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Butted is extruded but the centre plug they use is moved closer to the hole they are forcing the hot steel out of to make the tube wall thinner. I think Columbus' website had an animation of it.

I have a 16t 3/32 sprocket that I would be happy to swap for your 15t 1/8" if you like (I'm not in london so you would have to post.)

Butted tubing is not as strong, but it removes metal where it doesn't NEED to be as strong on a typical bike. there is very little latteral stress on the top tube of a bike, the only stress is compression down the length of a tube, so a butted tube which is thinner in the middle is less strong to lateral stress than plane gauge, but the bike (in normal use) will rarely see any latteral stress so in use it will appear to be as strong, Crash however and put stress on the bike in ways the designer did not intend and you will soon find butted tubes dent and fold much quicker than plain gauge.

You can use larger diameter tube which is stiffer, but then you lose the springy compliance of the frame and the ride becomes harsh.

Gussets are a strange addition to frames, they have to be very well designed, look at some of the DMR frames of old and the gusset actually focuses the stress on a small area of the tube, they cause localised cracking (usually at the end of the gusset where the corner of it is welded to the tube, the heat of the welding making the metal more brittle doesn't help here) and generally do little for the actual strength of the frame. But if done correctly they can add a lot of strength, although if you design the frame with the correct tubes then gussets should not really be necessary for all but the most hardcore users.

If I wanted a real solid bomb proof hack bike I would probably look at plain gauge tubing for a number of reasons, overall strength (especially for when its chained up and gets knocked about, and I fall off it) and cost, especially in the far east plain gauge steel is much cheaper (probably why charge are using it, there is much less wastage in mass production). if I wanted a light weight road bike that I would take more care of then butted would be my choice.

To be honest I know people who build track frames from plain gauge for the extra strength, they claim the increased stiffness is a good trade off for a bit of extra weight, but I agree a road frame would be crazy in plain gauge especially considering the cost of butted tubesets in this country (although I think Charge build mainly from plain gauge looking at their other products so it may just be a case of what they keep in stock).

Plenty of people are still building bikes in straight gauge tube, especially tourers (do you really want to start hanging big waterbottles of the thinnest section of your tubes?), real big stuff (try finding butted tubes long enough for a really big long frame ;) ) and stuff with curved metalwork (butted tube doesn't bend nicely). The tange tube used does look like oversized mountain bike tube though and not something I'd associate with a steel roadbike.

I still like the look though.

You want a thermic lance, get through D-locks (and phone box coin boxes) in no time.

another way for the routing is take a bit of string, stuff it through one hole and put a vacuum cleaner over the other hole, it will suck the loose end of the string out through the hole.

I fitted the LongShen LS15s to my bike, bottom one in TheBrick(Tommy)'s post above, they are very nice but a bitch to work with as a retro fit, new frame builds only with that one IMHO (shame as they are very cool IMHO)

You will need tabbed replacement dropouts like the ones above, with a flat tab that fits into the stays.

If you want something very smart looking and practical, go for a flat steel track end and have the raised part cut from stainless steel and brazed on, then the drop painted to match the frame but the raised stainless section polished up shiny (not too smooth though, as you need your wheel nuts to grip it)

IIRC you pay VAT on the lot, the cost of the goods, shipping and import tax, I know that suggests the government are taxing you on your tax but I seem to remember it being correct. Having items labeled up as 'promotional' or 'for testing' with the important phrase 'no comercial value' is always good.

Not quite the same but I like these:

http://www.euroasiaimports.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=784&idproduct=1104

You could just get a pair of them cut from mild steel plate by an engineering firm.

My LBS in Guildford is great, I get good advice, the p!ss taken out of me and honest opinions. I've had poor service from them (mountain bike service) but they sorted it and apologised when I took the bike back and explained the problem.

What is their target market though, I would hazard a guess they are trying to get their current customers (who are mountain bike/dirt jump riders) onto bikes more suited to city commuting, they are used to slack bikes and the plug geometry and general look will be a lot more familiar to them than something like a langster. I would say they are trying to build more of a skinny fast mountain bike for the road than a track bike of any sorts.

hippy I pity the commuters rolling along with 2" knobby mtb tyres inflated to a whopping 35psi..

Wait? Pity them? No I don't! What's a word for "laughing at them on the inside"? :)

I was one of them until a couple of months back :(

but I have seen the light :)

Mine gets called 'that heap of sh!t' (because it is) or 'the butchered bike' (cos every time I took it to my LBS I had taken the grinder to another braze on or brake boss, and chopped the dropouts to braze track ends in), oddly when you call it the butchered bike some old duffer in there assumes I own a pashley utility bike or similar.

