GT Edge Aero TT --> paint pron tarck conversion attempt

Which ones do you think are better the alu or the carbon ones?
Sorry no pictures up yet - travelling again, so won't be back until Sunday, but weather permitting, should have an update then.

Carbon always adds a bit of bling!

And removes some of the road buzz apparently....

what he said!

Here is the beast, now at my place (picked it up almost 2 weeks ago, but been hectic since then)

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Here are the track ends I am hoping to put on it:

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And here is the foam I am hoping to use for the aero gussets/webbing, a la @young_gun 's suggestions, along with fibre glass roll.
... But I'm getting ahead of myself, first to get some forks and decide on wheels!

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Looks good. Love the chunky stays.

Where were you planning on putting the gussets?

I've been using an adapter like this for years and still have all my teeth. Really good and easy solution in my opinion.

Maybe my screen is messing with me. Are you trying to weld steel track ends to aluminium stays?

yes and no... the stays are aluminium, but the existing dropouts are* steel, so I am planning to drill and 2 holes through each dropout (there is already one on one side for the derailleur hanger), and bolt the track ends onto that. Then, I will trim off the down bits of the dropouts, and part of the track ends that would normally be welded to the stays. Not planning to do any welding, though I may fill in with a bit of brazing (lower temps) for extra security if I am feeling nervous.

Eventually, I will make it the transitions all smooth and "aero" at the same time that I am doing the gussets/webbing... @HHC - planning to do a little curved triangle-y thing following the curve of the wheel between the seat tube, stays and brake bridge (which will obvs be superfluous ;) I am also planning to do a foam-based gusset between the seat tube and top tube, as the tubes are both rounded at that intersection.
The downtube comes to a sharp-ish edge along the top, so I will probably use the more standard approach (like @monoglaze ) of flat aluminium plus bonding. However I was thinking maybe I could get away with not actually using aluminium, but some sort of plastick-y card (thinking of something like those thin self-healing chopping boards).
I will try to illustrate the intended changes once I can get to photochop on my wife's computer.

Still not decided about what to do around the seat cluster area though, as I imagine it will look strange having that little "tail" (end of top tube extends past the seat tube). Any thoughts?

Sounds good. Definitely very ambitious.

I have no idea what u would do. Pebably something boring like jsut smoothing out all the corners.
Tbf the seat tube bit will look sick.

Wait what?

What size steer tube is this? I am looking for aero forks size 700c with a 1 inch steer tube at least 245mm long.

Double post

I will be amazed if this doesn't become a new meme a la Gorgeous Baby Blue, and incredibly impressed if it looks good and the track ends don't snap off.

Good luck to you sir, you're pushing the envelope.

ps. If the frame is aluminium then the existing drop outs are 100% aluminium, you can't braise to it.

Wait what?

can you be more specific what you are talking about? and minimim 245mm? is this a bike for giraffes?

bolt on dropouts are not totally uncommon but it will come down to hardware. i would probobly save the hastle and go with an ENO hub or mail it to mr milec for new alu dropouts

Thanks for the info- had heard the dropouts were steel, but I was suspicious tbh... I suppose it should be fine without brazing anyway.
If this does become the new Gorgeous Baby Blue, I'll need an appropriate moniker (or should we just call it "wait what?")

Funny you mention Mielec as I did as for a quote to do all the work when I owned the frame and wanted to do this exact project.
He's not super keen on doing mods to existing frames but said he would still look at it as he remembered me from the LFGSS Mielec group buy (22 frames, ages ago).
He never gave me a price...

No UK builders wanted to / could help...

well there is always the option of finding a shop that does industrial alu tig welding...

Actually, the steel dropouts would serve a second purpose - they would bring the rear from 130mm down closer to 120mm (probably about 122?), which will make it a better fit for most wheels I'd put in there.
I can't really afford for a custom job (as great as mr milec may be), so I will take my chances, and if it all goes pear-shaped, at least I have that as a backup.

i highly doubt its going to narrow the rear track 8mm and a 120 rear wheal could easily be re-spaced to 130. i love crazy weird stuff as much as the next guy, there is just such an easy option for this.

It sounds like the track ends are going to be bolted on to the inside of the road dropouts?
That would reduce the spacing from 130 to (130 - (width of track ends)).
If the track ends are 4mm thick each then that is 122mm... Would be nice if they were 5mm thick...

They probably are. You'd be hard pressed to find 4mm bright or cromo steel plate.

Measure the centre of BB to centre of drop out and use a magic gear calculator (just google it). I ran a Ribble winter trainer fixed for a while with a magic gear and a half link in the chain, worked great. I also filed a bit out of the drop out, which is easy with aluminium, though you've not got a whole lot of material to play with there.