Author Archives: gdukebicycles

Its 2017. Christmas has been and gone. January is almost over and thank goodness for holidays.
Midway through December I got a request from North Queensland. Peter Kilmore’s daughter was planning a cycle tour. Her 26 inch Koga mountain bike had originally had a rigid front fork. During its life this had been passed over for a suspension model. He wondered if I could build a replacement fork. One to cover all bases. Magura hydraulic rim brakes OR a disc. Pannier bosses and room for a 50mm wide tire. The request was also to leave the steerer tube long so that they could arrive at a comfortable position before cutting it down. I set to work on the blades and dropouts while I waited for the crown. A couple of days before Christmas I got a very timely delivery from Ceeway in England and at Peters request set about milling my signature into it. Between Christmas and New Year I put it all together and then packaged it up to send north. Thankfully it got there safely and I got a very nice email in return.

Touring fork blades

Mock-up assembly

Complete touring fork

Disc tab detail

Crown detail

A week was spent at Barwon Heads where all I had to do was walk the dogs, ride,swim and try to surf. More practice needed with the last one.
Back in Melbourne I put the finishing touches to the Raleigh https://gdukehandmadebicycles.com.au/2016/02/29/rebuilding-the-raleigh/.  Well, we will see there. It is complete though, and I am looking forward to seeing it mocked up with parts

Its amazing how fast time goes. We are a week away from Christmas. The last month has seen a couple of other peoples projects get closer to fruition
Adam brought me two frames for work. The first was a Hillman low pro track frame that had been drilled for a brake. He wanted the bridge filled in. No problem at all. The second was a Takhion, a Russian frame built by the people that made many of the European low pro frames of the 80’s and early 90′. The type that had the handlebars brazed to the fork crown. Ironically given the presence in the shed of the Hillman, this one isn’t a low pro frame. Adam had bought it with a bent top and down tube. So replacements were in order. We did manage to save the head tube and lugs though. They have both come up quite nicely and are ready for paint.

Takhion track frame

Takhion Head Tube

Takhion, top and down tube

Takhion ,alignment check

Takhion with new top and down tubes and fork

A little before this Stuart had brought me his LeMans frame. This is a really nice frame from somewhere in the 1950s i would guess. I don’t know anything about its history and neither did Stuart. It originally had Oscar Egg rear dropouts which some philistine had seen fit to attack with a hacksaw in order to remove the spikes from the bottom. About three weeks prior to this bike turning up I had been to a swap meet. I had seen a set of these very dropouts for sale but in my foolishness couldn’t believe I would ever have a use for them. After contacting the seller with no luck, I decided my only course of action was to get some laser cut. I found a suitable photo on the web and taking into consideration some sizes I knew to be correct, like the axle slot for example, I used Solid Works to trace over the top of the photo in order to create a drawing of said dropouts. The things you learn when you have to. I could then send that to a laser cutter and have a set of new dropouts made. Now he wants a front fork built to match, but at least the frame is back to where it was once. That leaves me with two forks in the pipeline and some more work to do on the Raleigh over he Christmas break.

LeMans frame

LeMans handpainted logo

Very nice lugs

Original and molested Oscar Egg D/O’s

Solid Works model

New lasercut Oscar Egg D/O’s

Hope anyone reading this has a safe and happy Christmas break

It’s been a tough couple of months. I lost my dad. He was 85 and had had a pretty good life. He was also fortunate to have a kind end, but you are never really prepared. I wouldn’t normally post about this sort of stuff. However I probably wouldn’t be doing this if weren’t for dad. I wouldn’t be a bike rider if it wasn’t for dad. Dad rode a bike for enjoyment and fitness when almost no one else saw the point. He didn’t race, but he did follow cycling. I grew up knowing who Russel Mockridge and Sid Patterson were. Cycling was a minority sport back then and if he hadn’t exposed me to it and taken me out riding and then later driven me to the races, I would probably have been like most other suburban kids. Playing football badly and giving up on sport early because I didn’t enjoy it. I found what I loved in cycling because of him. I also cannot imagine my journey into framebuilding without him. Dad was an upholsterer. I spent many hours in his workshop, surrounded by tools and materials. He taught me to use them and to take pride in my work. No I can’t cover a lounge suite. I became a toolmaker. A different trade with different materials, but still one where you used your hands. The mindset remained and his encouragement to take pride in whatever you did has never grown old. This might all sound a bit one dimensional. Dad was far from that and above all he was a man of values. I wouldn’t have the ones I have without him.
Having said all that I did manage to get some work done and my apologies and thanks to Murray for his understanding about the time it took to build his fork, and also to Bundit with regard to his latest project

Murray’s Fork

Bundit’s latest project

Richard had a rather horrible fork failure. He assures me he noticed it before it caused him any damage,for which I am most glad. Anyway he asked me to make him a new fork and after discussing the need to fit a 36mm tire and a long reach brake caliper we decided on the crown you see. These sloping fork crowns bring a lot more rigidity to the design than older flatter ones because they shorten the blades somewhat but that was by the by, Richard needed the clearance.

