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@Mikenetic
A little update from Friday. I spent the morning refining some of the fillets across the bike to get them more trim. Still need more work, but they are getting nicer every time I go over them.
Mostly this week was about cutting and fitting the brake bridge. The mitres need to place it so that the caliper bolt runs tangential to the wheel, and with the bolt dead centre between the stays. It's a process of file, check, file, check...
After offering up the brake then I held the bridge in place with a single tack. For tacking you want to keep the heat restricted to as small an area as possible to get a little dab of braze, rather than a big joint. In the event there's something wrong that minimises the amount of work needed to take the part out. You can see the relatively small area where the flux has come up to temperature in this pic, where it's gone glassy is the area that's been heated.
Then a quick fit-up with the brake and tire. I'm going to be using a 25mm, and these are medium-drop Tektro calipers. Although I'm not dead in the middle of the adjustment, there should be ample clearance.
Once I was satisfied the setup was OK I brazed it in. Next week I'll clean it up. One thing I was really surprised about was how much the bridge stiffens the rear end up. Probably wouldn't have noticed but I forgot to put the dummy axle in, and making the slight correction to the spacing took a surprising amount of effort!
This was done with a smaller diameter brazing rod, a 1.5mm. That way you get an appropriate amount of braze on there.
I also have some very exciting news. I applied to exhibit at Bespoked next year as a new builder. It felt like a bit of a long-shot, but having submitted images of my progress I've been given a spot!
Bit scary. In a good way.