Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]John Collier wrote, > Would you extend the second to include fillet brazed steel? I love steel > bicycle frames but think that the recent incorporation of beer can > technology has improved the ride quality significantly. I am having a frame > made to replace the one a kind member of the proletariat recently liberated > from me. A tight (lots of pedal overlap) cyclocross frame with Columbus foco > tubing for the seat and down tubes, Reynolds 853 top tube, and curly seat > stays from I do not know where. REALLY REALLY sweet ride. I can hardly wait. > It will have track drop outs but with a derailleur hanger added so I can > switch to fixed or single speed as well. I am going STI and nine speed > (Canon and Nikon equivalents in the bicycle world) so I fear you will shun > me if we ever meet! In those who are susceptible, bicycles can inspire as much gear-obsession as cameras. A case in point: Frame and fork: custom Reynolds 531 throughout, set and brazed free-hand w/o jigs or cold-setting; hand filed, fine finished, fancy cut-out Cinelli lugs; Campy forged dropouts and SR headset; Cinelli bottom bracket and investment cast fork crown; Cuevas semi-wrap seat cluster with chamfered seatstay ends and Cinelli allen-key seatpost binder; Cinelli allen-key brake bridge fitment; brazed-on guides for brake and changer cables, bottle cage bosses, derailleur bosses and rack eyelets. Components: Campy NR sidepulls and levers; Campy NR derailleurs and bar-end shifters; Sedisport chain; Campy NR cranks and titanium freewheel; Campy Suoerleggero pedals, Christophe clips and Binda straps; ttt stem and Cinelli (Campione del Mondo) bars with black tape (On Topic?!?); Campy SR single-bolt seatpost, Cinelli saddle w/ alloy rails. Wheels: Super Champion Gentleman 700c narrow alloy box-section rims, DT stainless steel double-butted spokes, individually hand-tied with copper wire and silver-soldered; Campy NR low flange hubs w/ QR; hi pressure gumwall road clinchers. Finish: hand finished monochrome Dupont Imron metallic silver with clearcoat, single Cuevas signature decal on either side of top tube only, no head tube decal or applique. Performance: as taut and finely tuned as a swiss watch, takes off from a standstill like a rocket, climbs like a mountain goat, rides like the wind, descends like an Italian downhill ski racer. Looks like it's freewheeling even when chained to a lamp post. Cotes d'amour: my personal favorite because my girlfriend had it built for me by the great Francisco Cuevas, as a gift. We were married not long thereafter. You can tell how long ago by the vintage of the components. Peter C. San Francisco