General/Tourer - Bob Jackson Audax End to End

day one of the build. a snag. bottom of the head tube is not flat at all. paid a bike shop to do the work, they suggest i report back to bj. dang.!

It's a pretty big gap.

That sucks. Guess bj need to face a couple of mm off the bottom and repaint. Or is it not aligned correctly(banana shaped head tube?)

Aargh, why do you pay premium for new custom stuff? To not have this happen! Be interesting to see what BJ have to say.

so after a few emails back and forth with BJ, apparently all is fine! the gap is not of structural concern. headset runs nicely so it's all straight. should probably get on and build the rest of the bike.

Still, you'd expect a perfect finish on this kind of frame

build day 2.... lots of swearing....

it's all looking rather good...

but then quickly we hit an issue. the rear brake mount plate isn't parallel to the frame. The rear post - i.s. adapter interferes with the disc:

I can't find the relevant IS standard, the closest I have found is this:
http://www.magura.com/media/1997/is_e_09-12-02_11.pdf
The front mount in the drawing has a tolerance defining how parallel it is the the front axle. I would assume the same would apply to the rear.

I took some measurements:

not parallel :( will be emailing BJ again. Fingers crossed they can sort it before my trip to Paris.

:/

Feel for you @mutsj - very frustrating

Not good... Hope all gets sorted quickly.

On another subject, nice Reebok! Got the same!

I can't see the photos. Can anyone else?

I saw the snaps earlier when I was on my ipad but not now

@JB & @TheShipwright i think i have fixed them, can you see them now?

general question... am i missing something? or do people agree with my conclusions that the mount shouldn't be at an angle?

OK this on google, same rear drop outs. same iso to post adapter configuration. all looks gravy...

Pictures work here, and yes, I'd say it should be parallel

I can see them again now.
Im def no expert but i reckon the mount should be parallel to the disc.
I assume the wheel is centred ok.

Must be very frustrating. I would have returned it due to the head tube, I'm sure everything functions o.k but not the quality you would expect.

I agree. Send it back, I wouldn't accept that on any frame, not a good advert for BJ, their response should have been " box it up, we'll send someone to collect, sort it as a priority, get it back to you asap, sorry for the inconvenience"

also that headtube/cup issue, surely as that race (especially being the bottom race that takes all the pressure) gets used it's going to distort. Sorry don't want to negative about such a lovely F&F from such a well known builder but if you're going to keep this surely it deserves going back to BJ and saying there's too much wrong with it.
I wonder if you should a few other things before progressing further?
frame alignment ?
http://davesbikeblog.squarespace.com/blog/2007/6/28/a-string-alignment-test.html
There's also a good posting on the ctc forum by colin531 about this but I can't find it

Not saying it's acceptable, but the mount doesn't need to be parallel right? The caliper adapter has oval slots so you can finely adjust the location and angle of the caliper. That said, it shouldn't make the bracket foul the actual disc - that's a dealbreaker. Also wouldn't that make the dropout no longer square to the hub axle?

My Burls has couple mm gap at the fork crown with a King headset.. couldn't figure out why exactly and it was never a functional issue so forgot about it.

Good news. BJ have replied very promptly to my email. And want the frame back ASAP to get it all fixed. Fingers crossed they can turn it round with time to get it built for Paris.

They explained that they face the dropouts once built to ensure it's all parallel, they suspect they omitted this step.

If you ask me, the dropout is out of alignment which is not a big issue and can be remedied easily. Also I had the same issue with my bodged disc mounts, those shimano adapter are very thick, but even with a thinner one, you will have a problem with aligning the break over the rotor since the caliper is going to be too near to the dropout.

@mutsj that's good news and hopefully they'll check it all over and then you're sorted.

Gum walls are fitted and rims de-stickered

( @veLLo i think i have a reebok addiction)

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I'd ask them to square up your head tube too. Your paying a premium for a hand built frame. The cups should be flush.
I admire your patience, I'd be getting all rouge traders on them by now.
Hope you get your bike sorted for the trip.