Ta, those and the Profiles at sjs were the two I had found. I have the Nitto 'tache bars and the quality is great, I was hoping to find something a tad cheaper though.

EDIT: £22 wouldn't exactly break the bank though.

My bike is anything but classic looking ;) its a butchered early 90s MTB! I'm currently using a specialized crosstop lever, I've seen the TT levers in the end of bullhorns and agree they look very good, I'm just not sure I'd want my brake there I tend to ride on the tops/flat area when I'm negotiating something that may need brakes.

I'm not finding many pairs of bullhorns for sale, anyone care to throw some links up for this lazy git??

thanks,

I've been riding on a few sets of bars so far and found the following:

Risers were too wide and if I cut them down I wouldn't get a brake lever on them

Moustache bars, much more comfy but I found the 2 main positions the wrong way round, I had the flat bar position more stretched out when I wanted to be upright with my brake pedestrian dodging, and the bar ends left me more upright but that is when I wanted easy access to my brake (which you don't on the 'tache bars) and the thumbs forward hand position would be better more stretched out for easy pedalling

Flat bars are ok, but I found some old bar ends, these are good for pedalling out of traffic/pedestrians off but look a bit crap (and I don't like the way the angle in).

So I think my best bet would be bull/cowhorn bars, they would give me the position of the flat bars and ends and look better, I would still run my front brake on the flat section (I still like to be able to stop very quickly while I master skid/skip stops).
What do people recommend, who make a good pair or should I just cut down a pair of drops (I don't have any but their may be some in the LBS bargain bin.)

suggestions please??

I'm running Mavic A319s which are good and strong, BUT wide and heavy (they are a touring rim), you won't get anything less than a 700X28 boot on them. If you don't mind the wider rubber they are great and very understated in silver, and so far not complained at my 20st going up and down kerbs on them, even had a blast off road through the mud and ruts (which was not the best idea for my first outing with SPDs).

I'm running a converted Raleigh Yukon MTB from the early 90s, Reynolds 501 frame with 700c wheels and a fixed rear hub (I've also fitted track ends in place of the original dropouts), works really well for my work commute, nice upright position and even my lardy arse can drag it up to 25mph so it nippy enough. I'm very tempted to put a pair of 26" wheels and knobblies back on it and go play in the mud. I seem to remember DMR do clamp on brake mounts, so you could move V-brake/canti mounts between 700c and 26" wheel positions on the forks.

lpg Jamaican skid - you put your strong foot on the underside of your leading pedal and pull up. You can do it with any pedals.

I tried that once, then decided I needed to go buy clips and straps NOW!!!

To make something more sensible from BringMeMyFix's comment, you could go with a 100mm front disc hub and put a couple of 5mm spacers on the axle, then drill and bolt your fixed sprocket (you will need a bigish rear cog) to the 6 brake disc mounting threaded holes.

what is your front brake? I have a single shimano 105, its very capable of lifting the rear wheel when I have my arms outstretched and as much of my 20st hanging over the back wheel as I can get ;) that is on a dry road in the wet I can lock the front wheel up with a bit of effort, yet it is still quite controllable. Maybe you just need a better front brake. When I can emergency brake using the front brake with sufficient force to make my rear wheel lift a back brake becomes pointless (IMHO) if I'm just braking/slowing normally the use of my legs is enough (usually) and I can modulate my front brake to slow more if I need (I still can't skid).

drill lots of little holes and then file them to an oval to pass the cable in. you can get braze on outers that will give the correct size hole and give the tube some added strength around the hole. Proper jobs often use a length of stainless tube brazed inside the frame so you just thread the cable through the stainless tube., if you are just rattling round inside the main tube, bend the end of the brake cable inner at an angle so you can rotate it to poke out the hole at the other end of the tube to get the cable through.

frenchie Talking about curious Danish bikes, there was an exhibition at the Danish Design Centre in Copenhagen in August where a company got ten designers to design futuristic bikes that could be mass-produced for the Scandinavian market. Here's what they came up with: http://picasaweb.google.com/frenchE/DanishDesignMuseumCopenhagen

FUGLY! I quite like bamboo bikes though, I have seen a couple of nice ones done with carbon-fiber lugs, strange mix of really new and really old technology that works well together.

What scott said, I like the design and the shaft drive sounds good, but I think it may be quite sloppy, probably more suited to SS than fixed riding. nice idea though.