Take one lug set

I guess this particular project started about a year ago.

I was in Montalcino for L'eroica, which is a kind of cos-play for middle aged men with bicycles. I spotted a German bloke with a beautiful bike. On further inspection, and a brief chat, it became clear he'd built it himself.

What was particularly distinctive about this frame was the lugs, which I recognised immediately as Newvex lugs from Richard Sachs. I knew this because I had a biscuit tin in my shed which contained, among other things a set of the very same lugs.

Soon after getting home, I started to get the feeling it was time for me to build another frame, and booked myself a January slot in the workshop of Bicycles by Design in Coalport, Shropshire. At the time, I didn't have a fixed idea what sort of frame I wanted to build, but I did know I wanted to use my Newvex lugs, so after chatting with Rob at BBD, I sent them off in the post so he could source appropriate tubing.

In November last year I switched jobs (not entirely by choice). My new job entailed a dreadful commute - Greenwich to Brentford - which set me thinking about having a commute specific bike. Initially, I thought I might get a Brompton, possibly one with an electric motor, but then I though why not build something.

When I got to the workshop in January, the plan was therefore to build a frame I could commute to work on. That meant clearance for wide tyres, fixings for mudguards and racks front and rear. I also intended it to be built with flat bars for a more upright riding position.

Notwithstanding some dreadful weather, everything went well at BBD. I can happily recommend them if you are thinking about building your own frame. The workshop is well equipped and beautifully situated, Rob is a font of bike-building knowledge and the rest of the team in the workshop are friendly and welcoming.

As usual, I fully intended to document and photograph the build process, and as usual I failed. I've just looked through my 'phone and it turns out I only took one process shot - of the all important head lugs:

At the end of an enjoyable week in the midlands, I loaded up the frame into the and drove back home. After proudly showing the frame to Mrs Jangle, I popped it into the spare room where it sat, rather forlornly for a few months:

About three weeks ago, I had to go on a trip for work. I know some members of this forum do some pretty exotic work trips - the far east, the United States - that sort of thing. My work trip was a little more prosaic - Ashford, Kent.

Whilst admittedly not the most glamorous location in the world, Ashford does have one great advantage. To get there, from my house, I have to drive right past Crayford the home of Colour-Tech, frame painters of distinction.

I really struggle deciding on paint for frames. For no reason in particular, I had decided to go for red, preferably candy apple red. As this was going to be a commuter frame, there was no need for anything too fancy. In fact, as it will be locked up all over London, ideally I'd want it to be fairly unremarkable - partly because it's going to suffer a fair bit of abuse and partly because I don't want it to stand out too much.

I've always got on well with Dave Crowe, and he was very complimentary about my frame. When I told him I just wanted a plain finish, he said he felt it would benefit from a little embellishment, so I told him I was happy to paint it as he saw fit.

Anyway, yesterday I got the call that the frame was ready and as luck would have it I was off work, so off I trundled up the A2.

Here's what I picked up:

When I built the frame and brought it home, if I'm honest it had left me feeling a little 'flat'. I'd enjoyed the process, and it was what I wanted, but it didn't really excite me. Dave Crowe at Colour-Tech has made this frame sing.

I am very excited to get this on the road, but I am seriously re-considering what I use it for, now that it looks so dammed good.

I am seriously re-considering what I use it for, now that it looks so dammed good.

I was thinking the same thing!

Lovely frame, and spectacular paint. Eager to see how you will build this up.

It would be a crime to sling a D lock around that on a Sheffield stand

Seconded, that's anything but a commuter! Excellent choice on the colour scheme

Concur will all of the above, looks absolutely superb

Disagree with all the above. WOULD commute on that, looks superb!

Yup, looks really nice. I didn't realise that you had built the frame yourself when you posted about it in the cp chat thread, good stuff!

Frame Prep, Task 1 - Fit Headset

I always like to fit a headset to a frame as soon as possible. I am clumsy by nature, and when the frame is not fixed to the fork, I fear I will damage one or the other.

As soon as I got the frame in the vice, I fitted the top and bottom headset cups, and bashed the crown race onto the fork.

Obviously, this is not the correct way to do it; the correct way being to measure the head tube, calculate the stack height of the headset, mark and cut the steerer tube accordingly, then fit cups and fork crown race and assemble.

I therefore had to fit everything up, measure the resulting 'gap' with some callipers, mark the steerer and cut. No biggie, but not the best start.

