Originally Posted by scarlson

I think it's a neat case study Particularly it shows how bad the penetration of the filler in a lugged steel joint has to be before it will actually fail. Framebuilding lore holds that full penetration of the filler is of paramount importance. Basic framebuilder training often involves brazing practice lugs and then cutting them open to check filler penetration. Granted, this failure is only one data point, but it raises the question of how much this actually matters. If it's the difference between a failure after decades and a failure never, then does it warrant every framebuilder-in-training cutting five lugs in half after brazing them? Even so, the lug penetration test is still a good didactic tool to teach a feel for metal flow and heat-following, so I'm not knocking it - just musing about the origins of framebuilding lore. Musing and muttering aside, it's a rare thing to actually see a badly brazed joint make its way into the world, and probably even rarer to see it subsequently fail in a textbook way decades later. That's why I posted about it - I'm a scientist after all.



I really like the splatter too! The date of this paintjob is '87, so maybe they were ahead of the curve. I get comments occasionally, mainly about how dated it is! Maybe it helps against theft - not just because most people wouldn't like it, but also because it's so darn distinctive that the would-be thief wouldn't be able to sell it. You're right, Joe Bell is really a cut above. I haven't seen automotive paint this nice, and that's saying something. It's so thick and tough that you can tell just from looking at the pictures. I felt really bad taking it off, but the blow was softened by having had to take the paint off the bottom bracket two years ago to fix the threads. This bike has been through the wringer for sure, but it just keeps coming back swinging. Rustoleum yellow will go on this coming week and it'll be back to the daily grind!