike look a bit like it was an agricultural implement, wouldn't it? 

[Hot Flatus]

...or one of those unpolished Sabbath Ti frames 

[toestrap]

Hi Dave,

I hope you might be able to advise please?

As the pictures below show I have a bit of an issue with the non-drive side chainstay, where it should be brazed onto the rear dropouts. The fact that I can slip a scrap of paper between the tube and the drop out shows it isn't attached there. It seems brazed below this point and it is ok on the inner face of the dropout.

I'm not sure if this a new feature or just something I've noticed. The frame is c.30+ years old, a Dawes galaxy, 531 unbutted maintubes.

I'm due shortly to a long tour with full panniers - is this frame worth the risk? What might be the options?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Hi Dave,

I hope you might be able to advise please?

As the pictures below show I have a bit of an issue with the non-drive side chainstay, where it should be brazed onto the rear dropouts. The fact that I can slip a scrap of paper between the tube and the drop out shows it isn't attached there. It seems brazed below this point and it is ok on the inner face of the dropout.

I'm not sure if this a new feature or just something I've noticed. The frame is c.30+ years old, a Dawes galaxy, 531 unbutted maintubes.

I'm due shortly to a long tour with full panniers - is this frame worth the risk? What might be the options?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Now then Toestrap

That looks like a classic mass produced frame brazed joint!! The brass sticks where it touches and often it doesent touch much 
If the frame is 30 years old and it has not broken yet it is probably OK. However to set your mind at rest I would get it seen to before your tour. It is a simple job that any competent builder could do in a few minutes. Clean up around the joint, hacksaw blade along the gap to clean inside the dodgy joint and re braze. You will lose a bit of paint but a couple pf brushfulls of hammerite or similar will fix that.

Cheers

Dave Yates

[toestrap]

Perfect, many thanks Dave.

[contango]

Hi Dave, saw this thread and figured you might be able to give me some pointers.

I've got a cyclocross bike (2009 Specialized Tricross Sport Triple) that I use for day-to-day use, touring, the odd audax etc. It's got cantilever brakes and having recently ridden a bike with caliper brakes I came to realise how much better they are at stopping the bike. I'm looking at the fork and frame of the tricross and trying to figure if it's a sensible (or even a possible) option to mount caliper brakes to the fork and frame. It's got what look like mounting points there but I can't tell if they are designed to take a caliper brake or if they are intended for nothing more than a mudguard.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Hi Dave, saw this thread and figured you might be able to give me some pointers.

I've got a cyclocross bike (2009 Specialized Tricross Sport Triple) that I use for day-to-day use, touring, the odd audax etc. It's got cantilever brakes and having recently ridden a bike with caliper brakes I came to realise how much better they are at stopping the bike. I'm looking at the fork and frame of the tricross and trying to figure if it's a sensible (or even a possible) option to mount caliper brakes to the fork and frame. It's got what look like mounting points there but I can't tell if they are designed to take a caliper brake or if they are intended for nothing more than a mudguard.

Hi Contango

Alas, I dont think this is a practical proposition. Being a cross bike the clearance between possible caliper brake mounting points and the centre of the rim brake surface will be too great. You need to measure from centre of brake hole to middle of braking surface on the wheel. If it is greater than 57mm then forget it. You may find deeper brakes but they will not work as efficiently and would feel soft.
It would be worth checking the set up of your cantis. For best effect you should see an angle of approx 90 degrees between a line from pivot bolt centre to straddle wire clamp and the straddle wire.

Cheers

Dave Yates

[mark]

I went through a series of canti brakes on my tourer trying to find something that gave decent stopping power, didn't squeal and was reasonably easy to set up. I finally replaced the front brake with a direct pull (V-brake) Cane Creek Direct Curve 5 brake and a Drop V brake lever. Lots of stopping power, easy to adjust, stays adjusted and it's quiet.

[toestrap]

Hi Dave,

I hope you might be able to advise please?

As the pictures below show I have a bit of an issue with the non-drive side chainstay, where it should be brazed onto the rear dropouts. The fact that I can slip a scrap of paper between the tube and the drop out shows it isn't attached there. It seems brazed below this point and it is ok on the inner face of the dropout.

I'm not sure if this a new feature or just something I've noticed. The frame is c.30+ years old, a Dawes galaxy, 531 unbutted maintubes.

I'm due shortly to a long tour with full panniers - is this frame worth the risk? What might be the options?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Now then Toestrap

That looks like a classic mass produced frame brazed joint!! The brass sticks where it touches and often it doesent touch much 
If the frame is 30 years old and it has not broken yet it is probably OK. However to set your mind at rest I would get it seen to before your tour. It is a simple job that any competent builder could do in a few minutes. Clean up around the joint, hacksaw blade along the gap to clean inside the dodgy joint and re braze. You will lose a bit of paint but a couple pf brushfulls of hammerite or similar will fix that.

Cheers

Dave Yates

Sorted , many thanks for the advice:

[Bicycle Repair Man]

Toestrap

Very neat job, can I ask who did it? Someone who knew what they were doing !!!

Cheers

Dave Yates

[toestrap]

Enigma in Hailsham. They were very helpful and easy to deal with. More importantly they didn't fall about laughing when they picked up my frame which (with only the headset races still in place) weighed close to, and probably more than, one of their fully built Ti machines.

[slope]

This is bugging the hell out of me!

I can induce front wheel wobble/oscillation at any speed so far (still experimenting) between 12.5mph and 21mph by simple taking my hands off the bars and almost sitting upright. The further forward I lean, the less the effect, also the further back/upright, the wobble diminishes. The oscillation never gets uncontrollable or scary like a tank slapper at very high speed - I can ride and watch or feel the bars wobble without losing absolute control. It can also be produced by taking only one hand off the bars - which is how i discovered it - hand signalling - I don't make a habit of riding no hands!

It appears to start sooner with more of a load in the saddlebag or when using rear panniers. I went on a jaunt last week with heavily loaded (small Super Cs) on the rear and a lightly loaded barbag. The "shimmy" was way more pronounced, even at lower speeds and sometimes with both hands on the bars. It was still just about controllable.

At speeds in excess of 20mph it's rock solid, loaded or not - which took a lot of confidence building on my part, having had a tank slapper on another frame and could only see death, fortunately avoided with buttocks and knees automatically clenching the saddle nose and top tube respectively!

The frame is a Longstaff tourer which I bought new from George in 1993 - heavily ridden and toured with solid as a rock predictable steering for many years. I had it refurbished in 2007 (by Longstaff's), when I requested the 1" steerer tube to be replaced to make it 1" Ahead compatible. It looked so naff (traditional lugged frame with UGLY chunky Ahead stem = FAIL on my part ) I reverted to the more elegant quill stem and cut the steerer tube down and threaded it. A new Ultegra threaded headset was fitted.

This is when I suspected/imagined? a different feel to the bike? I kept checking the adjustment of the headset - I still keep checking and have had it checked - it is properly adjusted.

The front wheel has been changed to a Shimano 3N71 dyno hub model. I've checked the frame over for cracks. I've checked the alignment of frame front to back.

Suggestions? PLEASE??

Further thought - what could be the outcome of not threading the steerer "square"?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Try running the headset just a shade tight to see if that affects the frequency or amplitude. Shimmy can be very difficult to diagnose though.