Originally Posted by
noglider
Wow, this is fun. How did you need to cut the stem?
Nitto 'Technomics' come in various quill sizes. Twice I have ordered what I thought was a good fit. Twice I have not taken into account that some steering tubes are double butted. The quill will simply not sink far enough to be at the correct height when all the head set is buttoned down. it is one of those 2:00 A.M. little electric shocks that makes you thick you should have had a glass of volka and gone to bed at 10:00 P.M.
THE CASE AT HAND
It was an on-the-job lesson.
You cannot just saw an angle on the tube. The cut has to progress on a decreasing radius. If I am not explaining this well-enough, trust me anyway! I have done this
twice when long-quilled Technomic stems had to go into db steering tubes.
The first go was on a
Dawes Atlantic I built for a friend. I began a cut with a Canadian blade (Japanese blades work in reverse). And I was thinking: 'I'll just cut the 45 degree or so angle, and then the expansion plug will bung it up tout-suite.'
WRONG!
Shortly before the complete horror set in, I stopped. I realized what was happening. Then I re-thought the whole thing through. So — uhhhh — there I was with the wrong cut and a bit of a notch in the stem tube. I redesigned the whole cut, but the problem was I could not figure out how to make a template. Instead I just wrapped some tape on the angle and restarted the cut. Alas, a huge bastard cross-cut file made the final result presentable. (For those who do not know, a kind of file is called a 'bastard".)
This time around with the Gazelle, I managed the compound radial cut in sections that were pretty darn smooth. If you do it, be careful not to snap the blade. Again with the file to finish, I produced
exactly the same profile as the original.
I do not feel any
public pride in this. But
privately I feel satisfaction: many, many years ago a guy who rebuilt vintage race-cars and cut metal for my old, English Triumph-Norton [Triton] road racer motorcycle showed me what patience and a LOT of thinking can do. It had been a long time since I had cut serious metal. At first I panicked, and then I remembered my dear old friend.
I think that is why I am on BF. My old friend is gone — but you men and women are here.
