This Moser Leader SC came to me with two cracked chainstays.
Moser Leader SC
Cracked Chain stays on a Moser Leader SC
The owner wanted to resurrect the frame and so I set about replacing them. First job was to get the paint and the chrome removed from the rear end.
Leader SC without chrome or paint
I then went about cutting the chain stays and removing them, leaving the dropouts attached to the seat stays. Moser Leaders are partially fillet brazed and partially lugged. The fillet brazing being around the head tube and seat cluster and the lug work at the BB. I discovered a rather interesting fact when I removed the stays from their ports in the BB shell. The stay ports have shelves that the stays run up against.
Chainstay ports on a Moser Leader SC
This is usually an efficiency decision. The tubes can be cut square and at a fixed length but most frames I have seen where this is employed have a lot more of it than this one. I found it intriguing that Moser would go to all the effort of fillet brazing the head tube and seat tube and then worry about the gains of one set of chain stays. Not even the main tubes entering the BB shell had this so they had to be shaped accordingly. Anyway,it wasn’t a problem and was soon fixed. The right side chain stay had a very nicely shaped relief for the cluster so I decided rather than just crimping it in the vice I would make up a press tool to form the shape nicely.
Crimping tool for chainstays
Leader SC, new chainstays
Chainstay crimp
I am now waiting on a fork crown in order to build an appropriate straight blade fork, before it goes back to the platter for chrome and then on to the painter. It will be a very nice bike
