jackbombay

Mine isn't quite as nice as Bulgie's, but I'd gladly lend it out to anyone that wants to pay the postage.

noglider 

I might take you up on that. My 1974 Raleigh International can only take a 32mm tire in the back.

sykerocker 

Having never gone thru an S5 manual, I threw a 23t sprocket (Shimano) on my Sprite (my standard setup on an IGH) from day one and it's been working fine for me. Probably should go to a 22t, as the bike's gear just a little bit lower than I'd like it, but for the moment it's working just fine. Given that one of my regular commutes to a local shopping mall involves a rather severe climb coming back home, I'm not in too much of a hurry to change it over.

bulgie 

oops sorry I didn't see this post at first.

I don't lend it out because it isn't very good! I made a bad decision in making it, used a cheap Chinese C-clamp, and that turns out to be false economy. I've only used it a couple times and already the threads in the clamp feel grindy, like it won't do very many more frames before the threads seize up completely.

Making stuff is difficult for me due to not having much of a shop space. I brazed the curved shaper piece to the C-clamp but I can't braze indoors, so I have to do it out in my driveway, which is gravel and sloped (not level) = PITA. If I paid myself a decent wage to make them they'd probably be $200. Many others here could make them much more cheaply.

If I make myself a new one, it will probably be based on a Vise-Grip pliers rather than a C-clamp. This is the one Curtis Odom made:Clever, and pretty quick to make for someone with a bandsaw and a MIG or stick welder.

jackbombay

I got the rear wheel built last night, I used a 32 hole rim, and laced it to the 40 hols S5 hub, there is a thread here with some key info on doing thi, but its also missing a lot of info, I'll make a seperate thread later this evening detailing how I went about it, but it does work, no spokes are too short or too long...

Every 5th hole on both sides of the hub are obviously empty.

cudak888 

I love this particular braze-on - couldn't have picked a better one to experiment with. The little standoffs help a lot with getting good penetration.

It sometimes helps to heat the frame and put a tiny dab of silver under the braze-on before putting the braze-on on the frame. It gets things started and it gives you something else to read heat with besides the flux.

-Kurt

jackbombay

The standoffs also make the piece sit nice and parallel with the top tube! The little void under the braze on just pulls the silver right in, me likey!

I am using an oxy mapp torch so I don't need dark glasses/goggle like oxy acetylene so I can spot the faint red glow pretty easily which is when the silver I have melts, but I do like the idea of putting a bit of silver under the braze on, it will certainly help the silver flow all the way through.

I'm stoked I decided to get the oxy mapp torch and mess around with this, with this newfound skill I have all sorts of little projects for various bikes in my stable!

Velo Mule

I am liking this project. As for the color, I think is is sort of like a movie. If the movie starts with a good relationship between characters, we tend to want those characters to stay together through the movie. This bike starts with a nice British racing green. I like it. It has a few thinks going for it: it starts out with this color, so it is an original color, it looks good, fits the year and style of the bike and it also lets the chrome socks be seen. Silver, may hide the chrome a little.

Anyway, keep the pic's coming. I like the braze ons. I also liked that you did not use the pulley. I am eager to know how that works out. I am so used to seeing three speeds and Sturmey Archers with pulleys. What I particularly like about your braze on style for the shift cables is that it keeps the cable close to the frame tubes. I may at some point copy this idea right down to mapp - oxy torch.

jackbombay

I'm conflicted on color. I'm waiting for some brass and brass flux so I can stick on some canti posts, so I still have a week or so to make the decision before I drop the frame at the powder coater.

I agree that silver will hide the chrome socks somewhat, but I think a subtle transition form the chrome to the silver could well give it a "soft friendly" look? I have an aluminum headset for it that I polished up and it came out SHINY!!! so that will compliment the chrome socks. Another consideration is also keeping the bike a tad subdued to attract less attention from thieves. It gets stored inside at night, but is locked up at many different places around Portland oregon through the work day. If the powder coater has metallic green I'll be pretty tempted...