I cut the steerer tube without using a guide, and even if I do say so myself, I did a very good job of it - a lovely straight cut. Obviously I failed to take any pictures of this process, but you can just about make out the straightness of it all in this 'after' shot:

After cutting the steerer tube, assembling the headset is a fairly straightforward procedure, and I managed to get the engraving on the bottom cup fairly centred on the head tube:

All in all, took me about 20 minutes, and there we were, job done:

So far, everything is going rather swimmingly, until that is you think about what you're doing for a minute.

This is a frame built for cantilever brakes. Cantilever brakes require a cable hanger, and that cable hanger is traditional fitted under the top nut of the headset. Anyone with half a clue about what they were doing would have allowed for that BEFORE cutting the steerer tube.

It's not the end of the world. I might get away with it. Otherwise, there are a couple of work-around options. But it's a proper schoolboy error, and not the best of starts.

Still, no point crying over spilt milk.

Nice :). Drill a hole in the stem in place of the hanger on the steerer :)

That hurt a bit. You can always use a fork crown mounted hanger. I heard they actually reduce brake jutter.

Or get (mini) V brakes!

Frame looks great with the headset in.

love your builds,

great work on welding it, looks excellent

Paul does a stem clamp and a good excuse to get matching brakes.

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I believe Nitto do a similar device.

They do, I've fitted one, works great

The Nitto one is a bit prettier than that, which this frame deserves.

Great thread - my parents are up in Shropshire so will definitely give that build school a look.

I vote commute the shit out of it. That paint in 5 years of commuting with all the dings, scrapes and general abuse will look ace. Don’t let it be something that hardly gets ridden - smash it!

Frame Prep, Task 2 - Fit Tubing Decals

I think where possible, a frame looks more 'complete' if it displays tubing decals.

This particular frame was constructed with Reynolds 853 tubes, and as you may know, Reynolds 853 decals are a little 'shouty'.

For a moment I was concerned that they might clash with the finish of the frame, particularly as they are yellow, green and black, whilst the frame is red and white.

I vacillated for a little while, then decided to man the fuck up.

Fork blades were first:

Fortunately the fork blade decal is fairly small, you might even call it 'discreet' and I think it works.

I aimed to position the decal mid way between the fork crown and the cantilever stud. The picture is clearly of the right hand fork blade. I can assure you that the decal on the left hand blade is in more or less an identical position and orientation. In any case, you can't look at them both at the same time.

The main tube decal presented a different opportunity. First, it's a big boy, so is going to make a bit of an impact. Secondly, the standard position for a main tube tubing decal is on the seat tube, about an inch below the seat tube lug.

That wasn't going to work on this frame, as it would interfere with the look of the barbers pole. In the end I opted to place it on the down tube, just north of the bottom bracket.

I think it looks OK:

Power hangers work a treat, no need for a hanger.

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Don’t want to be that guy but isn’t the 853 decal on the fork wonky?

There are a lot of curves and intersecting lines going on there. It's basically vertical. IRL it looks fine.

I have 853 blades on my fixed, they ride well.

Frame Prep, Task 3 - Tap those threads

There are 17 M5 braze-ons on this frame, each one of which was tapped in the workshop of BBD.

Nevertheless, each one has to be tapped again after paint. I fine this quite a therapeutic process. It gives me the opportunity to break out one of my simplest, and most satisfying tools - the Hozan Tap Set:

Once tapped, an M5 bolt and washer , with a dab of grease is inserted into each fitting. It's really satisfying how easily the bolts slide in to a hole that has been properly prepped.

There are so many fittings on this frame, I ran out of bolts. Will have to get down the shops on Tuesday:

Frame Prep, Task 4 - Polish that Frame

A well polished frame looks great, repels dirt and is (relatively) easy to clean.

You can't really polish a frame when it's built up - especially around the bottom bracket / seat stay area which attracts the most crud. So to me, a thorough polishing is an necessary step in the build process.

After tapping all the fittings, I gave the frame a quick de-grease, then went at it with some automotive Carbuba wax. I gave it two coats and sprayed some silicone polish around the bottom bracket for good measure.

Here it is looking a little dull, prior to buffing:

You will notice that I have masked the drive side chain stay. That's because I want to apply a chain stay protector, and I sometime find they don't adhere as well to a polished surface.

I'm not normally that bothered about chainstay protectors, but for this build I have decided to go balls deep and get a roll of the ruinously expensive 3m stuff.

Anyway, it was a lovely day yesterday, and once buffed, the paintwork really popped in the sun:

Incidentally, that seat stay cap originally terminated in a flat line. I fashioned that point with a file. Quite proud of that.

this looks so good.
I'm interested to see if this is still going to be a flat bar build as originally intended, but I like the way the tension is building in the thread.
#nospoilers

Paint is exceptional. Crying out for some wide mafac style brakes