Frame Number 4 - A Road Racing Frame

Building frame number 3 restored my confidence in my brazing ability. I figured that I should set myself a challenge. The next stage is to build the very finest lugged steel bike that I can manage. I started by scrounging stainless steel versions of the Henry James lugset, to suit oversize tubing.

Coming out of the bag, these look very much like their plain steel counterparts, but after a few dozen hours work, first with files, then emery cloth, then wet and dry to 1200 grit, and finally polishing compound, they take a mirror polish and don't rust.

In order to build the lightest frame I could with these lugs took some searching. Most modern high-end tubesets (Columbus Foco, Ultra Foco, Spirit, Life etc.) are made for assembly using TIG welding. This means that they have really short butted sections, to minimise weight. Unfortunately, if you use these tubesets with lugs, and especially with the Henry James lugs, which have reasonably long points, some of the lug points will extend beyond the thicker end butt, and into the thinner transition zone.

Images of an army style can-opener come to mind, with the lug point slicing through the thin tube.

So I searched for a tubeset that would have adequate length butts, but still be as light as possible. The Columbus Genius set met those requirements. It uses the same 0.4mm thick walls as the newer Foco and Spirit tubes, but has slightly longer, asymmetric butted sections, which are more friendly for lugged construction.

That's where I'm up to at the moment (June 2005). Once I've done more, I'll post up more info (including pictures showing my slightly unusual jigging methods).