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Posted (edited)

While it's not up to me to decide whether or not it's art, I can answer a few questions about the frame.

 

1. a titanium tube carries the hydraulic fluid through the frame. It's fusion welded to the fitting and then another layer of 0.030" filler rod is added to the weld. The system has been tested and thoroughly ridden (by me, it's my bike) with no issues at all. There's no benefit to doing it this way whatsoever other than "because I wanted to" do it and the odds are very high that I'll never do it again. Materials, planning and fabrication put the project of routing that hydro line in the $1500 neighborhood and I highly doubt anyone wants to pay that just to hide a cable. I did it purely so I could stop thinking about it and move on with other ideas.

 

2. the post mounts for the rear brake are deliberately put between the stays, as I have been doing since 2006. When one post is welded to the chain stay, and the other welded to the seat stay, the brake caliper becomes a structural member and is spreading the braking force between the two stays and cutting the strain a single stay sees in half. I do this whenever practical and in the case of this particular bike, I bent the seat stays expressly to accommodate the brake caliper.

 

I hope that clarifies a few things. Thanks for reading.

 

Sean

Edited by VertigoCycles
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Posted

1000 0000 0000 points to the actual bike maker logging in and commenting. Taking pride in his own product. Now that, my friends, is art. :thumbup:

Posted

PS and I'd like to see the actual person who made a Niner or Trek or Spaz frame doing that.

 

You know...it's not all THAT different than what individual builders do. In some ways, what they do can be more difficult because they need to scale it for production and tool up in such a way that some person on the other side of the planet can reliably complete a process and in the end, have a dependable product. When I'm doing a one-off, I can often wing it and come out with a good end-product BUT it takes faith, patience and determination and the knowledge that if I goof it up, I have to do it all over again but avoid whatever mistake I just made.

 

The big disconnect is that the designer is almost never the person doing the labor. That's one of the reasons custom frames cost what they do. The same guy welding your frame (me) designs it, does the books, is the customer service person, the machinist, the floor sweeper and the logistics planner.

 

I'll duck out for a while. Thanks for the discussion.

 

Sean

Posted

Thanks Sean; I meant it is unlikely we will ever have an actual Spaz etc frame builder log on to our little hub on the tip of Africa and share their insights, product knowledge and thought processes on what went into the bike. Kudos! :w00t:

Posted

You know...it's not all THAT different than what individual builders do. In some ways, what they do can be more difficult because they need to scale it for production and tool up in such a way that some person on the other side of the planet can reliably complete a process and in the end, have a dependable product. When I'm doing a one-off, I can often wing it and come out with a good end-product BUT it takes faith, patience and determination and the knowledge that if I goof it up, I have to do it all over again but avoid whatever mistake I just made.

 

The big disconnect is that the designer is almost never the person doing the labor. That's one of the reasons custom frames cost what they do. The same guy welding your frame (me) designs it, does the books, is the customer service person, the machinist, the floor sweeper and the logistics planner.

 

I'll duck out for a while. Thanks for the discussion.

 

Sean

 

Thanks for your thoughts Sean! :thumbup:

 

How open are you to building bikes/frames for foreign customers (i.e. us down here on the bottom tip of Africa)?

Posted

No sweat, guys. I think all anyone wants in this industry is to know that someone is out there riding the snot out of our stuff. It doesn't matter if you're a designer or you do it all.

 

Thanks for your thoughts Sean! :thumbup:

 

How open are you to building bikes/frames for foreign customers (i.e. us down here on the bottom tip of Africa)?

 

Completely open. I've sent frames to Australia, Scotland and Germany. The customer pays shipping, insurance and applicable duties. In some cases, the duties comprise an astounding cost and it's more cost effective for them to fly to the states for pickup. Whatever the situation, I'm open to it.

 

Sean

Posted

No sweat, guys. I think all anyone wants in this industry is to know that someone is out there riding the snot out of our stuff. It doesn't matter if you're a designer or you do it all.

 

 

 

Completely open. I've sent frames to Australia, Scotland and Germany. The customer pays shipping, insurance and applicable duties. In some cases, the duties comprise an astounding cost and it's more cost effective for them to fly to the states for pickup. Whatever the situation, I'm open to it.

 

Sean

 

Hi Sean, thanks for your posts. Your insightful posts will definitely be my top posts of the year.

Posted

You know...it's not all THAT different than what individual builders do. In some ways, what they do can be more difficult because they need to scale it for production and tool up in such a way that some person on the other side of the planet can reliably complete a process and in the end, have a dependable product. When I'm doing a one-off, I can often wing it and come out with a good end-product BUT it takes faith, patience and determination and the knowledge that if I goof it up, I have to do it all over again but avoid whatever mistake I just made.

 

The big disconnect is that the designer is almost never the person doing the labor. That's one of the reasons custom frames cost what they do. The same guy welding your frame (me) designs it, does the books, is the customer service person, the machinist, the floor sweeper and the logistics planner.

 

I'll duck out for a while. Thanks for the discussion.

 

Sean

 

Your frames and work based on your pics are really works of art (In my opinion of course :) )

 

I do hope to see one of your frames on the trail someday in SA.

 

Best wishes and keep up the good work.

Posted

You are gonna have to explain this in a bit more detail .

I don't see the benefit.

 

Applies particularly to calipers mounted 'behind' the axle (quickrelease), where the force generated by the calipre on the rotor acts to 'pull' the axle out of the dropout.

 

Whether the caliper is mounted behind the rotor or in front does not affect the braking but affects the directional pull on the axle.

 

Typical American litigious reaction is to demand that manufacturers place 'lawyers lips' at the bottom of dropouts, instead of using their noggins like this bloke and altering the position of the calipre.

 

Very cool to him. :thumbup:

 

(I can not look at this pic anymore, because it is actually pornographic. :P)

Posted

No no no, no no no.

THIS is art

 

 

post-1874-0-76958900-1299136239.jpgpost-1874-0-76363000-1299136261.jpgpost-1874-0-85109700-1299136291.jpgpost-1874-0-63487200-1299136308.jpgpost-1874-0-19254000-1299136330.jpg

 

OK. I am leaving this site now! I think it is far safer for me to go to some Malaysian site showing pics of harf neckid ladyboys!

 

(****sneaks another quick peek :drool: :drool: :drool: *****)

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