Experience fillet brazing handlebars?
08-06-23, 07:52 PM
#1
Newbie
Thread Starter
Experience fillet brazing handlebars?
Has anyone here ever made handlebars that require brazing like bullmoose or the nitto 3-piece? I've been searching for threads on how to make handlebars but was having trouble finding anything.
Curious to see what anyone has experimented with here!
Curious to see what anyone has experimented with here!
08-06-23, 08:51 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 12,930
Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder
Mentioned: 129 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4824 Post(s)
Liked 3,948 Times
in
2,568 Posts
Are those bars brazed or welded? TiCycles could do those welded. They've made me 4 stems (and 2 frames), all welded. (And three traditional steel forks but with lug-style brazing, not fillet brazing.) Probably a good bet they could do fillet brazing if they had to, but I have not seen it and won't sell anyone on the idea.
08-06-23, 09:00 PM
#3
Randomhead
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,408
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,709 Times
in
2,528 Posts
Any design that has been made with welding can be made with brazing. I have thought about brazing some handlebars. I would probably just bend them though.
08-06-23, 09:05 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 12,930
Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder
Mentioned: 129 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4824 Post(s)
Liked 3,948 Times
in
2,568 Posts
When I said I wouldn't sell anyone on the idea, I meant having TiCycles fillet braze it. Didn't mean to imply it cannot be done just as well. TiCycles welds steel and titanium - very, very well. Yes, they do a lot of other stuff, but that welding is their bread and butter.
08-07-23, 04:40 AM
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 964
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 326 Post(s)
Liked 263 Times
in
212 Posts
I modified this handlebar stem (with welding-- it looks that Nitto 3-piece bar is also welded). Would be fun to make handlebars but I always assumed the bending would be quite hard. However that Nitto isn't bent. The other question is what metal to use. 1mm wall cromoly is probably what you want. But 1.6mm mild steel would also be OK.
https://www.bikeforums.net/framebuil...onversion.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/framebuil...onversion.html
08-07-23, 09:43 AM
#6
Randomhead
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,408
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,709 Times
in
2,528 Posts
I have a bender that can be used to bend handlebars. I haven't gotten around to making dies for that yet. I have seen some Ti bars that were made on my bender or one just like it. Paragon sells some spacers so you can use 7/8" tubing for handlebars. At one time they sold 7/8" Ti tubing. I keep thinking it would be neat to make some Ti bars for my MTB, but it would be an involved project given the need to make dies.
Sorry, I was addressing the OP. Having Ti Cycles make you some bars is a good idea. Groovy Cycleworks makes bars sometimes, you have to be there at the right time though. Also, Engin has made bars, but I'm not sure if you can just order them.
Sorry, I was addressing the OP. Having Ti Cycles make you some bars is a good idea. Groovy Cycleworks makes bars sometimes, you have to be there at the right time though. Also, Engin has made bars, but I'm not sure if you can just order them.
08-07-23, 11:00 AM
#7
blahblahblah chrome moly
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,999
Mentioned: 92 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1182 Post(s)
Liked 2,580 Times
in
1,080 Posts
Not anything like what you're asking about, but they are fillet-brazed handlebars:
1980s funny bike, for the kilometer time trial or pursuit. Those airfoil tubes wouldn't be strong enough or stiff enough without the triangulation (the smaller tubes that go down to the fork crown). With the triangulation, they were essentially infinitely stiff, compared to any handlebar that lacks triangulation. Not a practical design for most uses though.
The main upper tubes are real 4130 airfoil tubing, made for crop-dusters, acrobatic and experimental aircraft. Whether that's the right stuff for bikes that go less than 40 mph, I dunno, but the main purpose was to look aero, if we're being honest.
Original Ritchey handlebars were fillet-brazed too. Also triangularted, in a different way. Probably a good idea to have redundancy.
Mark B
1980s funny bike, for the kilometer time trial or pursuit. Those airfoil tubes wouldn't be strong enough or stiff enough without the triangulation (the smaller tubes that go down to the fork crown). With the triangulation, they were essentially infinitely stiff, compared to any handlebar that lacks triangulation. Not a practical design for most uses though.
The main upper tubes are real 4130 airfoil tubing, made for crop-dusters, acrobatic and experimental aircraft. Whether that's the right stuff for bikes that go less than 40 mph, I dunno, but the main purpose was to look aero, if we're being honest.
Original Ritchey handlebars were fillet-brazed too. Also triangularted, in a different way. Probably a good idea to have redundancy.
Mark B
Likes For bulgie:
