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The lugs will still be brushed stainless. I have always prefered the look of the quill stem, much more graceful looking than the ahead stems that I have seen. I haven't yet worked out what sort of 'style' the Demon bike has, I'm still hoping that everything will work together.
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Very nice indeed.
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Enough ... in blood, sweat, tears and brain-ache.
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how much?
Don't you know it's vulgar to ask questions like that?
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Holy Jeebus - What amazing lugs. 3D visualisation of a tattoo on your wrist. Inspired.
Thank you! (ftfy!)
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Don't you know it's vulgar to ask questions like that?
As if that's not what everyone is thinking. Amirite?
Seriously mouth watering current project though and a fantastic way to kick start the new thread.
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#bins bike
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Invest in an Israeli arms firm for security!
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Israeli ti or Russian ti? Or Thai ti?
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Demon Frameworks build - catching up on a year of patience and progress … (sorry - long post)
Paint issues
.. So, he followed up on a new paint shop that Ricky Feather has been raving about recently to get it completely redone. Perhaps they might be able to do the sparkle after all (although I've now changed the sparkle colour). Some contrasting sections have also been added to the paint specification. The frame should have arrived with them today.I should receive a paint sample in the New Year … and I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
HydroGraphics, very very good > http://www.hydro-graphics.co.uk/
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About
Demon Frameworks - Custom lugged frame
Posted by
@LongAndWinding
Demon Frameworks build - catching up on a year of patience and progress … (sorry - long post)
This project began with a Christmas gift last year, from my better half, of a deposit with Tom at Demon Frameworks for a custom frame. So far, I’ve had enormous satisfaction of learning a fair chunk about lug design, belt and chain drives, working out what the hell components to get, etc. I’ve chewed the ear of lots of forumengers … Aroogah, Velocio, Murtle, Jaygee, Hippy, HillBilly to name but a few – everyone’s advice has been extremely useful.
***Size and Frame Design ***
A bike fit with Scherrit (The Bike Whisperer) and a few hours being sized up by Tom, confirmed that I am a short-arse and best suited to a frame with 650c wheels, and so the design commenced. I left all the geometry detail here with Tom, my main spec being for a track frame suitable for commuting fixed and occasional longer rides.
The set-up of my ALAN (700c wheels), has the compromise of a pretty short stem to combat a fractionally long top tube, either way I had suitable contact points against which to measure the Demon design. Using a sophisticated system of carefully positioned masking tape, I marked up how the Demon frame dimensions fitted against the ALAN. My only concern was whether I might have any toe overlap (which I do a little with the ALAN) so a slight favourable adjustment to the Demon geometry was made by slackening the head tube angle very slightly.
***Lugs ***
After looking through the various lug options, an idea began to evolve that I might be able to design some lugs around the dragon tattoo on my wrist (an Iban design that has strong significance to me). I can draw, so surely it couldn’t be that hard. Trying to visualise in 3D however became brain-numbing so I ended up making paper mock ups over some CAD drawings that Tom sent over for the different diameters of tube.
After a few re-iterations, I decided that the head tube design didn’t quite work with the demon logo in the centre, and so I took another Iban design, the hook / rosette, and worked that into the head tube. The lugs were then made by Tom in stainless steel from scratch, using rather a lot of time, patience and small triangular metal files.
Build
The build commenced in earnest. A few questions / suggestions came over from Tom. The belt drive needed a split in the rear stay – I went with his recommendation of a Paul dropout with a Fixie Inc frame splitter. A suggestion for a minor customisation of the bottom bracket housing, and the seat stay bridge which will have the embossed Demon logo.
Components
Over the past year, I have been sourcing components to complete the build.
Wheelset – Tom recommended his wheelbuilder, David at http://www.dcrwheels.co.uk/. David was also extremely helpful with specifying and sourcing the required hubs and bottom bracket to fit with the ‘beltline’. All will be told when I assemble the bike, but I have waiting with the frame: a pair of 650c Mavic CXP33 rims in silver, built up with Royce track hubs and Sapim laser spokes. Also a Royce BB, Chris King 2nut headset in silver and a Gates belt drive system.
The belt drive plan nearly came unstuck – I can elaborate on the calculations if anyone is interested – the chain stay length had been designed around 60t/22t sprockets with a 113t belt, but last month we found out that the 22t sprockets were not going to be in stock until April next year. To have an operational bike sooner would mean that I had to specify a chain drive. I worked this out to be 45/16 (650c wheels/165mm cranks). However, looking back into the belt drive spec, a 20t rear sprocket would still fit within the dropouts of the given chain stays. While this would push me up about 5GI’s It would save from doubling up on cost with the chain drive.
I had wanted to go with Sugino 75 cranks, however the bcd was too large for the belt drive sprocket, so after much searching, I found a pair of Sugino Mighty Comp cranks from www.bluelug.jp which came expediently flying over from Japan with some awesome stickers. I prefer them to the Messengers which were pretty much all else I could find. Other components include Nitto Pearl stem, Nitto Jaguar seat post, and Nitto Bullhorns; Time ATAC XS Carbon pedals; Campag Athena Skeleton front brake; Tektro RX 5 inverse brake lever; and other bits and bobs.
Finished Steelworks
Late in autumn, Tom sent over some photos of the finished steelworks, now it’s ready for paint.
Paint
This was the hardest part. In the early half of last year, after spending hours trawling through various frame designs and patterns, I potato-chopped a few mock-ups based on a Fleur de Lys lug pattern. This all got binned when I decided to go for custom lugs, which needed to speak for themselves. Consequently the paint was reduced to a single colour with brushed steel lugs. Opinions were later voiced that it looked lovely bare, but my Alan is plain silver and I didn’t want another bike that was pretty much identical. Randomly, I came across a sunglasses case, the colour of which ticked all of the boxes. Tom sent the case over to the painters who said they couldn’t do the sparkle detail that I wanted, but they would try and match the base colour. They sent a sample over that was quite a good colour - a darkish, pearlescent indigo blue. It had a quality of colour that matched the mood of the weather.
Paint issues
After a couple of months, it came back from the paint shop, and Tom was really disappointed. There was white masking fluid left behind edging the lugs, and the paint was flaking off in some places. He didn’t want me to even see it in that state. So, he followed up on a new paint shop that Ricky Feather has been raving about recently to get it completely redone. Perhaps they might be able to do the sparkle after all (although I've now changed the sparkle colour). Some contrasting sections have also been added to the paint specification. The frame should have arrived with them today.
I should receive a paint sample in the New Year … and I’m keeping my fingers crossed!