Richard’s broken forks

New Fork bits

Dropouts

Blades and crown

New fork complete

A coat of black

Steve, who has done a lot of km’s on his beloved Dawes found a bulge developing in the bottom head lug along with a developing crack. I discovered that the head tube and head lugs were actually part and parcel. A single formed item. So, we decided to replace both the down tube and the head tube and lugs. Steve has asked me to do a couple of other bits and pieces to the frame as well so I will update the pictures when that happens

Steve’s Dawes

Bulge and crack

Removing the downtube

Gone

Removing the headtube

New headtube and lugs

Down tube / BB

Complete and on the road

Work continues on the Raleigh and it begins to look like a real bike for the first time https://gdukehandmadebicycles.com.au/2016/02/29/rebuilding-the-raleigh/

A couple of Hillman frames came by for some tlc. One for a new rear dropout and one for a new set of brake cable guides.

A pair of Hillmans

Stuart brought over his 1966 OLMO for a new rear dropout. This one needed a Campagnolo long series dropout.The set I had in my stash didn’t have mudguard eyes so I carved the one off the broken dropout and brazed it to the new one

1966 OLMO

Broken Campag dropout

Replacement Campag dropout

Paul at Lygon Cycles http://www.lygoncycles.com.au/ sent me this Moulton in need of a new tip on its suspension fork. The old one had rusted out and parted ways with the fork. I cut the old section off and turned up a plug style end for the fork. I brazed that in place and then put the original stainless steel dropout back in to the plug. Good as new and ready for another lifetime. Sorry there aren’t more pictures of this project

Moulton fork repair

Work continued on the Raleigh  https://gdukehandmadebicycles.com.au/2016/02/29/rebuilding-the-raleigh/  With brazing having started

Pat’s Spoke threader finally made it back into a working state

Pat’s Spoke Threader

Spoke threader handwheel

Steve Bolto dropped three more frames off to have work done on them

Steve Bolto’s bike frames

If you are following Mark’s Raleigh, we now have all the lugs ready for assembly https://gdukehandmadebicycles.com.au/2016/02/29/rebuilding-the-raleigh/  once again, go over there to see how things are progressing.

Another busy month has just slipped by. Finally got to do some work on Pat’s antique GOUVERNER spoke threading machine. Made in Paris this tool is so old that it cuts the threads rather than rolling them. No Pat, if you are reading this its not finished yet.

Pat’s Spoke Threader

Pat’s antique Spoke threader

Steve Bolto dropped by with a frame that needed checking and aligning before L’Eroica Japan. Good luck on the ride Steve.

Steve Bolto’s L’Eroica ride

Davide brought over his Paletti cyclo cross frame that was in need of a new derailleur hanger. Paletti is another widely unknown framebuilder from Italy that harks back to the days of beautiful steel and lugged frames

New Paletti hanger

New Paletti hanger

New Paletti hanger, backside

Paletti, back on the road

and I did some more work on that old Raleigh of Mark’s, https://gdukehandmadebicycles.com.au/2016/02/29/rebuilding-the-raleigh/  again, go over there to see how things are progressing.

Its been a busy month in the shed,just as well there were a couple of long weekends in there. I had a rack mount repair to do for Steve at Whites Bikes http://contactwhitesbikes.wix.com/whitesbikes

Rack mounts

a fork rebuild after a transport accident for another Steve

Fork rebuild

Fork Rebuild 1

Fork Rebuild 2

Fork Rebuild 3

Fork Rebuild 4

and a fork re-alignment for Chris at Pedal Cyclery http://pedalcyclery.com.au/.

Fork alignment

Along with that I continued to work on Mark’s Raleigh https://gdukehandmadebicycles.com.au/2016/02/29/rebuilding-the-raleigh/ Go over there to see how things are progressing.

I know its been a little while between posts. I didn’t think I had much to say and have always erred toward only speaking If I had something worthwhile to talk about. Its not that nothing has been happening in the workshop, it just hasn’t been very physical.
Mark Bradley of the Humber fame returned with a box of bits bought at the Bendigo swap meet.

Swap meet find

Turns out some of them (only the forks and head tube as it turns out)  belong to a 1893/ 94 Raleigh. Yes you read right 1893. We know this because there are some numbers stamped on the steerer tube that enable us to put a date on it

Raleigh ID

The last couple of months have largely been taken up with research. What did this bike look like and could we rebuild it starting with these parts. Turns out there is there is another one of these bikes here in Melbourne, owned by the very gracious Paul Farren. Paul has lent us his bike in order to measure and copy.