I also did this to a bike 15 years ago, a cable stop on the top tube an one on the seat stay for a sturmey shift cable, and it works just fine, and the cable never comes off the pulley. I'm not a fan of clamp on anything so I really like this look due to the cleanliness :-)

jackbombay

I finally got some brass and flux to stick on the canti studs, my first time working with brass, I did a test piece, a canti stud to a scrap chainstay, and I hit it very hard with a 4 pound sledge repeatedly, the stud broke off the boss, but my braze job held the boss to the chain stay with no hint of failure, so, onto the real deal! It went well, brass is cool stuff to work with, my fillet is not totally uniform in size around the stud, but its close enough and I have zero doubts about the strength of the connection.

Pics,




I take it to get powder coated tomorrow morning :-)

IsleRide

jackbombay, you've got my attention on this build! Have a '73 Super Course frame waiting in the wings for a "Path Racer" type build.
Not with you on the crimping though, (I'll fit what fits) but everything looks well thought out. Looking forward to more updates.

jackbombay

You should be able to fit a 32c tire in that frame.

Thanks!

I'm really looking forward getting this bike assembled!

jackbombay

Assembly happening today!!

But I may come up short a few parts, I was hoping to do it all with white cable housing, but I don't think I'll have enough...

A couple pics,



Using copper wire to rivet the headbadge back on,



First canti studs I've brazed on,

jackbombay

This bike is ready to ride!!!!

Some pics,







The rear canti studs did end up a bit more closer together than would have been ideal, but I was able to get a decent adjustment on the brake pads so all is good there.

The 5 speed is of course still the best drivetrain someone could ever install on a bicycle. I have not ridden it yet.

I did run out of white Brake cable housing :-(

Kilroy1988 

Awesome rig! That's powder coating? They can do some impressive colors nowadays... Is there any sort of clear coat or is it just that shiny?

-Gregory

jackbombay

That is the powder coat straight from the oven!

There are a couple small spots of brown that seeped out of the lugs, not that big a deal, and they are on the non drive side, but, I'm not too sure what caused them. Being an old Raleigh its obvious that the brazing was less that perfect, so there are parts of the lugs that don't have brass all the way around them, and there is likely some rust in there, and I thin that is what leaked out and made the small brown spots? Or maybe it was grease, but why would there be grease up in the lugs?

I do like powder for its toughness, and as this is a daily driver/townie I wanted that toughness, over a better finish from catalysed paint, but I'm quite happy with this finish. Hypothetically if I wanted to avoid the brown spots I would have silver soldered the lugs all the way around anywhere they weren't obviously sealed to the tubes, but, m'eh, you can tinker away forever on old bikes, at some point they need to get assembled and ridden :-)

cudak888 

Wow. That's the thinnest, paint-like powdercoat I've ever seen. It almost looks like you dug up an NOS Competition G.S. with Nervex lugs and shinier paint.

Bravo to whoever executed that job.

-Kurt

jackbombay

I don't have much experience with powder coat, I've only had one other frame powder coated before and that was in 1999, that was THICK powder coat.

I just trusted this guy to do his job well and this is what came back, the finish really is pretty much on par with automotive paint, and I love the look of the lugs!

cudak888 

He obviously knows his craft and how to do a lugged bike justice. The gloss and the overall sharpness reminds me of the '81-83 Schwinn Superiors - it really looks like a period paint job!

-Kurt

Senrab62 

Looks great! I have an mk ii SC and a S5 hub set up sitting around, this build is giving me ideas! Let us know riding impressions!

jackbombay

I want to keep it as unridden as possible as I built it for a friend, but I did take it to town (I live on a dirt road that is currently mud) and ripped some hot laps around the high school parking lot to make sure its all ready to go and the bike is absolutely beautiful! The 35c tires soak up a bunch of little road chatter but are still plenty fast, I have them at 40 PSI in the front and 50 PSI in the back, would probably be great at 35/45 even.

1st gear was acting a bit funny though, it was slipping a bit, I had to get the shift cable for the non drive side of the hub pretty tight to make that go away, I have another bike with an S5 and I don't recall the cable adjustment for the non drive side needing to be this snug, but this hub in NOS so it can't possibly be broken already and first not staying engaged reliably is potentially due to not enough tension on the NDS shift cable, so I think it's all good now.