gugie 

Two guys work at the same bikeshop in NorCal, but not exactly at the same time-missed each other by maybe 6 months. Life goes by, one moves back east, the other to the PNW. The bike bug reignites in one, stays strong in the other.

There's a shared affinity for vintage Raleigh's, the bikes of their childhood (isn't that the way it goes with us types). The PNW guy starts modifying them, feeling the rando bug (he is close to the BQ gang after all). The easterly guy collects a slew of them, fixes them up, they morph from fixie to IGH to modern derailleur, as they turn out to be extremely versatile frames. 27", 700c, 650b, lots of options with and without fenders.

The east coast guy comes across one that is pretty raggedy. a bit dented up, and won't be missed if the west coast guy screws the pooch. So he ships it to the left coast, and it sits a bit, queued up, ready for the torch.

It's time to start work on @nlerner's 1971 Raleigh International.

First, the dent.



You dent a tube, somewhere else it pops out-a zero sum game. Normally I'd just get a set of aluminum frame tubes, lube 'em up, clamp,, and roll it until most of the dent is worked out. In this case, however, a brake cable guide is in the way. It's gotta go. Some flux to keep the charring down, and lots of heat right on the boss until it glows, but before the tube overheats, then yank it of with some pliers



Note that there's a hole where the cable guide was. Raleigh pinned these in place back in the day.

Clean everything up before the next step:


A set of 1" aluminum frame blocks comes in handy for the next step. Lube 'em up first:


I can't emphasize enough how a good, strong vice gets used over and over again when working with frames:


Clamp tight and wiggle back and forth, working the frame back to round.

Sand it, clean it up, flux and filler:



Some hot water dissolves the flux, light filing and the shoe shine method with some 80 grit utility cloth, after paint you'll never know it was dented.

Lascauxcaveman 

Very cool, Gugie. I've always wondered how that sort of thing was done. Thx for the concise tutorial!

One spelling correction though: A good strong "vise" is what you use to pinch alloy blocks around a dented tube; a good strong "vice" is my penchant for booze.

Sir_Name 

Ah, nice. Curious to see where this goes.

nlerner

I've been staring at that dent for years now, so I'm very glad to see it go away! Thanks, @gugie.

daf1009

@gugie You are becoming a God!!! ;-)

qcpmsame 

Gugie, you have a gift for explaining your work, much like a good teacher will have. Thanks for sharing the International Redux with us here.

Bill

Prowler 

Thank you. Great post with excellent photos. I've got a small TT dent too but, alas, no block set. And I agree about having a real good vise, well mounted to a solid stand. I see in your last photo that you have the requisite jaw covers. I have made hard wood replacement jaws, a set of copper covers, a set of aluminum covers and a set of stainless steel covers (from a stainless drinking cup dispenser pulled out of the bin at our transfer station). I use them often for both bike work and general machinery repair. Well done.

Bandera

Nice work, very well presented.
Agree that the Internat'l is highly versatile and worth the effort to preserve/transform to meet current requirements. Interested to see what comes next.

-Bandera

repechage

Very interesting the locator holes for the cable stops.
Raleigh did have good production engineers.
Also note how little was submersed in the plating tank.
Don't waste that good Rhodesian chrome. (Former British colony)

If mine was not such a time capsule, I would consider modifying it.

I agree on a big sturdy vise. I got mine from National Lumber when they were closing down, weighs near 100lbs, $15. Need a solid bench below too. I really like gugie's back bench with the drawers, very cool.

ColonelJLloyd 

Nice!

gugie 

I don't know why, but until I hit the save button and reread my posts, I almost never find spelling and grammar errors. And most of the time I don't reread them...

Fixed, thanks.

gugie 

Thanks! I like to use lots of pictures. It's hard to mis-spell those...

bertinjim 

gugie -

As a retired teacher, I am assigning you an A+ on your tutorial. Very interesting and clear. Thanks for the effort on the presentation.

gugie 

Thanks for the kind words.

For a bit more detail on the process, here's a (not mine).

You can make frame blocks out of hardwood with 1, 1-1/8, and 1-1/4" forstner bits on a drill press for accuracy. A hole saw would work as well, but the runout is much higher, typically, so the hole will be on the big side, and the amount of dent left over will be a bit bigger, no biggie. After you bore out the hole, just cut them in half with the grain (so they won't split in use). Since the forces on the block are in compression, with a vise backing them, should mostly do the job.

As noted in the video, and in my notes, it won't get rid of the dent completely, just makes the tube very close to perfectly round. Fill the small dent with JB Weld, let it cure, carefully file, and once you start nicking the steel, switch to 80 grith utility cloth. JB Weld can take powder coat temperatures.

I use brass and/or silver filler rod because I have it around.

Andy_K 

You've completely changed my ideas of what frames can be made to look nice again! Have I talked to you about the Schwinn Voyager in my garage?

kroozer 

I tried making some frame blocks from hardwood (oak) but they cracked in the vise, so I bought a set of aluminum blocks. Only about $20 and much less screwing around.

gugie 

I have a set of each, but never used the wood ones to relieve a dent. I have read other that claimed they were able to. YMMV.

Paragon has them for under $20, a set of 3 for the main tubing sizes would run you around $50 shipped. Not a bad thing to have in your kit.

gugie 

@Andy_K, come on down! You're the next contestant on Save That Frame!

noglider 

Why is it better to roll out the dent before filling it?

Yeah, spelling is a funny thing. I had a google alert to show me vises for sale on craigslist, but I wasn't getting hits. Then I learned that most people spell it "vice." Adjusted the filters, and I got some hits, and I eventually got a good vise very cheap.

SloButWide 

The few large dents I've seen seem to have "ovalized" the tube, with the excess beside rather than opposite the dent.

gugie 

This.

Try it with an aluminum can. Push a small dent in it, you'll find that somewhere else it pushed out. With small dents, even the one on nlerner's frame, it's pretty much just aesthetics. Since there's a whole bunch more torchin' coming up, the frame will get repainted. Nothing worse than having a fresh coat of paint and seeing a dent that didn't get filled.

But I should say that it may not be all aesthetics, after all. I apply a liberal amount of placebium on all of these remakes. It seems to have the same effect as a related element on the veliodic chart, drillium, although unobtanium is what you really want, if you can find it. All of these seem to make the bike go faster. Newpartium is a most effective element, but the half-life is rather short, sometimes decaying into Boxocrappium far too soon.

gugie 

I posted to the RBW group a few times, and made the mistake of spelling it Rivendale. Everytime I searched with that spelling google corrected me, so it reinforced my keystroke memory. Man, did I catch some gruff for that! Now I just call them Riv and Dale. They have a commune in Walnut Creek, hidden in plain site amongst capitalist squalor.

ThermionicScott 

repechage

Obviously, the bike will end up Red. The Fastest Color.

ColonelJLloyd 

No one asked me, but I vote multicam.