I am a frame builder AMA

Haha aye always worth asking

the website makes me sad... also https://www.lasaero.com/products/article/Z01NFVB05 is good for straight gauge 4130 and shipping is quick

Las aero is where I’ve been getting the stuff I’ve been making stems from.

Sell by the foot and seem happy enough to sell me just 1ft at times. Usually what I want is not in stock but only takes a week or so for them to get it.

what have you been making the stems with wall thickness wise? they look cool, ive been tempted to get a few done for a while

For the clamps it’s .58” wall thickness, 1 1/4” od for the steerer clamp and 1 3/8” od for handlebar clamp I think.

I’d been using the 1 1/4” x 0.58” for the extension tube too but have been trying lighter weight stuff for the extension tubes recently, off cuts of 1mm wall thickness stuff I’d got from Ceeway for framebuilding stuff.

awesome! thanks :)

A little late to the show, but out of interest - what's wrong with the use of 3d printed seat clusters if they're test prior to installation?

Nothing.

Fair, not trying to call you out or anything, was just wondering if you had any justification about the comment you made.

Reynolds has played around with 3d printed parts for at least the past couple of years, so I'm sure we'll see more of it..

Solution looking for a problem.

3d printing has benefits over plated or cast frame parts. They can be lighter and stronger. Totally valid to pursue better bikes.

I just find it a bit silly to do this to steel bikes. Whether it is to stand out as a framebuilder or to make lighter bikes. Carbon for performance bikes seem superior to metal. So in my mind let steel bikes be utilitarian or fancy lugwork. Don't try to make steel bikes into carbon bikes.

Take Sturdy Cycles. He has literally removed everything difficult about framebuilding and made it into a TIG assembly. I bet they are awesome bikes, but they don't float my boat.

My comment isn't meant seriously tho.

If i had the cash to be spitting out 3d printed steel parts it'd be awesome, i mean fabrication wise people like sturdy cycles have it down, just cut the tubes to length and square then zip up the seam with the torch. I think its gotta be the future of all this bespoke frame building stuff, if you can afford the outlay to get the parts, its streamlines the fabrication process enormously. saves serious money, the time to build a frame would be almost nothing.

But why on earth would you want such a bike?

hah, great minds think alike :) and yeah i agree you re sturdy, im sure his bikes are awesome, but hes only one step away from being a mass produced frame from trek etc, except 3* as expensive and not mass produced

were i a consumer, i want richard sachs to be labouring over my frame for a week, not slapping it togeter in 4 hrs

Yeah me too. I just want a Richard Sachs.

yup, can but dream and all that

I have an RS front mech tab that a friend gave me a while ago. Ive been saving it to put it on something nice in the future :)

For the amount of years he’s been building, the frequency at which you see second hand Sachs frames come up for sale says a lot

Very valid points.

I'm honestly just interested to know what peoples thoughts on it are.

It's essentially technology vs craftsmanship, but believe there is room to blend two, where appropriate.

He's made a lot of frames

And they're all the same. He's good at what he does, but what he does isn't really anything particularly special. He is awesome at self-promotion though.

100% this. He's made essentially the same bike for 40 years. There's nothing wrong with that, and I'm sure his technique is masterful, but I'm not sure his end-product earns him his God-like status.

His god like status...I used to talk with RS a lot I have said it before I respect the man because he was stood at a bench the year I was born .....a god he does not think he is

Just going to leave this here...

Has he moved into couture watches now?

It would appear so. I would imagine that they are not all made by hand.