Paul Farrens bike

I set about doing some preliminary work on the existing parts, while another friend of the project in Paul Watson,continued with the research.
The forks had seen better days and needed a bit of work to make them more structural. Even in their original state these forks certainly needed a wheel clamped in them to maintain any rigidity. While we initially thought the head tube was bent I am now more convinced it is merely dented at the front, so a specially made set of tubing blocks have been turned up to squeeze it back into shape. These bikes were built before any sort of standardization came into play so by the time I am finished I think I might have an extra drawer full of oddly sized tubing blocks. Mark is going for the aged look so I am not going to fill every bit of pitted metal.

Deformed fork blades

Steps in the process. Dent extraction

Controlled extraction

A bit of filling later

How it should look

Tube blocks for the head tube

As you can see from the pictures the steerer on these forks had seen better days and so for safety purposes I decided to replace it. Again this was a non standard diameter and non standard thread on the end. I turned down a length of Cro-Mo tubing with sufficient wall thickness to allow things to happen. In order to save the identifying numbers I turned a joining piece that was stepped down to the ID of the tubing and cut the original just above the numbers and luckily below the rust. Used the Lathe to cut the thread on the end and brazed it into place. Cut the slot for the head set clamp on the Mill and there you go

Vintage Raleigh- Rusty Steerer

Vintage Raleigh- Steerer slot

Vintage Raleigh- New Steerer

It was time to have a look at the bottom bracket shell and in typical fashion I set about making one. You may wonder why ? Why not just use a already threaded shell without sockets. Well; the Raleigh BB is 90mm wide rather than our traditional 68 or 70mm and the sockets for the seat and down tube are offset to encourage correct chainline. Something early bicycle companies deemed to be very important. Lucky for me the chain stays are fillet brazed on rather than being lugged but they are offset too. It also has right hand threads on both sides and pinch bolts underneath to clamp the cups up tight. The lathe came in very handy

Raleigh BB shell in the making

Raleigh BB shell tapping

Tubing Diameters again posed a problem when It came to off the shelf sizes. In particular the top tube which was about 7/8ths of an inch in diameter. I don’t know when even water pipe diameters became standardized but there aint anything out there that would suit this job. I took a thick wall 22mm diameter section of ChroMo and with the help of a moving steady rest on the lathe managed to turn it down to the right size.

Turning the TT on the Raleigh

1895 Raleigh Tubing

I brazed the ears for clamping the cups onto the BB shell and made up the seat lug.

!895 Raleigh BB

1895 Raleigh Seat Lug

Slots in the BB shell

Jigging up the lugs on the BB

BB shell after Brazing

The foundation of a frame

Finished Raleigh BB shell

Jigging up the Raleigh

Raleigh Downtube and BB

Soaking off the flux

Looking more and more like a bike

It was time and all that was left to do was the rear end. Paul Watson had got the dropouts laser cut in two parts so I pinned and brazed them together before constructing a fixture to hold them while I turned the end. They were then brazed into the chainstays. So far,so good. The next step involved some messing about with the jig. If you have been following this you will be aware that this is not a conventional frame. So plenty of clamping and propping of support bits needed here. Anyway. The chainstays were brazed to the bottom bracket shell and then the seatstays cut to length. I pinned them to the dropouts so they wouldn’t move and brazed the top to keep everything in place. Then I went back to the dropout end. Lastly, I put in the bridges.

This may be the end but there will be some more photos after the bike hits the road. I think I am as exited as Mark the owner.

Mark’s Raleigh, on the road

Its been a long process. We believe there are only about 12 of these bikes left in the world so suffice to say this is a very exiting project.

Marc dropped by with a couple of Colnago’s that had encountered a hard time during re-refurbishment. The Mexico had lost a cable guide. No problem there. I dug around in my stash and found one that matched. Easy fix

Colnago Mexico cable guide

The Master. Well it had had the rear end crushed.

Colnago Master crushed rear end

This was going to be somewhat of a bigger job. Marc wanted to save as much as he could from the original. That amounted to the dropouts and the brake bridge.

Colnago Master DO’s

The rear end of this Master is socketed at both ends of every tube so that meant that tubing had to be the same as original. I think I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Seat Stay sockets Colnago Master

Chain stay ports Colnago Master

Colnago Master rear DO’s
in the jig

Chain Stays fluxed and ready for heat Colnago Master

Colnago Master seat stays fluxed

Colnago Master DO’s again

Colnago Master seat stays

Dropouts finished Colnago Master

Colnago Master with new rear end

Merry Christmas everyone. Stay safe out there