Further Tribulations

Jig sorted tonight i set about cutting the chainstays to length in order to braze on the rear dropouts. After adjusting the jig to mark the position that the chainstay needed to be cut at i set about the task with a cutting disk on a rotary tool. After cutting i slotted one of the dropouts onto the chainstay and reinserted the chainstay into the bottom bracket. At this point it because obvious that the bottom bracket that i have been supplied is not correct for the track dropouts. Rather than the slot in the drop out being parallel to the ground it angled up by 3 degrees, the difference between a road and a track bottom bracket. When I ordered my components I was advised that they could supply track dropouts for a road bottom bracket but in fact after a bit of research i have found that this is not the case. Because the dropouts plug into the chainstays and a contact fit is required for brazing the tube cannot simply be cut at an angle to correct this so i am left with two options, braze the dropouts onto the chainstays as they are and except that they point upwards but his will simply transfer the issue to a differnt point on the frame, if i do this the seatstays will meet the seattube rather than the tp tube / seat tube lug again becasue the angle of the seat stay is determined by the dropout. The second option is to purchase some standard road dropouts. If I purchase road dropouts i can either simply build a road bike or modify the drive side drop out to remove the derailleur hanger and then fit a chain tensioning device to enable the bike to be run as a single speed. Seeing as the objective of this build was to build a fixed bike the second option seems like the only way forward. The downside of this solution is mainly aesthetic, a chain tensioning device will need to be fillet brazed onto the frame which in my opinion diminishes the elegance of a fixed bike. Parts will be ordered tomorrow but alas I am out of time to get the bike completed before my move to London where I will not have the space or equipment necessary to complete it. I will have to finish the build over a far more extended time frame during my visits back to the midlands.


Resolved to the fact that I can not complete any further work on the frame until the new parts arrive i directed my attention onto the forks and brazed the crown onto the stear tube using masses of silver to mitigate against impalement!

The next task will be to braze the front dropouts onto the forks then cut them to length before brazing them into the crown.